Not eating enough calories?

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suntom

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Hello everyone.

I'm a man in my early 40's who has struggled with weight for the last 15 years. I've struggled to know why. I have excercised excessively, eaten healthy and limited the bad things in life. I don't drink very often. Once every 6 months.
I have read allot of books on diet an health to try to figure out why I'm accumulating so much fat around my waistline and now my chest. It's very embarrasing. I don't eat simple carbs and limit (but don't cut out the starch). This is a sign of insulin resistance and really shows that I'm doing something wrong.

I have responded by eating less, exercising more and wearing myself into the ground, all to try to lose a bit of weight. It's cost me allot over the years.. I'm fatigued, depressed and my sex drive has long gone. My vision goes slightly blurry when I'm under stress. The brain fog is debilitating. I'm stumped. I have been to several doctors and done tests for diabetes, testosterone, dhea, lutenizing hormone, liver, u/e, cholesterol, and a bunch of other tests and they keep telling me to stay off the fast foods which I never eat. The last time I ate fast food was probably around 20 years ago. Doctors aren't nutritionists, I've come to realize that.

After all these years I have had a light-bulb moment. I'm not eating enough calories. When I think about it, I'm restricting my diet so much that it's not enough to fuel weight loss. I run around 5 x 12 km runs a week and struggle and sometimes cry because no matter how much I try, it's always hard and I never lose a pound. The muscles in my legs build up and up while my stomach gets bigger.

Anyway... I read this article recently.. and it seems to make sense.
https://gokaleo.com/2013/01/25/adrenal-fatigue-as-a-cover-for-starvation/

I'm wondering if there is anyone out there who knows much about this. Obviously by being too strict over the years (and I had the best intentions), I've done myself more damage than good. How long does it take to reverse the negative processes from not eating enough calories? I am now eating twice as much as I used to and am putting on more weight but I know it will drop off once my system returns to normal. How long does it take. Is there any science around this? At least I know feel better, sleep better, but the weight hasn't started to leave me yet. Hopefully it will in the future.
 
suntom said:
Hello everyone.

I'm a man in my early 40's who has struggled with weight for the last 15 years. I've struggled to know why. I have excercised excessively, eaten healthy and limited the bad things in life. I don't drink very often. Once every 6 months.
I have read allot of books on diet an health to try to figure out why I'm accumulating so much fat around my waistline and now my chest. It's very embarrasing. I don't eat simple carbs and limit (but don't cut out the starch). This is a sign of insulin resistance and really shows that I'm doing something wrong.

I have responded by eating less, exercising more and wearing myself into the ground, all to try to lose a bit of weight. It's cost me allot over the years.. I'm fatigued, depressed and my sex drive has long gone. My vision goes slightly blurry when I'm under stress. The brain fog is debilitating. I'm stumped. I have been to several doctors and done tests for diabetes, testosterone, dhea, lutenizing hormone, liver, u/e, cholesterol, and a bunch of other tests and they keep telling me to stay off the fast foods which I never eat. The last time I ate fast food was probably around 20 years ago. Doctors aren't nutritionists, I've come to realize that.

After all these years I have had a light-bulb moment. I'm not eating enough calories. When I think about it, I'm restricting my diet so much that it's not enough to fuel weight loss. I run around 5 x 12 km runs a week and struggle and sometimes cry because no matter how much I try, it's always hard and I never lose a pound. The muscles in my legs build up and up while my stomach gets bigger.

Anyway... I read this article recently.. and it seems to make sense.
https://gokaleo.com/2013/01/25/adrenal-fatigue-as-a-cover-for-starvation/

I'm wondering if there is anyone out there who knows much about this. Obviously by being too strict over the years (and I had the best intentions), I've done myself more damage than good. How long does it take to reverse the negative processes from not eating enough calories? I am now eating twice as much as I used to and am putting on more weight but I know it will drop off once my system returns to normal. How long does it take. Is there any science around this? At least I know feel better, sleep better, but the weight hasn't started to leave me yet. Hopefully it will in the future.
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Well, it's good that you realized what your problem is before it ended up causing you serious harm. Yes, excess fat is certainly annoying, but at least it's not going to kill you.

