Schedule messing with my metabolism?

1

11firecrackers

New member
For the past couple of months I have been eating 1100 calories per day, but I'm still gaining weight. I don't really see how this could be possible, since the human body is supposed to burn more than 1100 calories even when lazing around all day.

But, I'm worried that my mixed up schedule has something to do with it, like it's affecting my metabolism. For instance, for the past week (spring break) I woke up at 12pm and ate "breakfast" at about 12:30-1pm and ate dinner at about 8-9pm. I do this on the weekends too. But during school days I wake up at 5:20am, eat breakfast at 7:30am, and eat dinner at 6pm. I always make sure I go to bed 3 and a half hours after dinner to make sure I digest everything. But anyway, I'm wondering if the shock of my odd sleeping habits that occur on long breaks and weekends is confusing my metabolism and making me store fat at even 1100 calories.

Is this possible?
 
you are not adding up your calories properly or you havnt been doing it long enough.

Sorry its just not possible. However you might want to try eating a little more than 1100 as your metabolism will slow down to adjust :)
 
your stats please....

1100 calories is very low. Just because your under how much your body naturally burns, it does not mean you will lose weight. Well actually you might lose weight, but its mostly musccle if anything. so how much do you weigh, and height
 
Trevor10 said:
your stats please....

1100 calories is very low. Just because your under how much your body naturally burns, it does not mean you will lose weight. Well actually you might lose weight, but its mostly musccle if anything. so how much do you weigh, and height
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Just curious, if you to do this and lift, would you still lose muscle?
 
darkangell said:
Just curious, if you to do this and lift, would you still lose muscle?
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most of it will be muscle, just because of the calories being so low. Now minimal muscle loss is if your eating a bit more, but still a deficit, in that case, if you continue to lift heavy, and get adequate protein, muscle loss will be minimal
 
There are certain diets where you can go that low or lower in calories and not lose muscle assuming you do the right things. But it's not something recommended.
 
I'm currently 5'2" and 119 pounds, whereas in November I was 106-109 pounds.

I know I'm adding up my calories correctly, too, especially because I overestimate by about 50 just in case I might be taking more than I know.
 
Friends I am not a weight loss freak neither do I need to go for one. So pardon me if I am repeating the same question which has been asked by someone already. Felt that the calories has something to do with this so decided to post here.
For the last few months my wife realized she has been gaining weight and she has started skipping her dinners. Though I am not appreciating the idea very much yet she wont budge from her policy. She is not doing any exercises apart from the household chores. So it would be good to know the pros and cons of the practice that she has undertaken.
 
Your body is in starvation mode! You only eat 2 times daily 8 hrs or more apart and only 1100 calories. Your body needs energy (calories) through out the day but you are not feeding it. Your body becomes really efficient at STORING calories, in the form of fat. Try spreading the calories out into 4-5 small meals and adding a small healthy snack.
 
At 1100 calories a day, and having your meals spaced so far apart from each other, * probably isn't good for the metabolism. (Also perhaps trying to have breakfast closer to the wake up time?)

I have a horrible schedule (which I'm trying to fix) and I've still been able to lose a little bit of weight, and I know a woman whos daughter was keeping her up until 4 am some nights, and getting her up at 8 am and she still managed to lose upwards of 70lbs.

I'd like to see your food and exercise diary.
 
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Anyone who is dieting (strictly or not) is in 'starvation mode.' It's not an event... it's a process. An adaptive response to a hypocaloric state. Number of meals per day has very little to do with this process, to boot. Net calories do, however.
 
And in response to both the above posts..... even when metabolism downregulates in response to dieting, never, no matter what, does it store fat in the face of a caloric deficit. Our bodies abide by the laws of thermodynamics regardless.

So if one is eating 1100 calories and this is a deficit, the metabolism is never going to drop low enough to turn said deficit into a surplus.... and a surplus is what is needed if one is to store fat. Can't create something out of nothing, period.

I'm not saying 1100 calories is appropriate.

I'm simply maintaining the integrity of the information being presented.
 
