keeprogresin'
02-01-2007, 10:52 PM
I know there's all this talk about needing to keep your caloric intake up in order to keep your metabolism going and so your body doesnt go in starvation mode, and if you take in too few calories it will be very hard to lose weight. The one thing I don't understand though is what about the people that suffer from anorexia nervosa and bulimia that hardly take in any calories? With all due respect, how do they become so thin, not saying it's good, but if we teach the principle that low caloric intake=no weight loss then I'm wondering how that same principle applies to the above-mentioned group of people. And there are so many that suffer from that and are "successful" in it. The thing I'm arguing is NOT how they lose the weight, but I'm asking why do people say that if caloric intake is too low then you can't lose weight, because there are many that pull it off. Or do people say that? You know what I mean? :confused: WHY DO THEY SAY THAT? NOT HOW DO THEY LOSE THE WEIGHT!
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nikki2006
02-02-2007, 01:44 AM
if your not anorexic or bulimic then its gonna be hard to eat such few calories for any length of time.. so for you average person, if you were to eat too few calories and then eat normal again (as it will be hard to maintain) you will put it on faster and then to take of the weight u just put on takes eating even less to acheive the same results as the time before.. i think, anyway..
ktt
02-02-2007, 04:08 AM
HI K
The body does slow metabolism in response to lack of food and goes into survival mode because it thinks something dire is happening so it will start to sacrifice non essentials like hair, skin, nails and conserve energy to keep the vital systems going as long as possible. It'll start stripping off protein from muscles etc. Additionally it will also create intense cravings for food and anyone in starvation mode knows that most people can only deny that for so long since it's like a civil war inside your head screaming at you to eat which is why most extreme quick loss diets fail. Anorexics may be able to overrule those mental sos's from the brain so their bodies are forced into using whatever reserves they have and continue to lose weight. The body can slow it down but it can't stop giving calories when the brain and heart are demanding fuel to operate. Very low calorie dieters however more likely get stuck in the slowed metabolism but eating just enough to satisfy their basic needs.
The body does slow metabolism in response to lack of food and goes into survival mode because it thinks something dire is happening so it will start to sacrifice non essentials like hair, skin, nails and conserve energy to keep the vital systems going as long as possible. It'll start stripping off protein from muscles etc. Additionally it will also create intense cravings for food and anyone in starvation mode knows that most people can only deny that for so long since it's like a civil war inside your head screaming at you to eat which is why most extreme quick loss diets fail. Anorexics may be able to overrule those mental sos's from the brain so their bodies are forced into using whatever reserves they have and continue to lose weight. The body can slow it down but it can't stop giving calories when the brain and heart are demanding fuel to operate. Very low calorie dieters however more likely get stuck in the slowed metabolism but eating just enough to satisfy their basic needs.
livinTX
02-02-2007, 12:56 PM
Well, anorexia and bulimia DO wreak havoc on the metabolism. You may not necessarily SEE it because eating disorder sufferers are so thin, and like some PPs have mentioned, they ignore STRONG STRONG urges by the body to eat. Their metabolism does slow down and get messed up though...this is especially why an ED is such a difficult disease to recover from. Once the ED sufferer has decided to turn to recovery (or is force-fed in the hospital, whichever comes first), the weight piles on quite quickly, it seems, especially to someone suffering with an ED.
I was diagnosed with anorexia when I was in college. At my low point, my weight was probably 80 lb. (I am 5' 4".) To maintain 80 lb., I was eating less than 1000 calories/day (500 if I could manage it), exercising 4-5 hours daily (mostly running), using laxatives, and forcing myself to vomit. Not at all a healthy lifestyle. Once I decided to give recovery a chance because it was so miserable living like that, the weight piled on quite quickly and unevenly. It took about 6 months before my metabolism seemed to start normalizing, closer to a year before I got anything like a normal metabolism again. I'm now recovered for close to 5 years and maintaining my weight at 120 lb., though some parts of the ED like body image never really do improve. I don't want to go back there for the world. It is a scary and miserable place.
