Too Much Calorie Cutting?
 

I'm about six weeks into an Atkins diet and I'm worried that my metabolism has slowed down due to too much calorie intake reduction (see my journal). I was probably taking in 4000 plus calories per day before; now I'm down to a max of 1500, but some days 1200. I don't feel uncomfortably hungry--honestly, I can do 1200 a day pretty comfortably because my hunger needs have gone way, way down. I'm noticing, though, that my weight drop may be plateauing and I've been reading online that this can happen if you caloric drop is so much that it pushes your body into starvation mode. Does anyone else have experience with this or insights? Should I make sure to eat 1500 calories a day (or more?) even if I am kinda forcing myself to eat a bit more--this feels like my old bad habits, which is why I've been stopping when I feel comfortably full. Some other info: I have a lot of body fat and am in strong ketosis. I've been doing an hour of light to moderate exercise per day. Also: I have lost a lot of inches--my clothes are hanging off me and I'm ordering a new belt today. Thanks! :help:

Weight plateauing is normal, rare is the person whose weight loss goes in a straight line down. And you are not in "starvation mode" unless you looked like the guy in the photo of this good article explaining it. https://intensivedietarymanagement....g-myths-part-5/

The Atkins instructions are simple, Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full. You don't have to eat three meals a day, nor even count calories.
Congratulations on losing inches...the notches on a belt are the best indicator of health improvements for men, not the scale. Goal is a waist half height.

Thank you! This is very helpful info!

Hey,

I don't have any proof except for how my body reacts and I find that I will go 2 or 3 weeks losing nothing or maybe 1 lb then a big drop, 5 or more lbs in one week. I think the body is just adjusting to all of the changes. What I am trying to say (badly)is that at this point I would not worry about calories, just make sure you are eating on plan and paying attention to when you are hungry and when you are full.

Good luck.

Kathy

I find if I force my calories down against hunger, I'll become sort of lethargic. But generally if I have some weight to lose and my appetite decreases after a diet change, I'll have more energy while eating less calories.

I've seen a number of plateau or even brief weight gain anecdotes from people who were water fasting. A pound or two of fat loss per week is a fairly respectable rate of loss, over the short term, fluctuations in body water can easily obscure what's happening with fat balance.

Thanks, everyone! I'm mostly counting calories on Atkins because the journal-keeping seems to invite it. I'm not consciously cutting calories but it's just happening because I feel full after eating less. I'm definitely in a weight loss plateau and have been for weeks.

Here's an article from the Best Of section on typical patterns of weight loss. http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=365499

18 tips for weight loss to consider: https://www.dietdoctor.com/how-to-lose-weight
And more at the Tips and Stalls forum: http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=14

Thank you for this article! It makes me feel a lot better about keeping on!

Janet is great with the info. I wish I had a memory like her for all the articles. I will tell you that I do about 1200 calories a day and have for 10 months. I also walk a lot and recently have started going to the gym. The stuff about starvation mode is crazy. I bought into it years ago and it nearly ruined me. The reality is that for me and many the intermittent fasting with LC is the best path to loss. While my loss has not been a perfect straight line downward It has over time followed the pattern of about 2.3 pounds per week. Right now I am down 100+ and I have to work a little hardr as my body burns less because of the lower mass. I will tell you that I I can go a week or three with slow loss then all of a sudden Woosh and I drop 4 to 6 pounds in a week. I dont fret as long as the scale is not going up. Also I will tell you that In one 3 week period I lost alomst no weight but my jacket size dropped. another time it was my waist same scenario.

Thanks for all the encouragement!

Thank you for this! Some days I eat very little, and I was worrying about loss of muscle and a slower metabolism. I've even seen low carb threads confirming that (I was curious about a fat fast and the site I looked at said to NEVER do it for longer than 5 days for that reason!)

This forum does not support extended fasting. Dr Fung has a number of good articles on why you do not lose muscle and your metabolism doesn't slow when fasting. https://www.dietdoctor.com/fasting-...alorie-counting, with a graph of hormonal responses beyond the short-term. https://intensivedietarymanagement....asting-part-14/