Losing weight by eating semi-badly?

Question

I don't really have much weight to loose or need to...but I would like to drop 5-10 lbs. For the last few months I've done the eating well diet and exercise. I typically eat cheerios for breakfast, salad and fruit for lunch, grapes for snack and then wheat rice and veggies for dinner w/ a banana for evening snack. I kept the portions small and then would work out for 45 minutes after dinner....my weight didn't move but would fluxuate up a lb or two off and on. So, I got bummed out and quit eating like that. I continue to work out but as I became depressed, I not knowingly, ate more for my meals. I'd still have cheerios for breakfast then 100 calorie packs for snack and a sub and fruit for lunch and a big dinner, like bbq chicken breaks w/ a baked potatoe for dinner and still either yogurt or a banana for evening snack. And I've actually lost a few lbs! Whats up with that? What does that mean about my metabolism? That its slow maybe so I need to eat more frequently or more at one time? I don't know what my calorie intake was before, but Im sure its right where it needs to be now.

Answer 1

If you aren't consuming atleast 1200 calories per day your body resorts to "starvation mode" and stores the calories taken in. Depending on your age, gender, and weight you can determine your Basal Metabolic Rate and see how many calories your body uses, per day, just to maintain itself (without exercise or daily activities), this is the minimun amount of calories you should be eating. Also, eating more frequent, small meals will keep your metabolism up. Usually the suggestion is to eat 6 small meals a day instead of 3 larger meals. Exercise is just as important as diet. Although, especially if you include resistance training (weight lifting), you may see an increase in your weight when you begin due to the fact that muscle weighs more than fat. Don't get discouraged though, the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn in a day... increasing your calorie expenditure and decreasing your caloric intake results in you reaching your weight loss goals. GOOD LUCK!

Answer 2

It is very possible that switching up how much and what you ate sped up your metabolism. our bodies get very used to our 'dieting' after a while and you have to try them up. I try to eat 5-7 times a day in little small bits to keep me going.

It is also possible that your calorie intake before was too low (they say the absolute minimum for any female who wants to lose weight is 1200) and your body was in 'starvation mode' where it conserves every possible bit of food it gets because it thinks you're starving to death. you can't lose any weight if you hit a plateau like that, but once it sees an increase in food coming in it says okay, it's alright to burn some of this off now.

here's some advice in the end - do calorie cycling. If you consume 1400 on a regular basis to lose weight, try a cycle like this:

monday-1400

tuesday-1300

wednesday-1600

thursday-1400

friday-1300

saturday-1600

sunday- 1400

this keeps your body "tricked" so it doesn't know if it's gonna be getting a particular amount of food. just fluxuating by one or two hundred calories a day is enough.