800-1000 calories?

[gettnthere]

I am a 44 year old women, I am 165cm (5foot 5inches) and weigh 118kgs (260pounds). I have been losing weight since the end of January but slowed right down to the point I was only losing a few hundred grams or gaining.

I am doing the couch to 5 k treadmill program for exercise and currently at week 7 which for those that haven't heard of it, its a program set out for either real running or running on the treadmill. It starts assuming you dont do exercise or very little and works you up from walking with half minute jogs in between to jogging 30 minutes. Now according to the app I use I am burning about 700 calories when I do my 30 minutes.

Because I wasn't losing much weight I went to the Dr and he did tests and then put me on Duromine 30mg for 30 days. I lost 4kgs from the time he weighed me which was the week before I started taking the pills so 5 weeks. This is the kind of weight I would expect to lose without Duromine.

I had my appointment for him to check on me yesterday, everything was fine as far as blood pressure etc. He then put me on 40mg since the 30mg wasn't doing anything. I then asked him what sort of calories I should be eating as I was eating around 1200calories a day and then got fitness pal and they put me up to 1350 calories so was eating that and eating my exercise calories back. so on the treadmill days I would add the 700calories burnt to how many calories I had to eat. The Doctor told me I should be eating 800-1000 calories for weight loss.

Now according to what I have read and what others tell me that is putting my body into starvation mode...what I need to know does anyone have any experience and would know what amount of calories I should be eating? another site I found said I should be eating 1440 calories. I am very confused and don't know why the dr would tell me to put my body into starvation????/

can anyone help??????????...I am getting to the point where there is so much conflicting information I don't know what to believe or what I should or shouldn't be doing. I am about ready to say stuff it and eat whatever I want as I was never a big eater in the first place. I also have hypothyroidism which I am on thyroxin 150mg a day (one reason I put on so much weight the depo needle is another)

[admin]

Hi Gettnthere,

DON'T GIVE UP!

I agree there is a lot of conflicting information and it is difficult to give advice as everyone responds differently to things.

Can I first say you are not eating enough calories. 800-1000 calories a day is not enough and yes that would be putting your body into starvation mode.

Are you able to start a food diary? Many each day log what they have had on the forum as this I truly believe is the way to start with assessing where to go. If you are not eating enough or eating the wrong things then this must be recognized. If you don't want to publicly tell us what you eat each day our site has a food diary which you can utilise. There is a range of different diaries there for you to use.

Food Diaries: http://www.weightloss.com.au/weight-loss-tools/food-diary.html
Guide to keeping a food diary: http://www.weightloss.com.au/articles/healthy-diets/keeping-a-food-diary.html
Energy Needs Calculator: http://www.weightloss.com.au/weight-loss-tools/energy-needs-calculator.html
Weight loss Tools: http://www.weightloss.com.au/weight-loss-tools.html
Healthy Recipes: http://www.weightloss.com.au/recipes.html

Also starting a 12 week challange is a great idea......tinkerbella is starting a new one so how about you can jump on board.

All the information on our site has been developed over the years by professionals. We have also diet plans which have a daily intake of approx 1800-2000 per day.

I hope you have a browse around the site and I am sure others will give you some advice as well.

Let us know how you go and I will check in with you tomorrow and give you some information.

Sharrelle form the weight loss team.

[gettnthere]

Hey Sharelle (that's an unusual name haven't ever heard it before),

I havnt actually started eating 800-1000 yet as even though that's what the Dr told me Thursday I think he is wrong so am looking into it more. Hubby and I are doing a challenge presently but it finishes soon and whilst I did learn a few things it hasn't addressed things like calorie's needed. presently I am eating around 1300 plus eating my exercise calories back.

I am using the my fitnesspal app for my iphone to log food as its easy and with me most the time below is what an average day of eating would be...

