This phenomenon is called “starvation mode,” and while your body isn't actually starving, it will naturally hold onto whatever calories it receives in an effort to help you maintain your energy balance.
One of the main reasons that undereating can lead to weight gain is because consuming too few calories can cause your resting metabolic rate to slow down. This means you may burn fewer calories throughout the day.
Not eating regularly lowers the body's metabolic rate decreasing calorie consumption. Not eating kicks our body into 'starvation mode' pushing our body to conserve food and store it as fat.
If you're not losing weight in a calorie deficit you may need to adjust your stress levels, diet, and sleep patterns. Other reasons for weight gain during a calorie deficit are hormonal changes, aging, and other health conditions.
You'd think that going on a strict diet and exercise regimen would help you drop pounds quickly, but most people actually gain weight at first.
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.
So, if you're eating 1,200 calories and not losing weight, it could be that your body is really struggling to function on so little fuel and your metabolism is not functioning well enough to respond to a deficit in the way you'd like.
However, other studies show that while consuming 1,000 calories a day may result in significant weight loss, most people cannot sustain it and often experience significant weight regain . The reasons include regaining lost muscle mass and increased appetite.
The diet doesn't have enough calories
Eating too little — say, 1,000 calories a day — can prevent you from losing weight, too. "When you don't eat enough, your body is starving and it's not going to lose any extra weight" because it needs those energy stores to keep you alive, Fakhoury said.
When you fast for shorter durations, your body doesn't have enough time to go into ketosis. This means it won't burn stored fat, and there won't be significant weight loss. As one study concluded, a fasting window of 18-19 hours is more effective in terms of weight loss than those between 12-17 hours [11].
Lummus says that when your body goes into starvation mode, your metabolism slows to a crawl, burning calories as slowly as possible to conserve its energy stores. This is why people who cut their calories too much may reach a plateau and stop losing weight.
However, calorie intake should not fall below 1,200 a day in women or 1,500 a day in men, except under the supervision of a health professional. Eating too few calories can endanger your health by depriving you of needed nutrients.
People may try this diet to control their food intake and lose weight. Some research suggests that the average female can limit their daily caloric intake to 1,500 calories or less to drop 1 pound per week. The average male may consume up to 2,000 calories a day to lose the same amount of weight.
If you want to lose 1kg per week? You'd need to be in a calorie deficit of 1,100 calories per DAY for 7 x days.
Is it possible to lose 1kg a week? Yes, however, everyone and every body is different, it depends on your starting weight, activity level, nutrition and sleep as well as other factors like stress and hormonal fluctuations. Losing 1kg a week won't work for everyone - you simply may not have the extra fat to lose.
A prolonged 1,200 calorie-per-day diet can slow metabolism, so it is best to only do it short-term. There are risks to consuming too few calories, including: Not getting adequate nutrition.
Coming to the point, you will first lose “hard fat” (visceral fat) that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and later, you will burn soft fat (belly fat, thigh fat, back fat, etc.). Women accumulate fat cells around their belly area, hips, thighs and these areas are usually the last from.
As against areas such as legs, face and arms, our stomach and abdominal regions possess beta cells that makes it difficult to reduce the fats easily and lose weight in these areas. However, as per research, belly fat is the most difficult to lose as the fat there is so much harder to break down.
Where do you notice weight loss first? Body-weight loss is usually noticed around the belly, waistline, and thighs first. This is because your body stores fat in different locations. For instance, men hold more fat around their belly, while women store it on their thighs and hips.
Because average weight loss is approximately 1 kilogram per week, you can expect to safely lose 10 kilograms — which, at a conversion rate of 2.2 pounds per kilogram, equals 22 pounds — in about 10 weeks. Commit to losing weight the healthy way, which makes your weight loss sustainable.