This slowed metabolism when recovery begins, makes recovery extremely difficult, and I think it is a large part of the reason why many who suffer with an ED find it just too scary to gain weight: because the slowed metabolism makes the weight gain seem unstoppable.
I was diagnosed with anorexia when I was in college. At my low point, my weight was probably 80 lb. (I am 5' 4".) To maintain 80 lb., I was eating less than 1000 calories/day (500 if I could manage it), exercising 4-5 hours daily (mostly running), using laxatives, and forcing myself to vomit. Not at all a healthy lifestyle. Once I decided to give recovery a chance because it was so miserable living like that, the weight piled on quite quickly and unevenly. It took about 6 months before my metabolism seemed to start normalizing, closer to a year before I got anything like a normal metabolism again. I'm now recovered for close to 5 years and maintaining my weight at 120 lb., though some parts of the ED like body image never really do improve. I don't want to go back there for the world. It is a scary and miserable place.
This slowed metabolism when recovery begins, makes recovery extremely difficult, and I think it is a large part of the reason why many who suffer with an ED find it just too scary to gain weight: because the slowed metabolism makes the weight gain seem unstoppable.
chevyman
02-02-2007, 05:58 PM
You need calories for the fuel your body needs to function,with the diffrent food groups you eat you get that fuel.. if you don't comsume enough calories and your body goes into starvation then the brain just don't know what to do because theres not a supply of calories for your body to use and if theres not any.... then you simply run out of gas...sometimes a person can lower there cloric intake from say 3000/4000 a day a to down to say 1500 cal..and still not lose weight in a period of 3 /4 weeks time and they give up....but if that person raises there caloric intake from 1500 to say 2100 or so then they will lose weight its because the metabolic process in our bodys differ from each one of us... but on the normal side if you lower your caloric consuption to a disereable amount any whare from 500 to 800 calories below 2500 daily then you should lose weight based that 2500 cal on your daily intake.
A few years ago I did something really really stupid, I went down to like 200 400 calories a day only eating luttus thats all lettus and water and exerciseing my a** off only to get into starvation mode and I got really really sick...it messed my body and metabolic process all up.
well what that did was put my tryglicrides up high high blowed my ketones sky high probably enough to run ''Atkins out of bussiness, lower my white blood cells throwed me a curve really bad, my fingers and feet started tingly,my feet begain to swell and was really hot feeling....I was put in the hospital for all kinds of test and they found out I was low low on my b-12 causeing all these symtoms,after the Dr's ruled out any form of lukima/cancers and I never drink large amounts of alchol, they said it was the way I had been dieting and that the acids in my stomache had ate out my instric factors......anyway I now have to take b-12 injections twice month for my stupidy for lowering my claoric intake like that.
this is just one of the things lowering your cloric intake can do to your body
but now with that said I did some reserch on the lipo gastic by-pass or the new lap-band and they say after you have that type of surgery you only can consume about 500 calories daily and take vitiman supplements ect,,ect,, but still 500 calories to me is low low? thats what I have a hard time if understanding?
I can't explan it any better than ktt and the others have as for as why you need calories and how the caloic process works and why we need so many caloires to be safe.
A few years ago I did something really really stupid, I went down to like 200 400 calories a day only eating luttus thats all lettus and water and exerciseing my a** off only to get into starvation mode and I got really really sick...it messed my body and metabolic process all up.
well what that did was put my tryglicrides up high high blowed my ketones sky high probably enough to run ''Atkins out of bussiness, lower my white blood cells throwed me a curve really bad, my fingers and feet started tingly,my feet begain to swell and was really hot feeling....I was put in the hospital for all kinds of test and they found out I was low low on my b-12 causeing all these symtoms,after the Dr's ruled out any form of lukima/cancers and I never drink large amounts of alchol, they said it was the way I had been dieting and that the acids in my stomache had ate out my instric factors......anyway I now have to take b-12 injections twice month for my stupidy for lowering my claoric intake like that.
this is just one of the things lowering your cloric intake can do to your body
but now with that said I did some reserch on the lipo gastic by-pass or the new lap-band and they say after you have that type of surgery you only can consume about 500 calories daily and take vitiman supplements ect,,ect,, but still 500 calories to me is low low? thats what I have a hard time if understanding?
