Starvation Mode, Slowed Metabolism, Fast Metabolism, Cortisol Hormone Weight Gain, Hormone Imbalance Gain, Certain Medications Making you Fat... The list goes on - the list of terms used improperly in weight loss. Fad diets, Crash diets, etc. - These can be distractions. Frankly, to lose weight is simply to exert more energy units than you have taken in. That's physics. That's science. If you are taking in less energy units than the energy output you are doing, and not losing weight, then it is either temporary water retention, or you are unaware of all the energy units you are actually taking in, or you have a serious medical condition which will rapidly kill you. Barring these issues, the only way you can put out more energy than the energy units you are taking in, and not lose weight, is if you are a living free energy machine, defying the very laws of physics, thermodynamics, and science.

Why is it that people, who can't lose weight, can suddenly lose hundreds of pounds after gastric bypass surgery? It's not because it's a magic surgery. That's all it's doing is creating a physical change to your body that makes it harder for you to eat too much. Certainly, with repeated effort, one can stretch their stomach out, and begin putting the weight back on. Gastric bypass is not fool proof, and carries many dangers - one being malnutrition due to malabsorption.

Fad diets certainly work for a lot of people, and that's because the good ones have the person generally using up more energy units than they take in. When one is expending more energy than the energy units they take in, then their body switches to reserve energy units to use, to keep the person going, and that reserve is what we call "fat."

The energy units we take in are called calories. If we generally put out the same amount of energy equal to the calories (or energy units) we consume, then we are maintaining the same weight we are currently at.

If we generally expend less energy units than the energy (calories) we take into our bodies, then our body takes those extra consumed energy units, and stores them for later use. They are stored as "fat." 

Starvation Mode

What about Starvation Mode?  This is a term of something that many people think happens if they restrict calorie intake below a certain number. That number changes with the times.  It used to be 800, then 1000, and now some circles say 1200.  There is no Starvation Mode.  I will repeat - there is no Starvation Mode; at least, not in the definition that many people give to it. Your body won't magically hold onto the weight when you eat less calories, unless you are expending less energy than you are eating.  If you are eating 1200 calories a day, for example, and you weigh over 150 pounds, then you are mostly likely burning more than 1200 calories a day just surviving - just with breathing, thinking (thinking can actually burn calories), with your heart beating, with all of your organs functioning, with you getting up off the couch, and walking to the bathroom from time to time, etc.  

Therefore, there is no such thing as eating so low of calories that your body holds onto the fat.  That's physically impossible.  However, there is a true danger to eating too low of calories, and that danger is malnutrition.  People who lose weight very rapidly sometimes complain of their hair falling out.  That is a form of true Starvation Mode.  They are losing the weight, because they are burning more calories than they are taking in, but the amount of calories they are taking in are so low, that they are not eating enough foods to get adequate nutrition for their body to function in a healthy manner, therefore they may have such symptoms as hair falling out, heart palpitations, and more.

The body needs amino acids, healthy fats and protein, minerals, trace minerals, probiotics, vitamins and other important nutrients to function properly.  If one is eating too low of calories, then even though they'll lose the weight, they won't be able to take in enough of the healthy nutrition they need.  Their body then begins to starve, via malnutrition. 

There is also actual starvation, and that is where the body is not only not getting the nutrition it needs to continue to function properly, but also doesn’t have much fat store left to burn, therefore, unless the person gets good food, they will die, as the body is not receiving fuel, and has no more fuel reserves (adequate fat) to use as energy.

The question may then be posed - what low range of caloric intake will push the body into an actual Starvation Mode?  There is no clear cut answer, as each person eats a different diet in different quantities, and different people expend different caloric units.  Therefore, the best route is to put yourself on a caloric restriction (I personally like 1200-1500 calories a day to start) and keep a food journal.  

Track your foods, nutrition, and caloric intake. If you are expending more energy units than you are taking in, then you will burn fat as energy units instead, thus losing weight.  If you wanted to do a test to see if you are burning fat, you can order urine sticks online that check ketones.  When we are burning fat, we breathe and pee it out in the form of ketones.  Therefore, a urine test showing ketones generally means you are burning fat, however, if you are diabetic, or have certain health conditions, then you need to make sure you're okay, as ketones can be indicative of a problem with certain health conditions.

