Scared I'm in starvation mode- HELP please!

[dyermaker]

I'm looking to lose weight as fast as possible and I have no problem restricting calories rather drastically... but I know I need to be careful with this. I'm scared I've been eating too few calories (but I want to be able to eat as few as possible and calculations I've found for BMR, etc. seem to be rather vague).

I'm 19, 5'7, 175lbs, muscular and big boned but obviously have some fluff!
I've cut out all processed foods, daily values are generally P/40g, C/40g, F/20g, and I have been drinking all natural high protein shakes daily after workouts. I have been NETTING around 1450 calories/day. I still end up netting this amount while I do HITT on an elliptical for 30mins/6 days a week and strength training throughout the week, rotating muscle groups (3 days of rest after training an area). I just want to make sure by netting this number I won't put myself in starvation mode. I want to get down to around 135, so I need to lose about 40lbs... so:

1) Would I be correct in assuming that I can lose 2lbs a week safely due to how much I have to lose?
2) Is netting 1450 calories appropriate for my stats? (If not, more/less? I want my fat loss to be as extreme as possible- without slowing my metabolism or eating at muscle.

Thanks in advance!
Juliana

 

[musclemom]

1) Would I be correct in assuming that I can lose 2lbs a week safely due to how much I have to lose?
2) Is netting 1450 calories appropriate for my stats? (If not, more/less? I want my fat loss to be as extreme as possible- without slowing my metabolism or eating at muscle.

Thanks in advance!
Juliana

Hello and welcome, Juliana!

You sound panicked!? Is there some function that you need to attend or something? Honestly, without seeing you, if you're 5'7" with a big frame and muscle underneath 135 may be a pinch too low for you, so keep that in the back of your mind (speaking as a 5'9" large framed woman) ...

Anyway, we go more by the rule of thumb of caloric consumption of 10x to 12x your bodyweight, focusing on the macros (ratios of 40% pro/30% carb/30% fat) if you're exercising regularly with less focus on net calories. I can tell you by your height and age that you should never eat less than 1642 a day in calories, period. That's your BMR, what your body needs just to maintain basic function. Eating below that amount, no matter how much exercise you get, is going to put your body into starvation mode and burn muscle up. Ideally, if you're really exercising hard, you probably need 250 to 500 calories a day beyond that to maintain muscle while burning fat. You need to eat small meals regularly, every three to four hours, with some protein at every meal.

Another thing you have to remember is that if you go from eating a regular diet to suddenly eating clean, watching calories and exercising hard there's a transitional period while your body switches up. You will build muscle and burn fat and in between the scale is going to screw with your head. You have to go by the tape measure, the mirror and how clothes fit. Muscle is denser than fat, about 18% denser, in fact. In other words, one liter of muscle weighs 1.06 kg and one liter of fat weighs 0.9 kg.

When someone first comes onto the board looking to cut as quick as possible and feeling they are eating clean the first thing we always ask for is a clear breakdown of an average day of eating, i.e., exactly what you eat/drink and when. We also recommend they sign up for a free account at FitDay.com and really get a handle on their macros and also what one person considers "clean" isn't necessarily, for the purposes of a cutting diet, a "clean" food. So if you could post that up the other folks who are on this board, men and women, will be able to help you nail down specifics on your diet and exercise routine

I hope this helps a little and look forward to seeing what the details of your diet is, so others can chime in.

 

[dyermaker]

Thank you so much for the wonderful welcome and response!

I am a bit panicked... I'm going on a vacation in about a month- swimsuit necessary! I definitely try to only jump on the scale once a week, at most... because as you said, the scale did start screwing with my head (not going down, but people continued to notice my weight loss). I figure this is a good thing, because if I was losing a ton of water and muscle weight the scale would go down. So in this way... I'm fairly confident I've played my cards well enough to at least maintain muscle. But now that I'm hearing that I need at least 1642 calories, I'm worried I've been doing more damage than good... I really hope this isn't the case though. I've been working so hard, and I always feel satiated at the end of the day...


