For men, the recommended daily calorie intake is about 2,500 calories. I understand that this is needed to perform basic bodily functions, even for a sedentary person.

I've noticed that when I diet and try to eat around 1,500 calories/day, I get hungry and I don't lose anything. Is the body going into starvation mode?

To lose weight, should I try to eat around 2,500 calories?

You can probably take in more than 2500!! But you gotta work.. walk more, do cardio, lift weights (EXTREMELY important), take the stairs, SOMETHING to increase your output.. and don't expect it to happen quickly! Unless you're severely obese, you should only be losing 2-3 lbs/week.

But yeah, 1500 is nowhere near enough for a grown-ass man... hell yeah your body will shut it down! Women can do that, or already lean men who are trying to get leaner.. like for a Men's Fitness cover photo shoot, lol:)

Good luck!

"Trains, planes, automobiles.. you better have my DOUGHnuts.." -Delonte West

Not to say it's everyone's, but a long time ago when I was a crazy teenager, I tried a 1,000 calorie a day diet (I'm female). My body totally went into "starvation mode", and I didn't lose any weight at all past a certain point. Now, that was probably a good thing. My body was protecting me from myself. But extreme starvation diets like that are NOT the way to go.

You know, it's kind of a relief to hear this, since counting calories for less than 1600 calories/day was driving me nuts and it wasn't doing a thing!

I have a feeling I may have put my body into starvation mode. Last summer, I was eating only strawberries and raspsberries and I lost weight. Then, all of a sudden, I started getting acid reflux and when I began to eat a little more, I gained weight. It was very puzzling since I didn't even eat a huge amount. I'm going to try this 2500+ calories/day thing now, but I'm a little concerned it might make me gain. I'll see how it goes.

Ok, I don't know you, and I LOVE fruit as much as anyone (it's actually a joke with my friends), but you cannot live off of nothing but strawberries and raspberries!!! Even crazy hermits like John the Baptist ate some protein (wild locusts) and even carbs and fat (honey, hello!!).

If you've been eating that little, you probably have put your body into starvation mode. Eat small, frequent, BALANCED meals. Try to eat approximately equal amounts of protein,(good) carbs, and (good) fat in each meal. Eat every couple of hours (as soon as you feel hungry) and then stop eating when you no longer feel hungry (don't keep eating until you feel FULL).

If you eat too little, your body goes into starvation mode and tries to conserve fat no matter what. Then, when you start to eat again, your body will try to put on more weight than you lost in order to prepare for the next famine. Then you've raised your setpoint (the weight your body naturally tries to maintain). Lowering your setpoint is hard, but I believe some keys to that are increasing exercise (and including some strength training) and eating frequently. And making sure you get ENOUGH nutrition.

Instead of trying to severely decrease your caloric intake, increase your output by exercising!

Sorry if I'm ranting, but when you said you were eating 1600 calories of FRUIT and nothing else, I got a little concerned about you. Take care of your body, please! You can't trade it in for a new one if it breaks.

Thanks for the concern, racoolness. On hindsight, it really wasn't a very good idea!

Losing weight is not a math formula. You can't just eat a lot less and do more and lose weight. On paper that works. But your body has mechanisms in place to store fat for lean times. We are the descendants of people who survived countless famines. People whose bodies couldn't adjust for not having enough food for awhile died hundreds of thousands of years ago leaving no descendants.

Houndentenor

"Get the trash off the street and back on the stage where it belongs." -- Bette Midler

I recommend getting to a gym and having a Resting Metabolic Rate test done. Most places have some way of doing this - usually, you sit and breathe into a little gadget for awhile, and it spits out fairly accurate information about how many calories your body will burn if you don't move a muscle all day. If you drop below this number of calories (either by eating too few or burning too many), your body will start shutting down into starvation mode. There some formula that I don't remember for increasing this number by certain percentages based on the rigor (or lack thereof) of your normal daily activity, and then you can add in the number of calories burned for any workouts you plan to do. This'll give you a fairly accurate picture of how many calories you're actually burning in a day. The key to losing weight is to consume fewer calories than you burn through your physical actions, but NOT less than the number of calories you need for basic bodily functions.

If you don't have access to (or the money for) a consultation with a personal trainer to determine this accurately, there are plenty of websites that offer ways to estimate RMR and calories burned during certain types of exercise. They're not 100% accurate, but they'll give you a decent idea of the appropriate range.

Do some research on dieting. Check out especially the low carbs, higher protein type dieting models (South Beach, Atkins, etc) and the recommendations from places like mens health etc. Let it all filter thru and then start looking at what will work with your lifestyle, schedule, etc.

Also, remember that ultimately, sugars are simple energy sources, so are processed quicker. Proteins and fats tend to take longer to be broken down and absorbed, therefore, if you want to get longer lasting energy, with the same number of calories, you need to make sure you have a higher proportion of your calories from non carb sources...

Also, do a search on weightloss here, there is lots of info about what has worked for diff people. But, the bottom line is always, fat loss comes when you consistently burn more energy than you eat, but you still need to ensure all nutrient types are provided..

Stu the crazy bass from down under


**********************************************************************
Polar bears for Obama!!

It's extraordinary to think that the 2500 caleries/day figure will apply to every single man. Because every person is different, with different genetics, lifesyle, psychology, etc.

And even if the 2500 cal/day figure did suit you, some days (based on your activity level) you would need more, others less.

When I was working at an office, and sitting all day, I would routinely not eat breakfast, and only have a small lunch. But now, when I'm on my feet all day, I eat a lot more.

I am very suspicious of calorie counting. I personally think that while it can be a helpful tool for letting you know the big picture about what you're putting into your body, for guaging your day-to-day requirements, listening to your body is far more effective.

The problem is, from infancy, we are conditioned (in the West) to ignore our body's signals when it comes to eating and drinking: "eat your vegetables," "no dessert until you've cleaned your plate," "there are starving children in Africa who would like that food," "drink 4 litres of water a day," etc. It takes some real mindfulness in today's food culture to really come to grips with what we eat. But IMO, this kind of awareness is way easier than counting calories (which I wouldn't do if you put a gun to my head).

I say, eat good, real food, in small/moderate amounts, listen to your body. Eat more when you are hungry, eat less when you aren't.

*





















*I am not a doctor, and any opinions I express on this forum are my opinions only, and should not be confused with real medical advice given by a licensed professional. If you are concerned about your medical condition, always see a doctor!

... and make up any difference with exercise... My personal trainer former boyfriend explained this too me and I never quite got it and I could get a better explanation for you if we were still talking, but since the best I can do is explain it to you myself, all I can say is, if you just eat less, you will lose weight but will be flabby, which is probably not what you want. If you eat well and exercise, the strength training will create muscle, the cardio will eliminate calories and your body will be more efficient at losing weight...

Hope this makes sense and sounds right, it is what I got from his explanations and as he loved to tell me, having a masters in physiology should count for something... although patience in explaining was not one of them and if I didn't get it immediately, he just assumed I was stupid or questioning him, so I couldn't get all the explanations I would have wanted...

Hope it helps...

Thanks for all the responses. After observing my weight for the past 7 months, I'm pretty sure I was in starvation mode since I lost about 15 pounds in the period I was dieting and am currently back at the same weight before the diet.

I developed acid reflux at around the same time. Could malnutrition/not eating enough/eating only fruits cause reflux? Ahhh, I really screwed myself over. I'll try to get one of those Resting Metabolic Rate tests done - thanks for that very helpful piece of information!

I'm far from an expert, though. Good luck to you!