I just started my 5th week on this WOE, I just noticed I only ate about 275 calories, I made myself eat some corned beef and brought it up to 417. But I'm just not hungry. What are the ramifications of having such a low calorie count ? I have noticed for the past few days a very diminished appetite. I find myself forcing myself to atleast get in my vegetables.

I've read little snippets about "starvation mode" but don't quite understand it. Any advice?

Starvation mode is when your body decides that you are in the midst of a famine. It doesn't know that you just aren't hungry; all it knows is that it needs to hang on to every bit of fat it can. I hate to tell you this, but you need to get at least 1200 calories per day. I had the same problem, and it caused me to stall for several weeks before I realized what was happening.

What you want are calorie- and fat-dense foods that will bring you up to at least 1200 a day. Also, I find that if I eat several small snacks throughout the day, plus dinner, I can get enough calories. I think eating throughout the day activates my metabolism as well, giving me more of an appetite.

While I think it's important to keep your calories generally in a healthy range, there are times when the body doesn't need or want food. I say don't fight it too hard.

I have had to force food down before, usually because I knew I could hit starvation mode and that would be awful. But if you're sick (whether you know it or not) you'll feel less hungry, and that's natural, normal, and most of all healthy--not eating allows your digestive system to rest and all that energy to go to healing. I'm a firm believer in therapeutic fasting, even though our society seems to think we'll all shrivel and die if we miss a few meals.

BUT--if this happens more than two or three days in a row, I would start to question the low calories and try adding at least some extra fat (esp. omega-3), and supplementing with vitamins and minerals, to make sure all the bases are covered.

That's my advice, anyway. If it's just a few days, don't worry too much about it. If it goes longer than that, start eating, and make sure EVERYTHING you eat has high nutrition in it. We don't actually need as much food as we often think we do, and if your body has plenty of fat to burn, you need nutrients more than calories for health.

There are some times the body is just catching up with high caloric intake too. When I was CKDing (carbing-up weekly), I found that the first 2-3 days after my carb-up (the carb-up was consistently very high calorie for the purposes of CKD), I didn't want to eat anything. Other days I was STARVING all day and couldn't seem to get enough to eat. The moral of the story: your body is probably figuring out how to regulate your caloric intake too, just don't let the low cal days get out of hand, okay?

Good luck, Julie! HTH!

Hi Julie,

I went through this same thing early on. I've been doing Atkins for almost a year and I went through a period of about two months where I wasn't interested in food at all!!! Food became actually repulsive. What I found that helped me was to eat some berries and nuts, it helped open up my appetite. Varying your menu might bring your appetite back because starving won't work either. I've been doing induction levels again for the past two months and the weight loss has been slow but steady, but this past week I ate some nuts and had a good loss (2lbs). Let me know how you make out!

take care,
Krista

Thanks so much everybody for the support. Everything you've makes sense to me; as long as it doesn't go on for more than a day or two, don't worry about it. I orderd the Fitday program and I enter everything I eat (including all my supplements) to be sure I'm not deficient in anything. On days I just don't feel like eating I focus on trying to get my vegetables in and some protein.

This morning just for variety I had some strawberries, and (gulp) some all-bran cereal with lowcarb milk. I know I'm not at the level to be eating all-bran but I'm craving the fibre. (12 g carbs - 8 fibre ).

I remember reading a recent study that indicated lowcarb with higher calorie count actually lost more weight than lowcarb with lower calorie counts.

I will keep snacking (with protein) throughout the day to insure my glucose levels don't fall too low.

Again thank you all for replying, I know it must be tiresome to answering the same type of questions every couple of months, but us new folks do appreciate your time.

Julie

Julie, do remember that Atkins is actually more of a high-fat diet than a high-protein diet. I believe you'll want to get about 65 to 70% of your calories from fat.

Good luck! Remember, we're always willing to help.

Good point, Freckl! And don't forget that one of the biggest roles of fat in diet is satiety. When you're eating plenty of fat, you just aren't as hungry. Ever tried feeling satisfied for more than 10 minutes on a low fat diet?

definitely want to echo what everyone else is saying-- make sure u eat at least 1200 cal per day! Appetite suppressing is a common occurence-- i went through it too, and the worst part is, the longer you don't eat, the less you want to eat until you find yourself in a really bad situation:starvation mode--not a good place to be! Your body won't burn fat, will secrete extra insulin, and it can actually give u GI problems later on since your stomach sort of folds in out of proportion. What helped me was nuts/seeds-- grab a contained of the roasted/salted kind, plant yourself in front of the TV, and chomp away! Brie cheese is a really good choice as well. And if you're craving fiber, low carb granola is excellt- like 20 g fiber, and fairly high in calories. Best of luck

Thanks for pointing out the fat, fortunately the meats I like best are pretty fatty ! and all my cooked vegetables are topped with butter, I haven't had a problem with keeping the fat at 65% or better. One of the reasons I like this woe so well is not having to eat low-fat anything !