Some literature will say that even if you aren't in danger of Starvation Mode, you shouldn't limit your calories too much, because if you lose more than a pound a week, you'll "be more likely to put the weight back on."  This isn't necessarily true.  This is only true if you eat poorly again, once you've reached your goal weight.  The theory is that if you lose slower, then you'll create new, healthier eating habits, and therefore have a higher chance of eating correctly after you've lost the weight.  This depends on your personality.  For some, this makes no difference whatsoever.

For other people, losing slowly ends up with them losing, gaining, losing, and gaining the same five or so pounds again, over and over.  This is because life happens, and sometimes we just need a cheat day, or it's an important holiday or big family event, etc.  Having a cheat day here and there is fine, and sometimes helpful hormonally for some women.  The trick is, if you are losing slowly, and then have a cheat day, you can end up undoing some or all of that weight loss in just one day.  Granted, some of it will be bloating and water weight, but some of it will be energy storage/fat, for you would have taken in more energy units than the amount of energy you expended.

This will make a lot people decide that they just can't lose the weight, and they stop trying.  However, if they were on a more aggressive, lower, but still nutritional, caloric level, then they could lose three or more pounds a week, then that one cheat day will only set them back a bit, not all the way, or a good percentage of their beginning weight loss.  Now there’s reason to not give up.  That bit of weight put on from the cheat day will be off again (including the water weight) before the next week is up, and you’ll be back on track.

Note: Depending on what your cheat meal or whole cheat day consisted of, you could retain water, and be quite bloated for a while from it, giving you a higher weight, than what you actually weigh.  I did a cheat day on my 45th birthday, and the very next morning, I was 4.8 pounds heavier, just from that one day.  I would have had to eat over 17,500 calories in that one day, for that to be actual weight gain.  In actuality, I only ate about 3,000 calories that day, and I exercised.

Taking into account that I had dairy (which bloats me), high fat (which my stomach doesn't like), and I ate a lot, it was understandable that my weight would be temporarily showing higher than it really was.  It took six days of proper eating and exercising, before the bloat was completely gone, and then on day seven, I was one pound lighter than on my birthday.

Metabolism

Ah, now the magic of metabolism.  Many overweight people say they have “slow metabolisms.”  Barring serious medical problems that would kill you, that’s impossible.  In fact, the heavier you are, the faster your metabolism is.  A fast metabolism simply means that to keep your body the weight it currently is, you can eat a lot of calories.  A slower metabolism means that to keep your body the weight where it currently is, you have to eat fewer calories.  An obese person has a faster metabolism than an underweight person, because it takes more calories for the obese person to maintain their current weight.  Depending on their weight and fat to muscle composition, the obese person may be able eat 4000 calories a day, and not gain an ounce of weight, but the underweight person would certainly gain weight if they ate 4000 calories a day.  The underweight person may be able to eat 1600 calories a day, and not lose an ounce, because that may be the amount their light body needs to operate, especially if they are sedentary.  If they are more active, they may maintain at around 1800-2000 calories a day.

This is why we can see a super morbid obese person losing a lot of weight, while eating 2500 calories a day, but when they’ve lost a lot of weight, they have to start eating less calories to keep losing weight – because their lighter body will require less caloric energy units to operate.

Generally, an overweight person has a much faster metabolism than an underweight person, as science dictates.  Therefore, the excuse “I’m fat because I have a slow metabolism” is impossible.  You’re fat because you take in more energy units than you expend, so your body stores those extra energy units as fat, for future use.

There are obese people who say that they hardly eat a thing, but they just can’t lose weight. They are either lying, or they are unaware of what they are actually consuming.  They most certainly could be eating very small portions, but then they are either binging later, or the next day, or sometime that week, and/or the small portions they are eating are very dense, calorically.

It’s impossible otherwise, else they’d be not only a miracle, but the walking cure to world hunger, and the key to unlocking true free energy.

