What causes plateaus when dieting?

[mini_mouse]

bikinimom, sassy, temple01 ... and those others who may have scanned over my post above ... sorry for side-tracking the topic of this thread and, also, for rambling on about stuff that is so at odds with the purpose of the board. I keep planning to leave my ED thoughts/goals etc. separate from here (I have another forum in which to talk about that stuff anyway) but I find it all too easy to slide into that mindset as soon as food/weight is mentioned . I've got to learn when to bite my tongue! I really don't want to grate on your nerves, and I know that these dialogues of course do (just like they do with my family and friends etc).. so I'll sift out the ED crap before I post and just stick with the other stuff
bikinimom - yes, I did read the post about overcoming ED and I was really encouraged to see that so many of you have made such incredible progress. Sometimes I have wondered whether such a thing as 'full-recovery' could ever really happen, so it's reassuring to know it can. Maybe I'll be able to absorb enough positive attitude here to make my own way sometime too.
temple01 - your comment made me laugh too! ... I'm lookin' forward to the day

- mm

 

[wlibbe]

Susan/Thin-

I meant were you seriously recommending that I eat that many calories in a day? That was all.

To everyone else-thank you for your information about everything. I am really going to try to add more calories in. I just want to get over this plateau and quickly.

Bikini mom-I can understand and appreciate where you are coming from but you have to also realize that 500 calories to me-is ALOT to actually allow my body to digest. Now I do eat-I just throw everything up--well I used to-well it has been about 24 hours since my last purge. I am being forced to stop purging-medical reasons--so I know that I am going to have to eat something and I just want to make sure that I don't gain-even a pound. That is all.

I really value the information that I get here. You ladies know what you are talking about!

Thanks!

 

[smoknjilly]

ayyysh!

200 calories a day..even 500 per day!!

I cannot imagine how bad you must feel doing that...

how do you get through a day of work...much less a workout??

 

[FitFossil]

RE: very low calories

The body reaches a point of decreasing returns when calories are too low. When calories are lowered beyond a certain level, any further reduction in calories will not necessarily produce worthwhile weight loss. This type of diet will result mostly in loss of muscle tissue. This includes ORGAN muscles like your heart.

Fat will be preserved because fat doesn't require calories to sustain it the way muscle does. Our bodies were designed to withstand long periods of famine. When trying to lose fat, you're fighting eons of evolution. Fat burns slowly and can keep your body alive for a long time (and it burns even slower during perceived starvation). The trick is to never let your body think you're starving it, because that's when it goes into fat preserving/muscle dumping mode. (This explains why my thighs still jiggled at 80 lbs, even though I looked like a wire coat-hanger.)

Think of the body like a furnace. When there's fuel (food), the furnace burns hot. That's why several small feedings throughout the day are so important - it keeps your fire stoked and your metabolism up. As a result, you'll have more energy and be more effective in your workouts, which will create/preserve metabolically active muscle tissue.

Why do we keep saying "eat more food to lose fat"? Compare a forest fire to a camp fire. They're both fires, but the difference in what they can burn is exponential. When you're eating sufficiently and working out, your body will more willingly give up fat because it sees it as a hindrance to your activity and knows it can depend on a steady supply of fuel. The aim of a fatloss diet should be to create only a slight calorie deficit so that your body and MIND don't notice. Get that fire stoked!

 

[thin]

when I did it (I don't do it anymore)

I would:

a. eat sugart foods
b. eat 6-8 mini meals
c. just have a fuckin' will of steel

that's how I got by.

 

[Temple]

This is the LAST time I am going to post to one of these starve/puke/but its a disorder threads. If you didn't catch it when I said it before I am a recovered anorexic/bulimic/drug addict just so we are clear. I posted this right at a year ago and searched the archives for the original but can't find it - it was called Starving to Death.