I can't explan it any better than ktt and the others have as for as why you need calories and how the caloic process works and why we need so many caloires to be safe.
Lenin
02-03-2007, 11:58 AM
STARVATION RESPONSE is when the body becomes more efficient and conserves calories as a response to an extremely low calorie diet. Once normal food intake is tried, the body reponds with rapid weight gain. If more food is NOT provided then:
STARVATION, the REAL thing, is not enough food. PERIOD.
Weight will continue to be lost till all excess fat is burned off along with lots of the muscle. Then the body starts eating it's own organs until death ensues. THIS is the outcome of anorexia nervosa.
Generally very few people have to worry ablout eating too little and getting or staying fat. We get fat becasue we eat TOO MUCH...too many calories.
So diet, but don't try to CRASH diet...the longterm effect of the latter isn;t a good result. A person who is overweight should aim for a pound a week...an obese person for 2. Nobody should diet harder than that!
STARVATION, the REAL thing, is not enough food. PERIOD.
Weight will continue to be lost till all excess fat is burned off along with lots of the muscle. Then the body starts eating it's own organs until death ensues. THIS is the outcome of anorexia nervosa.
Generally very few people have to worry ablout eating too little and getting or staying fat. We get fat becasue we eat TOO MUCH...too many calories.
So diet, but don't try to CRASH diet...the longterm effect of the latter isn;t a good result. A person who is overweight should aim for a pound a week...an obese person for 2. Nobody should diet harder than that!
janx
02-03-2007, 03:38 PM
Thanks Lenin, for the good explanation. I have learned so much from reading your and Chevyman's post. You both seem like very smart guys! How much weight have you lost and over what time frame? You might have posted earlier, but I've only been here a few months. If you are reading, Chevymand, same question at ya. Thanks again for the encouraging posts guys, you help me out a lot. Brenwill
keeprogresin'
02-03-2007, 10:43 PM
thanks for all your posts, especially Lenin. I can agree with the fact that if dieting and exercising you can raise your caloric intake and still lose weight as long as its not more than you burn, but that doesnt rule out the fact that someone can drop to 500 calories or less a day and still lose weight, cause you can, your body will burn whats stored. it is bad for health and am NOT encouraging anyone to do that, with all due respect I just wanted to bring to attention that it's not impossible to lose weight by eating so few calories and starvation mode doesn't play a part in NOT losing weight, even though it may slow down weight loss considerably and can eventually lead to rapid weight gain when calories are upped, but is not ultimately the reason why further weight loss is unachievable.
Lenin
02-04-2007, 10:01 AM
keepprogessing,
That's correct: somone can lose weight by eating 500 calories per day. It can even be done safely if one is grossly obese and it's done under the guidance of a professional who will help to insure that all micronutrients are being consumed in needed amounts. God help the person when he starts eating 2000calories again though.
After all, that's how the huge losses are made from bariatric surgery.
But for real people, a wise lower limit is really about 1200 calories because that can be sustained without damaging one's health.
A diet of 500 calories over a long period of time will eventually kill a person.
That's correct: somone can lose weight by eating 500 calories per day. It can even be done safely if one is grossly obese and it's done under the guidance of a professional who will help to insure that all micronutrients are being consumed in needed amounts. God help the person when he starts eating 2000calories again though.
After all, that's how the huge losses are made from bariatric surgery.
But for real people, a wise lower limit is really about 1200 calories because that can be sustained without damaging one's health.
A diet of 500 calories over a long period of time will eventually kill a person.