Steve said:
And in response to both the above posts..... even when metabolism downregulates in response to dieting, never, no matter what, does it store fat in the face of a caloric deficit. Our bodies abide by the laws of thermodynamics regardless.

So if one is eating 1100 calories and this is a deficit, the metabolism is never going to drop low enough to turn said deficit into a surplus.... and a surplus is what is needed if one is to store fat. Can't create something out of nothing, period.

I'm not saying 1100 calories is appropriate.

I'm simply maintaining the integrity of the information being presented.
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I'll change my post.
 
Actually I do eat 4 small meals a day, breakfast being about 400 calories, 100 calorie snack, then a 300 calorie lunch and in a couple hours a 300 calorie dinner.

I can't eat breakfast any earlier to my wake up time, I have to get ready for school which takes me about 1 and a half hours. I can't eat breakfast first because there is a certain time I have to be done getting ready. But I do a short work out before breakfast and all of my meals too, except for the 100 calorie snack. I also walk for about 45 minutes a few times a week.

However I can't increase my calories because I'll gain even MORE weight. What should I do...? Increase slowly and exercise more?

Also, I'm wondering if caffeine might help to speed up my metabolism. If I started to drink coffee or energy drinks (low carb, no "bad" artificial sweeteners like aspartame) might it help? I often feel drowsy during school days, and I worry that it's slowing my body down a bit.
 
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11firecrackers said:
I'm currently 5'2" and 119 pounds, whereas in November I was 106-109 pounds.

I know I'm adding up my calories correctly, too, especially because I overestimate by about 50 just in case I might be taking more than I know.
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Nobody is really sure of their caloric intake. They just aren't. Calories themselves aren't 100% accurate and people's measurement practices of their food sure as shit aren't reliable.

How are you tracking your caloric intake? Exactly?

Can you say without a doubt that you adhere to said intake day in and day out?

What exactly are you eating?

Also, are you exercising?

You are a small woman. Your maintenance, depending on a few things, is probably somewhere around 1500-1600 calories, assuming you're exercising. So you really don't have a lot of room to 'wiggle' in terms of caloric intake. Any weight loss is probably going to be very slow for you.

So answer the above questions and we'll go from there.
 
Steve said:
Nobody is really sure of their caloric intake. They just aren't. Calories themselves aren't 100% accurate and people's measurement practices of their food sure as shit aren't reliable.

How are you tracking your caloric intake? Exactly?

Can you say without a doubt that you adhere to said intake day in and day out?

What exactly are you eating?

Also, are you exercising?

You are a small woman. Your maintenance, depending on a few things, is probably somewhere around 1500-1600 calories, assuming you're exercising. So you really don't have a lot of room to 'wiggle' in terms of caloric intake. Any weight loss is probably going to be very slow for you.

So answer the above questions and we'll go from there.
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Well, I'm tracking simply by adding everything up. I eat the same amounts of the same things every day at the same times. I don't have to do that much calculating. I start my day assuming I'm already 50 calories in just to compensate for the fact that calories aren't 100% accurate. So in other words, if they were, then I would be eating about 1050 calories. I may be off by 30 or something insignificant, but I'm not worried about that.

My day consists of:

First meal - oatmeal, yogurt and toast

Second - two fruit cups or one fruit cup and an orange/apple/other fruit

Third - cereal (two servings) yogurt, fruit or vegetable

I drink only water, about 1 and a half glasses with each meal.

Fourth - chicken breast (skinless, boneless), pasta (low calorie "Smart Taste" brand, 1/2 of a seriving), and cauliflower or broccoli (two servings)

I probably don't exercise as much as I should, which is somewhere I ought to improve and I know that (it's just knowing what and how much to do that stumps me). I do 200 jumping jacks, 50 situps and 50 pushups before my first, third and fourth meals, and 100 jumping jacks before bed. I walk (at a moderate to fast pace) a few times a week for about 45 minutes, sometimes an hour. I have recently started tying leg lifts 2 times a day to try and rid my stomach of the extra fat. I also walk from class to class--upstairs and downstairs--at school, move around during breaks. I tend to sit at home on weekends aside from the walking.