 Weight Gain Because of Hormonal Issues, or Taking Certain Medications

Can cortisol, which is the “stress hormone” really make your body hold onto fat?  Not exactly.  Stress makes many people eat.  Why? Because when you eat, especially foods you enjoy, your brain secretes serotonin.  Serotonin is the “feel good hormone.”  Therefore, when one is stressed, in which they may excrete cortisol, they may automatically turn to food for relief, because then they’ll have serotonin – the “feel good” hormone.  This is the root of a good percentage of emotional eating.  Other causes being: psychological issues, one’s eating to avoid dealing with past trauma, or to purposely try to make themselves sexually undesirable to the opposite sex.  All of these reasons, to some extent, generally do tie into one’s eating to get more “feel good,” hormone excreted.

This is often where the will power needs to step in, and one needs to parent themselves, and say “no, you’ve eaten enough. Stop.”  The person avoiding facing past trauma needs to face it, forgive the “unforgivable,” and move on.  Don’t abuse your body, just because someone in the past may have abused you.  If you are overeating and overweight because of past abuse done to you, you are perpetuating the cycle of abuse, by abusing yourself.  Take care of yourself.  Don’t let evil win.

Other hormonal issues that people claim make them gain weight are: certain birth control, hormones for infertility, hormone replacement therapy, hormonal imbalance, perimenopause, and menopause.  None of these things directly make you gain weight, nor can they, else they’d be breaking the laws of physical science.  Unless these hormones, or hormone medications, are somehow packing hundreds or thousands of calories per pill or injection, they cannot directly make you gain weight.  Instead, they indirectly make it easier for you to gain weight, because they can mess with your appetite and food cravings.

Unless you are diligent in tracking every morsel or liquid that enters your digestive tract, the weight can sneak on.  Suddenly you are eating more food, or eating more calorically dense foods in response to the appetite changes or cravings you are getting, as a side effect from certain hormones or hormone medications.  If you have any of these hormonal issues or are on certain hormone medications or replacements, you don’t have to gain weight from them.  Instead, keep a food journal – track everything that enters your digestive tract – supplements (I take up to 170 calories of supplements a day, but the majority of that is cod liver oil), all food, and everything you drink.

If you are gaining weight, your food journal (if you're honest, accurate, and tracking everything) will show you why.  It’ll show you that even though you don’t feel like it, or don’t recall – you are actually taking in more energy units than you are expending.  Remember, if this isn’t the case, then you are a walking miracle, and the living cure to world hunger.

As I’m typing this, I’m in the midst of perimenopause, and I did put on the “peri-weight.”  I didn’t gain it because hormone changes made me gain weight – that’s actually impossible. I put on weight because hormone changes changed my appetite and cravings, thus I was taking in more energy units than I was expending, and I didn’t notice, until my clothes got tight, and I got belly fat, bigger boobs, and chunky arms.

While hormones don’t directly make you gain weight, they can affect where you carry the weight you gain. This is why peri-weight is often seen in the abdomen, boobs, and arms.  I lost the weight, even though I’m peri-menopausal.  How?  I simply made sure to take in less energy units than I burned, thus forcing my body to burn stored energy units from the past – my fat.

I didn’t do any diets, I didn’t give up drinking soda or eating candy bars, and I didn’t give up snacking at night.  Are you kidding me?!  I consider a soda  and an occasional candy bar a treat, and why shouldn’t I get a treat?  I've worked hard all day.  I just made sure my caloric total for each day was less than the energy I put out.  To put out further energy, I’d exercise. I workout six days a week.  I LOVE working out, and have been working out regularly since I was 12 years old – no kidding.  I’m fit, and have been for most of my life.

Do you want to raise your metabolism without getting fat?  Then put on muscle.  The more muscle you have, the more fat you burn, just sitting on the couch.  Now THAT’S how a thin person can have a fast metabolism. They’ll weigh more than they look, because muscle weighs more than fat.