Anyway, there's no answer to your question (How long does it take to reverse the negative processes from not eating enough calories?) because every single person is different. However, if you understand some of the science behind your problem then it might help you out.

When you eat a small amount of calories (at least compared to what you would normally eat) your body will lose weight. Since you are eating less calories your body doesn't have as many excess (or unneeded) calories which end up turning into fat, which is why you will lose weight. For instance...

If you normally eat 2,000 calories per day you will consume 14,000 calories per week.
If you diet and start eating 1,500 calories per day you will consume 10,500 calories per week.

The science is varied a little bit, but you need to burn about 3,500 calories to lose one pound of fat. The difference between 14,000 calories per week and 10,500 calories per week is 3,500 calories...or one pound of fat.

Simply cutting back on calories (as stated in the example) will result in a one pound loss per week.

Make sense so far?

Ok, now, what happens if you eat even LESS calories than that? Let's say you overdo it and go from eating 2,000 calories per day to eating 1,000 calories per day. If eating 500 less calories per day helps you lose ONE pound per week then eating 1,000 less calories per day should mean that you lose TWO pounds per week, right? Wrong. And, here's why.

It's common sense, but 1,000 calories per day is not nearly enough. And, your body knows it. If your body doesn't get enough calories it starts freaking out. When you don't get enough calories your metabolism slows down in an effort to keep your body from starving to death - the slower your metabolism, the less weight you will lose because that is your body's way of preventing itself from dying. Sounds harsh, but that's what happens.

If you eat too few calories then your body literally starts shutting itself down in an effort to keep you from losing weight. And, in all reality, many people GAIN weight when they eat too few calories because their metabolism slows down to the point where it prevents weight loss from happening.

How do you fix the problem? Just eat more. It's that simple. Unfortunately, there's no time frame that anybody can give you when it comes to how long it will take for your excess fat to disappear, but as long as you just eat more calories (an appropriate amount of calories, I should say) then your problem should be corrected.
 
I agree with the sentiments of article, suntom, not least in stating that calories do matter, since they ultimately provide the body with energy.

Regardless of individual goals, we all need to consume sufficient daily calories that support those respective aims.

In order to help you gain a clearer idea of how many calories you should be consuming, you ought to research BMR/TDEE calculators, since they're largely accurate in determining both. Having obtained your BMR and TDEE, given that you run regularly, in order to lose weight you shouldn't introduce a calorie deficit through intake; allow the calories burned through regular running to create the calorie deficit.

Depending upon your weight, duration and intensity of the endeavour, running will burn around 100Kcal per mile. If you perform 5x12K runs throughout the week, you'll be expending around 750kcal per run.

As such, I'd suggest that your daily calorie intake is around 200Kcal more than your recommended BMR, since your body will utilise energy, stored in existing levels of body fat, to fuel your repeated endeavour.

Concerning running itself, in order to improve your level of athletic performance and resulting level of weight loss, rather than performing 5x12K, seek to introduce 60/60 splits into your schedule, whereby you run flat out for 60s, followed by 60s recovery. In doing so, the hard intervals should exercise your anaerobic energy system, thus improving your lactate threshold. As a runner, you no doubt understand how an increased lactate threshold can lead to an improved p.b.

Sessions, where 60/60 splits are performed, will be considerably shorter, lasting no longer than 20-25 minutes. However, their effect upon your athletic performance and corresponding level of weight loss will hopefully allow you to understand their importance.

Perform them twice a week, allowing a day's rest, and you'll quickly notice the difference. As weight is lost, however, you may find that you need to increase your calorie consumption closer towards your TDEE in order to enjoy a continued reduction in weight.

Give the above a go and see how you get on.
 
You are doing way too much long distance cardio which will burn muscle tissue and raise cortisol. Both which are bad for weight loss and metabolism.

Studies also show that if you do excessive cardio while on a heavily restricted diet (like you are doing) it will slow your metabolism right down.

I would still eat low carb high protein/moderate fat. But include weight training 3x/week and cut your cardio way down. Do interval sprints if you must.
 
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