I feel like my body is going into starvation mode. What should I do?

Question

I'm a 19 year old college student. The majority of food in the cafeteria is unhealthy, so I avoid it when possible. 

Here's what I eat:
Breakfast: A fiber one bar 
Lunch: Iceberg salad with cucumber, cheese , and little ranch and two cups of water
Dinner: Same as lunch

However, I'm gaining weight and I don't know why!! I'm eating healthy.

What am I doing wrong here?

I also go to the gym and do a lot of walking.

Azara · Accepted Answer

Gaining weight means you weigh yourself same time every time with no clothing or exact same clothing without having eaten anything that day. And you see your weight going up at least twice. Everyone's weight fluctuates a big day to day. Weigh yourself only once a week fasting overnight and no clothing. If you notice more than a pound or two increase more than once then you can say you're gaining weight.

Now IF you really are gaining weight and the fluctuation is not just due to variable environment , then take a good look at what you're putting into your body.

How much you're exercising and go from there.

Unless you're working out hours very day you won't be losing more than a few hundred calories per day. It's not nothing but exercise us more about health abc tone rather than calorie kiss unused it's high volume. An hour or two a day can get you an extra loss if around 500 which in a week is one pound.

3500 calories = one pound fat two pounds muscle.

Your calorie needs are somewhere around 1500 - 2000 if your weight is around 1200-1500 over that it should be even easier to lose weight.

Lettuce cucumbers don't have enough calories to be applicable.

Depending on how much cheese and dressing you consume in your salad you could be packing over 700 calories per salad which brings you including the bar to around 1500 ... Which wood explain the lack if weight loss.

I'm not saying you're eating 500 calories worth if cheese and two hundred calories worth of dressing at each meal, but it's not that hard to do.

One ounce if hard cheese is 100 calories or more depending on the type.

One tablespoon of dressing is usually around 100 calories bc fat is a concentrated source if calories. Not saying fat is bad it not. it's necessary for absorbing fat soluble vitamins. But it's good to be aware if portions.

Anyways you can keep track if what you're doing then see what happens instead of us guessing:)

OrionRose · Accepted Answer

@Tokana is spot on. When you don't eat, your body actually begins to store fat, lose muscle, and your metabolism slows down. In my weight loss coaching practice, the first thing I usually have to do is get my clients to eat more. However, the more that they're eating are high quality whole foods and Superfoods.

With the way you're eating, you will start to lose muscle but continue to store fat. Start to incorporate greener greens (Dino kale or spring greens), fruits, colorful veggies, lean meats, higher integrity carbs (quinoa or brown rice), good fats (nuts, avocados), etc

Take care of yourself. Our health really is all we have. Without it, there's very little we can do

Jmd0392 · Accepted Answer

Eat more protein and balance your exercising with your meals.. you're probably burning off a lot of calories that you'd be getting from the meals. Eat a bigger breakfast, add some a couple eggs, a grapefruit, and a glass of oj. You don't want to starve yourself of calories. you can figure out what your caloric intake is now, and what it needs to be in order to start losing weight. You could cut your caloric intake down by 500cals a day, which would equate to a pound a week *which is a healthy weight-loss, betterin the long run to lose slow*. But, it's best to consult a physician on weight loss instead of people on GaG, if you can afford it of course. Good luck with the weight loss :)

Tokana · Accepted Answer

You're barely eating anything. Your body is probably going into panic mode and is trying to conserve as much energy as possible since you're not giving it enough to live off of. You need to eat a lot more in order to lose weight. I know that may sound counter intuitive but your body needs the nutrients.

lack of any sort of macro nutrients in your diet, not just protein.

BertMacklinFBI · Answer

d00d you got almost no protein and you need more complex carbs and dairy. what are you doing wrong? your diet lol. and you said you go to the gym, you're not sustaining your body for what it needs for what you put it through. nutrition is key here.

meatballs21 · Answer

MyFitnessPal says:
Fiber One bar, 140 calories (190 for the meal one, not much difference)
Iceberg lettuce, one cup of shredded, 10 calories
Cucumber, one cup of chopped, 16 calories
I don't know what kind of cheese so let's assume cheddar, 1/4 cup diced, 133 calories
Ranch dressing, two tablespoons, 140 calories
Fiber one again, 140 calories.

That isn't even 600 calories - you should be eating at least twice that, and a better variety to get more nutrients. Something here isn't adding up - there might be something medically or there's something you're not telling us.

Anonymous · Answer

Buy a jar of peanut butter and some crackers or pretzels to keep in your room and snack on that throughout the day. You need to eat every couple of hours to keep your metabolism going. And the peanut butter will be good because it is protein. You could get unsalted nuts too.

Do you have a fridge/microwave in your dorm room? The next time you go home for break cook some grilled chicken, freeze it, keep in it your room and just microwave it for dinner some days. There's lean meat and protein.

Do they serve eggs for breakfast in the caf? See if they do. That would be another good option to get some more food in you in the morning.

You can also keep fruit in your room - fresh fruit or even fruit salad cups in your fridge. Sometimes college cafs even have apples and bananas so you can just take those instead of going shopping. Those are good snacks in between meals.

Microwavable soup isn't the best option, but they do have low-sodium soups that you could try.

TadCurious · Answer

It doesn't sound to me like you're eating healthy. For one thing, it doesn't sound like you're getting enough protein. I'd also encourage you to eat more fruits and vegetables (in addition to iceberg lettuce, which really doesn't have many nutrients) and complex carbohydrates like whole grains.

Anonymous · Answer

It can be an indication to a health problem, it can also be the side effect of drugs. Sometimes sleep can help gain weight. The most important thing is the very harsh diet you are following can make things much worse. You have to ask a doctor or a nutrition specialist, you are risking your health.

Anonymous · Answer

Add some ground turkey or sardines, greek yogurt, brown rice and switch out the iceberg lettuce for romaine lettuce. Feel free to add some variety like tomatoes, boiled eggs, bell peppers and spinach to your diet too. You're food budget should be able to bend this much.

yaddayaddayadda02 · Answer

There's no such thing as 'starvation mode' How about your alcohol consumption?

kylah · Answer

You need to start out with eating cream of wheat and oats, proteins and a lot of starches.

TheWeedGuy · Answer

You're in need of a good dinner... Please eat something.

abundantlyrich · Answer

This is what i tend to notice. I used to exercise before eating something. I gained weight.

internet_guy · Answer

you gotta eat more, add oats, sweet potato, corn, broccoli, low fat yoghurt

I feel like my body is going into starvation mode. What should I do?

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