I once saw a woman who was 5 foot 4, and weighed almost 160 pounds.  According to the Body Mass Index, she was overweight.  But in actuality, she wasn’t at all overweight. In fact, the percentage of fat on her body was under 7%.  She had a gorgeous, tiny waist. She weighed so much, because she was a body builder.  She could eat at lot of calories, and not gain an ounce, because her heavy muscles made her heavier – thus making her have a faster metabolism.  The body needs to burn more energy units to move around a heavy body, than a light one. This is why overweight people, or bodybuilders have faster metabolisms.  Further, bodybuilders burn a lot of calories in their workouts, allowing them even more calories to consume.

What about medications?  I’ve heard this a lot.  A person has a specific medical issue that requires meds, but one of the side effects is weight gain.  The medication is not directly making you gain the weight, unless that little pill somehow contains hundreds of calories.  Instead, like with the hormone discussion above, that medication is altering your appetite, or cravings.  If we are not mindful of what we eat, weight can sneak on, and we may not even notice it, until someone says a rude remark, or we see a picture of ourselves.

The Guaranteed Way to Lose Weight for Anybody, and Any Body

There is no great secret to losing weight.  It really is move more, and eat less.  But what does that mean?  That means you simply must take in less energy units than the energy you expend.  Put another way, you must burn off more energy, than the amount of energy you eat, thus your body turns to burning fat for fuel.

Calories are the name given to the energy units we consume.  Generally speaking, if you eat 3,500 more calories above the amount of calories/energy units you burned, then you will have put on a full pound. Therefore, if you eat 1,750 more calories than you’ve burned, then you’ve put on a half pound.  If you eat 875 more calories than you’ve burned, you put on a quarter of a pound.  This is how the weight can sneak up on you.

In fact, weight often sneaks on people so slowly, that they don’t notice for quite some time.  If a person eats an average of around 220 calories more (like a candy bar) than they need each day, then within a year’s time, they will have slowly gained 20-25 pounds.  If they don’t up their energy level, or lower their calorie level, and continue to eat at just around 220 more calories a day than they need, then each year, they are going to put on an additional 20-25 pounds.  This adds up.  After just a few years of this, a person can be 50 pounds overweight, and not even understand how that happened.

People say that when they were younger, they could eat anything, and not gain an ounce, but now that they’re older, if they “have just a slice of bread,” they’ve gained weight.  This is only seemingly true because when you’re younger, you expend more energy.  Were you walking at the mall, skateboarding with your friends, going out dancing, playing sports, hiking, walking dogs on beautiful park trails, etc?  Even if not, perhaps you used to bounce your knee up and down when sitting, twiddle your thumbs, bob your head up and down to music, etc.  All these movements – even the small ones, add up.

Add to this that as we get older, if we don’t actively work on putting on and keep on muscle, we lose it.  After around the age of 40, we lose some muscle mass each year.  To counteract this, we must exercise (yes, lifting weights is a good idea) to keep our muscle, and even add to it.  At age 25, you were probably more active, and more of your weight was in muscle, as now it’s more in mush, and you sit around more often.  Less muscle mass and less activity, and still eating the same caloric amount can equal fat gain.

To lose weight, eat less calories than you burn each day.  This is scientific.  If you gain, you may have temporarily gained water weight, or you may not be properly counting all of your caloric intake, and therefore actually eating more than the energy you’re putting out.  You have to be mindful of your eating, and be honest with yourself.  Also take note that if you lose a lot in the first days or week, some of it could be water weight, so don’t be alarmed if some of that very early loss goes back on, as your body retains some water.  It’s not fat.

Now the question is, how do you want to do this?  I personally am not a fan of diets, and when I need to lose some pounds, I don’t go on diets.  Some people like/need diets, however. If you just want a pre-designed eating program, with all the brain-work done for you, then you should look at various diets out there, and choose the one that looks like one you’d like.

I’m of the belief that losing weight doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.  This is why I don’t diet. I personally don’t want to be told what to eat, when, how much, and when not to eat, etc.  I think I should literally be able to have my cake, and eat it too, and still lose weight.