Breakfast
a sachet of porridge around 150 calories depending on the brand
lactose free skim milk 250ml 90 calories
1 tbsp personalised protein powder by Admin Censored 20 calories
and 1 serve of Admin Censored shake mix added to porridge which is 100 calories
total for breakfast = 360 calories
Saturdays we have 1 homemade pancake usually half quinoa flour half normal flour which is less than 100 calories

Snack
Admin Censored protein bar 134 calories, usually(Can vary depending on mood)

Lunch
250ml lactose free skim milk 90 calories
Admin Censored shake mix 100 calories
personalised protein powder 20 calories
total 210 calories

Snack
ranges from 2 boiled eggs, a handful of unsalted roasted almonds, pistachio's, cranberries a protein bar depending on my mood and whats available but usually under 200 calories and more often under 100 calories

Dinner
varies a lot but something like meat and vegies, chicken and Quinoa salad, slow cooker, spagetti bolgognese, stirfry with chicken or other meat, sushi
it also varies in calories.


sometimes we will have air popped popcorn with a little salt or a piece of fruit or some nuts an hour or two after dinner

weekends we do have a couple drinks...I do log these

also Mon, Wednesday and Friday I burn around 700 calories jogging on the treadmill (this was less a few weeks ago as we have been working up to jogging)

Tuesdays I do half an hour walking on the treadmill or occasionally depending on how my heels are (I have heel spurs) I may not do anything

Thursdays we walk to the video shop which is about 294 calories burned

Saturdays we also sometimes walk to the video shop again its about 3kms so around 290 calories


I will definitely have a look around the site thanks for the reply

[SydneyPT]

Starvation mode is a myth.
First of all, starvation is an extended period of time where you are not receiving nutrients. 1 day or 1 meal of not eating will not put you into 'starvation mode'

People are under the impression that if you starve yourself, the body will 'cling' onto all the calories from the foods you consumed in the next meal incase you try to starve yourself again. This is not true. People put on weight because if you fast yourself for a meal, the chances of you overeating at the next meal is increased dramatically. Example, lets say you didn't have lunch and it is now dinner time. You are starving. There is no way you will stop at, lets say, a 100g steak. You will most likely have double or even triple that amount. You may have more sides than usual etc. And that is where this whole 'starvation mode' came about. People living in third world countries survive off very little food, yet they don't seem to put on weight from being in a 'starvation mode'. I mean, if starvation mode was in fact true, these people must be clinging onto every calorie for dear life. This is because the overall energy consumption is LESS than energy output.

[Sanov22]

No way you are burning 700 calories in 30mins of walk/running. Search for some information about the difference between the calories you burn because of the exercise and the calories you burn which you would've burned anyway in that time if you'd done nothing. Even then 700 seems way too high to me. I read an article in runner's world about this not long ago which estimated the calories burned from the exercise itself is 0.63 x your weight in pounds per mile for running, and 0.3 x your weight in pounds per mile for walking... Converting into metric and using your stated weight of 118kg that means you would be burning around 100 calories per km while running and around 50 calories per km while walking. So even if you we're running 5km at a time that's only 500 calories

[Sanov22]

Also I agree starvation mode is a myth, or at least it's widely misunderstood. If your body receives insufficient energy for a prolonged period of time, your metabolism will slow down. This doesn't mean you won't lose weight, it just means you won't get as much bang for your buck. A 500 calorie per day deficit will see you lose 0.5kg a week, and a 1000 calorie per day deficit will see you lose 1kg per week, so you might expect a 1500 calorie per day deficit to result in a 1.5kg loss per week, and it might for some people, but at some point if/when you are in starvation mode you won't get that extra 0.5kg per week for the extra 500 calorie per day deficit. 800 - 1000 per day probably isnt that drastic, BUT, if you feel hungry all the time on that then its not worth it because you wont stick with it anyway. The greater risk of such a low calorie diet is that you won't get the nutrients you need. If you do decide to do 800 - 1000 per day there is really NO room to eat junk food. That whole amount should come from fruit, veg, lean meat, whole grain foods, etc. if that seems too daunting or confusing then forget it, do 1200 a day or more and enjoy your food.