Exactly one year ago I watched a person that I love with all my heart starve to death - not intentionally as you all are doing but due to a medical condition that for many reasons was simply not fixable. It took a long time - weeks from the time things got bad until she died. She was skin and bones lying in the bed and the malnutrition caused a never ending battle with huge bed sores. Then came the leg cramps, you could actually see the knots under the paper thin skin from nutritional imbalance. Then came the vomiting of the bile - nights of non stop vomiting and the anti nausea medicine that they put in her IV didn't work so well. As it got closer to the end her skin began to literally shred and fall apart and the pink water seeped continually out of these wounds and even touching her would cause huge bruises. Her veins began to collapse so it was a never ending quest to find a spot to put the IV in - we could have opted to let her die from dehydration but her doctor felt that it made little difference in the amount of time it would take her to die and was a horrible way to go in his opinion. Next came the fevers. Then one day I went to see her and she looked pretty good - little did I know until the doctor came in that it was because the water retention had started - it is something that occurs when a body is starving to death and breaking down proteins, the body naturally replaces that with fluid. Finally her lungs began to fill with this fluid and she began the drowning process - I can still hear those gurgling, gasping, rattling labored breaths. This part of it went on for a week and don't think that she didn't know what was going on because she was concious but too weak to speak thru all but the last 6 hours.
So you 500 calories is alot for me I can't bear to gain even a pound girls - this is what lies ahead. Please write those you love so that they at least have that when you are gone. Please go to your doctor and take care of the Do Not Resusitate paperwork and get your living will done so that no extreme measures are taken to keep you alive.

 

[Bikini Mod]

This is the LAST time I am going to post to one of these starve/puke/but its a disorder threads. If you didn't catch it when I said it before I am a recovered anorexic/bulimic/drug addict just so we are clear. I posted this right at a year ago and searched the archives for the original but can't find it - it was called Starving to Death.

Exactly one year ago I watched a person that I love with all my heart starve to death - not intentionally as you all are doing but due to a medical condition that for many reasons was simply not fixable. It took a long time - weeks from the time things got bad until she died. She was skin and bones lying in the bed and the malnutrition caused a never ending battle with huge bed sores. Then came the leg cramps, you could actually see the knots under the paper thin skin from nutritional imbalance. Then came the vomiting of the bile - nights of non stop vomiting and the anti nausea medicine that they put in her IV didn't work so well. As it got closer to the end her skin began to literally shred and fall apart and the pink water seeped continually out of these wounds and even touching her would cause huge bruises. Her veins began to collapse so it was a never ending quest to find a spot to put the IV in - we could have opted to let her die from dehydration but her doctor felt that it made little difference in the amount of time it would take her to die and was a horrible way to go in his opinion. Next came the fevers. Then one day I went to see her and she looked pretty good - little did I know until the doctor came in that it was because the water retention had started - it is something that occurs when a body is starving to death and breaking down proteins, the body naturally replaces that with fluid. Finally her lungs began to fill with this fluid and she began the drowning process - I can still hear those gurgling, gasping, rattling labored breaths. This part of it went on for a week and don't think that she didn't know what was going on because she was concious but too weak to speak thru all but the last 6 hours.
So you 500 calories is alot for me I can't bear to gain even a pound girls - this is what lies ahead. Please write those you love so that they at least have that when you are gone. Please go to your doctor and take care of the Do Not Resusitate paperwork and get your living will done so that no extreme measures are taken to keep you alive.

All you girls who DON'T WANT TO GAIN A POUND.....

Print this out and tape copies EVERY PLACE THAT YOU LOOK ONE HUNDRED TIMES PER DAY....

 

[wlibbe]

Temple 01,

Don't you understand? This is not the kind of response that is going to help me or any of us.

Do you think what you said scared me? No.

I am deeply, deeply sorry for your loss-the whole experience sounds horrific and I am sure that you will never forget it as long as you live and I appreciate you sharing it with us.

We all know about the dangers that come with our ED's. If you are recovered then you will probably remember that you did not care either. It is a self-destructive process-at least for me.

Anyway-do you think that taking smokers to a cancer ward to see people with lung cancer and holes in their throats, breathing off respirators would stop them from smoking-----maybe-----if they are not already totally addicted. Sorry if this is a lame analogy but it works the same way I guess.

The first thing anyone says to me when they find out about the bulimia is "Don't you know how bad that is for your teeth, esophagus, digestive system, etc". Of course I know-I am a 24 year old-well educated woman. I know the risks.

All I want is some advice so I can continue to lose weight-EAT-and not throw up 2-4 times a day.

 

[wlibbe]

Also-where is this recovering from an ED thread? Is this the starving post that you were talking about Temple or is this different? Can someone post a link please?

Thanks!

 

[Temple]

http://209.11.101.244/forum/showthread.php?threadid=109113