Hi all, I'd very much like to hear peoples opinions or things people have read on the matter of the body going into 'starvation mode', and general weight loss in general.

Since Xmas I've been trying to lose weight, I eat pretty healthily and exercise a lot... In a bid to lose weight i've found myself really trying to cut out anything bad or too calorific, yet weight loss is seemingly beginning to plateu...

I'm the last person I could imagine having a body that would go into 'starvation mode' (the situation people refer to when calorie intake far lower than the body needs and the body adapts to survive on minimal food intake, dropped metabolism etc...), and I've heard that calorie intake of below 1200 Calories a day will lead to the body entering this so called 'starvation mode'

Anyway, i'll try not to waffle on, I've started keeping a food diary/log after a thread on the forum. I've been tallying up my food intake and total calories for most days over the past week, and then compared them to what I'm burning off. The result?? I have a calorie defecit typically over 1,000 kcals a day (several at 1400'ish). Is this likely to be putting my body into starvation mode? Or am I more likely to be just reaching my bodies natural 'ideal weight'??

I'm 23, 5'11", currently 12st 8lb, losing around a pound of weight a week.

I understand this may come across to many as being overly obsessed calorie counting etc and I'm sure people may think I should just not worry about it so much, but ultimately It's just a case of wanting to get myself into the best running shape possible. I don't want to be underweight by any means, but my current weight is pushing on for the 'overweight' category based on BMI.

All comments welcome, however harsh! lol.

A calorie defecit over a 1000 a day?!?!? WTF???? You mean you're eating like... 1000 calories and burning off 2000.... a day??? I'm confused.

Consuming on most days around 2000Kcals, burning 2800-3300kcals

Is that the Scientist coming out in you a-n-s.............

I'm 23, 5'11", currently 12st 8lb ? - that sounds about right to me, throw that calorie sheet away immediately.!

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With a calorie defecit like that I'm sure your body's metabolism will have dropped to try to counter some of it. The cold at this time of year doesn't help either. Still, a pound a week is pretty healthy isn't it? But I would have thought you could acheive that with a far higher intake.

That's what I mean Jason, typically you'd expect that for every 3500 Kcal defecit you should lose about 1lb of fat... so for a weeks defecit of over 8000, you'd expect at least 2lb drop?

It's not like i'm intentionally starving myself or anything, to be honest it's all come around based on some dud information I got to start with. As we all know basic calorie requirements are in the region of 2000 for females, 2500 for blokes. Now I was reading about basic metabolic rate, being the amount of calories one burns naturally in a day, mine worked out to be 1907, so I limited my calories to 2000 a day, thinking if I burned 2500 (BMR + exercise) I'd lose a lb a week. Having read more into it, BMR is calorie requirement for literally doing nothing, other than existing. Once my basic movements for teh day are added, my calorie expenditure before exercise is more like 2500 (which figures!).

I know 12st 8lb is hardly a health concern, but in terms of a long distance runner (and someone who was 9.5stone 6 years back), it's heavier than I'd like to be!

Pedestrians comments about runners of today being saturated with information are sounding rather true atm lol!

Yes... yes it is... How on earth do you burn that much a day?!?! I burn maybe 700, 1300 at most!! Even do speedwork, I burn maybe 700 in a typical workout. Crazy. I feel so inadequate!

A_N_S... are you aware you burn around 2000 a day just by existing? so you're looking at 2700-3300 a day

I see... Anyway... I wouldn't get too obsessed with calorie counting. Just be sensible, and if you're running regularly it will happen. PLUS BMI doesn't take in to account lean mass, as I'm sure many people say... so really it might say you're like overweight or whatever, but you're probably not. My BMI is like 24.5 which is almost overweight... but I feel fine. I could lose lots of weight, but I am losing weight slowly, like a lb a week maybe, but yeah... I'm past the point of being THAT bothered. I'm a size 8-10 and fit nicely into all my dresses and pretty clothes, so I feel fine. Do you feel unhealthy and like your weight is holding you back in your running, rich?