Not Eating Enough and Gaining Weight
So I mysteriously put on 7 lbs 2 weeks ago and I think I finally figured out why:
I’m not eating enough!
I usually eat a lot, snacking throughout the day, but ever since I started paying attention to my calories, my weight has stubbornly stayed fixed at 5 - 7lbs more than my norm. What the heck is going on?
Well, for the past two days I said “Screw it!” It was my time of month and I was craving fatty meats, rice, noodles and juice. I went back to my old eating habits and guess what…
I’ve lost 4 lbs! Not only that, I feel better (thank god for food!) and my waistline looks trimmer.
I think by cutting down my calories, I was slowing down my metabolism. Instead of feeding my body regularly and keeping my metabolism going, I slowed it down to a crawl and it held onto every stubborn pound because my body thought it may not get enough food.
Well no more of that! I will make healthier food choices, but I’ll be sure to eat more.
October 19th, 2008 at 6:35 am
This is a great point. I was stuck at the same weight for years and it wasn’t until I started food journaling that I realized I was under-eating and as such, dramatically slowing down my metabolism.
Women need to make certain that they never consume less than 1200 calories per day, and be aware of the calorie deficit created via exercise. Unless you have a substantial amount of weight to lose, you should not create more than a 1000 calorie/day deficit as the goal should be healthy, sustainable weight loss.
Good luck!!
Susan
http://www.catapultfitnessblog.com
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:53 am
Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again - taking you feeds also, Thanks.
August 4th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Very nice post on nutrition. Hope to learn more from you.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Found your blog while browsing Google. Bookmarked. Looking forward to more nutrition tips.
August 19th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
If you cut your calorific intake dramatically your body presumes that what is occuring is actually a famine of sorts (like early man would have experienced and modern man in less affluent society). As such, your body protects its fat stores and goes into ‘famine-mode’, stubbornly refusing to give up its remaining fat reserves. This is one of the reasons why weight-gain occurs at the end of a diet - your body remains in famine-mode for a time and so converts as much energy as possible into fat in preparation for further hardship.
This may be the reason why your body was more amenable to giving up weight with a more moderate cut in calories?