Anyway, here is an example of a typical day: (I use The Daily Plate for accuracy)

Breakfast- 1 cup of egg whites, 2 pieces of light whole wheat bread, 1 tbsp. fat free cream cheese
Snack- light cheese stick, 1 cup kashi go lean, ½ cup light soy milk
Exercise followed by a whey protein shake (see ingredients below)
Lunch- sandwich (2 piece whole wheat bread, dark lettuce, 98% fat free turkey breast)
Snack- grilled salmon, almonds
Dinner- 8oz chicken breast, string beans, flax seed

(I make sure to eat every 2-3 hours) Other staples are lean chili, almond milk, peanuts, avocados, celery, apple butter, oatmeal, grape nuts, shrimp, fish, and soybeans. My meal plan generally comes out at lowest to 1450 cals and highest 1800 cals (these are net calories, I actually eat more than these numbers. I estimate I burn off about 225 cals/day through exercise) always maintaining the p/40, c/40, f/20 ratios. From what you said though, I'm going to take my (healthy) fat intake from 20% to 30% and bump my carbs down from 40% to 30%. Ugh its tough to think about how I may have been screwing myself over this entire time when I've thought I've been making huge strides and I'm pressed for time. I've been letting my net cals dip down to 1450 cals some/most days and have been naively patting myself on the back afterward.

Maybe I'm not completely on the right track, but I hope I've made SOME progress through all of my efforts and not solely backtracking!

Here are the nutrition facts for the whey protein shake: (also wondering if I could have a protein shake pre-workout as well?)
Servings per Container: 30

Amount Per Serving % Daily Value
Calories 121
Calories from Fat 9
Total Fat 1 gr 1%
Saturated Fat 0 gram 0%
Cholesterol 38 mg 13%
Sodium 80 mg 3%
Potassium 140 mg 4%
Total Carbohydrate 3 gram 1%
Dietary Fiber 1 gr 4%
Sugars 1 gr
Protein 25 gram 50%
Vitamin A 0 0%
Vitamin C 0 0%
Calcium 0 15%
Iron 0 0%


Other Ingredients: Protein Blend (Bioactive Milk Compounds (Microlactin™), ion-Exchange Whey Protein Isolates, Cross Flow Micro-filtered Whey Protein Isolates, Ultra-filtered Whey Protein Concentrates, Hydrolyzed Whey Peptides and glutamine Peptides), Guar Gum, Gructose, Cocoa, Natural Flavors and SWEETLEAF™ Stevia.

 

[RottenWillow]

I'm looking to lose weight as fast as possible and I have no problem restricting calories rather drastically... but I know I need to be careful with this. I'm scared I've been eating too few calories (but I want to be able to eat as few as possible and calculations I've found for BMR, etc. seem to be rather vague).

I'm 19, 5'7, 175lbs, muscular and big boned but obviously have some fluff!
I've cut out all processed foods, daily values are generally P/40g, C/40g, F/20g, and I have been drinking all natural high protein shakes daily after workouts. I have been NETTING around 1450 calories/day. I still end up netting this amount while I do HITT on an elliptical for 30mins/6 days a week and strength training throughout the week, rotating muscle groups (3 days of rest after training an area). I just want to make sure by netting this number I won't put myself in starvation mode. I want to get down to around 135, so I need to lose about 40lbs... so:

1) Would I be correct in assuming that I can lose 2lbs a week safely due to how much I have to lose?
2) Is netting 1450 calories appropriate for my stats? (If not, more/less? I want my fat loss to be as extreme as possible- without slowing my metabolism or eating at muscle.

Thanks in advance!
Juliana

Juliana, the best BMR calculators are going to factor both your activity level and your lean body mass. Both the Mifflin and the Harris-Benedict formulas omit this very important data.

Since you are trying to lose so much fat so rapidly, but are (rightfully) concerned about starving, I'd urge you to get a competent, trained person to perform a skin-fold test on you. Using this bodyfat estimate you can then use the Katch-McArdle formula to get a more accurate BMR figure.

Since you characterize yourself as heavy boned and muscular, the Harris-Benedict could be significantly underestimating your BMR.