If you choose to follow some sort of diet plan, make sure you’re getting proper nutrition, and make sure you’re eating less calories than you are burning in energy, each day.  You can track your calories via various fitness and weight loss apps online; many of them being free. 

If you’d like to lose weight the easy way, here’s the way I think is easy:

- Set a daily calorie allowance for yourself, and eat within that allowance.

- Keep a food journal of everything you eat and drink, including your supplements. Track caloric amount for everything you consume – all food, all drink, all supplements.

- I personally weigh in each day, so that I can see within about three to four days of consistent weighing if I need to eat more or less calories. If I’m losing too quickly and am exhausted, then I need to eat a bit more calories. If I’m not losing, or barely losing anything, then I lower my caloric intake a bit.

The amount of calories you’ll need to start losing weight will differ throughout your life. It will not stay the exact same through the years. When you were younger, you may have lost weight at eating 1700 calories a day. When you’re older, unless you are starting out weighing a lot, you may find 1200 calories a day is what you need to eat in order to lose.

NOTE:  Ladies may gain around five or so pounds in water weight during certain parts of their hormone cycles.  It’s important to keep in mind that if you are being consistent in staying within your caloric allowance, then this is water, and will eventually be peed off, and then you’ll see the scale numbers go down again.

4.     Eat what you like, and what you want.  Just stay within your caloric allowance.  However, if you’re not a very healthy eater, then start changing that.  Try different fresh fruits and veggies, and add them to each meal, making the higher caloric stuff into smaller portions. Find healthy foods you like, and start making those your normal meals.

5.     When during the day do you like to eat the most food?  I’m a night snacker.  I like snacking in the late evenings while relaxing with my husband, and I don’t think I should have to give that up. So I didn’t and I don’t.  I also find that I have no appetite in the mornings, and a very small appetite in the afternoons.  I don’t actually start becoming interested in food until supper and afterwards.

I go with that.  I eat a very small breakfast, really only so that I can take all my supplements without upsetting my stomach, but also to get some grains and fresh fruit into my body.  I also use the energy from my supplements and small breakfast for my workout, later in the morning (after I’ve digested some).  I have a slightly bigger lunch, making sure to get more fresh fruit, but also some raw vegetables with whatever I decide to make for lunch.  Supper is my favorite meal, so it’s my biggest.  I have bigger portions, and make sure to eat at least two more servings of veggies, but they don’t have to be raw.  Then, a little while after supper, I may have a candy bar, popcorn, a bit of ice cream, crackers, or nothing.  I have what I want, but I make sure I don’t go over my caloric allowance. 

If I want something, but the caloric allowance won’t allow it that day, then I save it for the next day, and it’s a treat I get to look forward to.  I may buy a candy bar, and eat half of it one day, and half the next day.  I don’t have to have the whole thing at once.  When I eat it, I take very small bites, making it last, and I thoroughly enjoy it.  If we eat out, I can order what I want, but if it's high in calories, then I may only eat half, or even a quarter of the amount, and take the rest home, to eat a bit of, each day, still staying within my caloric allowance.

What if my family decides we are going to get treats and rent a movie, and I’m out of my caloric allowance, or only have a little bit left?  Then I will pick out the treat I want, but only have a small portion of it, to stay in my allowance, and save the rest for the next day or two or three. If I have none left in my allowance, then I buy the treat, and save it for the next day, etc.

When losing weight, I don't tend to say I must have only 1200 calories a day.  I give myself a range.  I'll range from 1200 to 1500.  Therefore, if we spontaneously go out for ice cream, or out to eat, but I'm already at 1200 calories for that day, I'll allow myself to eat around 300 more calories on our outing.  If the meal I order (like Shrimp Scampi) is 900 calories, then I divide it on my plate into thirds, and slowly enjoy eating 1/3, and the rest goes into a to go box, and into the fridge at home, where I can eat another 300 calories worth the next day, and the rest, the next day after that.

Losing weight doesn’t have to be hard.  Be the person you want to be now.  Don’t wait until you have “the perfect body.”  Eat less, move more, and love life.  Don’t get sidetracked with all the baloney out there.