Also; right now, although I would like to lose 9 pounds, my nutritionist is telling me I should work on maintaining, but I still want to rid myself of my rolls.
 
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11firecrackers said:
Well, I'm tracking simply by adding everything up.
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So we can help you better, why don't you open yourself a account. It's free and it will allow us to get a better glimpse of exactly what's going on. You can input your foods and then take a screenshot of it. Then you can attach said screenshot to a post here so we can view it.

I eat the same amounts of the same things every day at the same times.
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How are you measuring said amounts?

First meal - oatmeal, yogurt and toast
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Is the oatmeal in a packet? Or do you have to measure it?

Same for the yogurt.

If you have to measure each of these, how are you doing so?

Do you put anything on the toast? Or you're just eating dry toast?

Second - two fruit cups or one fruit cup and an orange/apple/other fruit
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I assume these fruit cups come pre-packaged so you know the caloric and nutrient composition of the package?

Third - cereal (two servings) yogurt, fruit or vegetable
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How are you measuring your 2 servings of cereal? Yogurt? Fruit?

Fourth - chicken breast (skinless, boneless), [/quote]

How are you measuring?

pasta (low calorie "Smart Taste" brand, 1/2 of a seriving),
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How are you measuring?

I probably don't exercise as much as I should, which is somewhere I ought to improve and I know that (it's just knowing what and how much to do that stumps me). I do 200 jumping jacks, 50 situps and 50 pushups before my first, third and fourth meals, and 100 jumping jacks before bed. I walk (at a moderate to fast pace) a few times a week for about 45 minutes, sometimes an hour. I have recently started tying leg lifts 2 times a day to try and rid my stomach of the extra fat. I also walk from class to class--upstairs and downstairs--at school, move around during breaks. I tend to sit at home on weekends aside from the walking.
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With that said, your maintenance is probably even lower than what I suggested in the above post. That means if your caloric calculations are off even slightly, there's a good chance your hovering around maintenance and therefore not losing any weight. So be sure to answer the questions in this post.

Stop trying to spot reduce the fat off your belly. You can't do that. We'll discuss an appropriate exercise routine for you once we get your nutrition under wraps.

Also; right now, although I would like to lose 9 pounds, my nutritionist is telling me I should work on maintaining, but I still want to rid myself of my rolls.
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Did your nutritionist create this meal plan for you?

If so, fire her.

She sucks.

There's probably not enough protein, healthy fats, veggies, and fiber in this diet. But fitday will tell us that.
 
She didn't create it, she's just working with me.

My oatmeal is from a packet and yogurt's in a single serving carton; I use a tablespoon of apple butter (30 calories)/sugar-free preserves (10) on each piece of toast. The fruit cups are either 25 calories or 70 calories. Sometimes I'll have one 70 and a 25, or sometimes I'll have four 25s.

Everything else I'm measuring using measuring cups. I've asked my parents time and time again for a scale to be more accurate but they're convinced that I'll become to obsessed (to them measuring food is "obsessive").

But thanks for the suggestion, I'll sign up for fitday.
 
Measuring cups tend to lie.... I'd be willing to bet your intake isn't what you think it is. Only a good scale would shed the light though. And again, with the kind of 'wiggle room' your dealing with due to your alread light weight, being exact is pretty important... especially if you're having trouble.

I'd be interested in seeing pictures of you. I hate sounding intrusive... but I'm not about walking someone into anorexia, lol. I've met plenty of 120 lb women who could stand to 'tone up' and I'm sure that's the case with you too.

Hit up fitday and keep us posted.
 
I am wondering, that possibly, maybe???it could be a low thyroid? I have this problem, and it's a devil to get straightened out, but a symptom is little to no metabolism. I gained much weight rapidly, am extra hungry and can't lose very well. However, I'm also unusually exhausted, all symptoms of hypothyroidism. I can't afford to wait until it's all "straightened out" though, so on with the weight loss--a little is better than none!
 
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