Here's the formula and an example:


BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)

Example:

You are female
You weigh 175 lbs. (79.5 kilos)
Your body fat percentage is 35%
Your lean mass is 51.67 kilos
Your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 51.67) = 1486 calories

To determine TDEE from BMR, you simply multiply BMR by the activity multiplier:

Your activity level is moderately active (work out 3-4 times per week)
Your activity factor is 1.55
Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1486 = 2303 calories


Now if your bf % had turned out to be 28%, your end number would've been 2490. That's the difference your lean body mass can make.

 

[ConanX]

I'm a dude so I'm sure the ladies can help you the most...but some suggestions I would give are...

Cardio first thing in the morning. Wake up extra early and before eating breakfast, do your cardio! By doing cardio when you first wake up, you will use your bodyfat for fuel. Do cardio every day. Maybe on your weight lifting days, you can lessen the amount of cardio...but if you really need to BURN fat, this is the best thing to do.

I also suggest maybe cutting out some of the carbs and fats you have (the cream cheese, cheese stick) and maybe increasing your protein a bit but your diet does seem pretty clean.

Make sure you have a good weight lifting regiment in place.

If you want to use a supplement, maybe starting with a low dose of Ephedrine/Caffeine.

Goodluck!

 

[dyermaker]

I'm a dude so I'm sure the ladies can help you the most...but some suggestions I would give are...

Cardio first thing in the morning. Wake up extra early and before eating breakfast, do your cardio! By doing cardio when you first wake up, you will use your bodyfat for fuel. Do cardio every day. Maybe on your weight lifting days, you can lessen the amount of cardio...but if you really need to BURN fat, this is the best thing to do.

I also suggest maybe cutting out some of the carbs and fats you have (the cream cheese, cheese stick) and maybe increasing your protein a bit but your diet does seem pretty clean.

Make sure you have a good weight lifting regiment in place.

If you want to use a supplement, maybe starting with a low dose of Ephedrine/Caffeine.

Goodluck!

Ooh... I'll take all of your advice on everything besides maybe the working out first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Can anyone else share there opinions on this? I'm sure this has been covered many times before, and I've heard a lot of info supporting both sides... but I've found I just can't get through my HIIT sessions on an empty stomach. I've also heard that if you don't have carbs prior to your workout that your body quickly eats through glycogen stores but when those are quickly depleted (or non-existent) your body goes for your muscle. I've also heard support for what you said in that your body will instead eat straight into fat stores. I'm wanting to take your word on this though because you definitely don't look like your body eats away at your muscle!

 

[RottenWillow]

Ooh... I'll take all of your advice on everything besides maybe the working out first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Can anyone else share there opinions on this? I'm sure this has been covered many times before, and I've heard a lot of info supporting both sides... but I've found I just can't get through my HIIT sessions on an empty stomach. I've also heard that if you don't have carbs prior to your workout that your body quickly eats through glycogen stores but when those are quickly depleted (or non-existent) your body goes for your muscle. I've also heard support for what you said in that your body will instead eat straight into fat stores. I'm wanting to take your word on this though because you definitely don't look like your body eats away at your muscle!

It's true that your body will begin burning non-essential lean body mass (ie skeletal muscle) for supplemental calories much sooner if your glycogen stores are very low, such as is the case with fasting cardio.

To minimize the chances of this I would encourage two things: 1) ensure you keep your heart rate elevation relatively modest, and 2)limit your session to a maximum of 45 minutes. If you've not obtained a measure of your actual heart rate max, then just aim for keeping it between about 110 and 120bpm. Make 125 your absolute max.

The body generally does not use a single energy source for exercise, presumably b/c that's not just as efficient as seeking multiple sources simultaneously. If you keep your heart rate elevation relatively modest, then for a while your body will likely use a glycogen/fat stores combination. However, since you'd also be fasting those glycogen stores would likely deplete by the 30 minute mark (a quick and dirty guess), so the combo would likely switch to LBM stores/fat stores by the 40 minute mark.

Fasting cardio can be a powerful fat burning method, but you need to use it sparingly.