What better shoulders to lean on than my fellow TDC'ers?

I started low carbing on 1/11/04. I was thrilled at how easily this WOE worked for me, and very satisfied with my food choices. I've had some wonderful, motivating losses that kept me encouraged. I still am proud at how faithful I have been. But over the past few weeks I have dropped my calories to the point of averaging under 1000 a day. I fell back in my old low calorie mindset, thinking that I was helping my weight loss. What I have accomplished is to bring everything to a standstill. I have read about starvation mode and I really believe
that I have reached that point. All of the good, healthy feelings that I gained by starting this WOE have left - I just feel tired and lightheaded most of the time.

OK, WHINING OVER. I realize now what I have done to myself, so the question is, what is the best way to get myself out of this mess? I have read that calories should be added gradually to prevent sudden weight gain. Over the past 2 days I have raised my calorie level to 1500, and I feel a marked improvement in my energy level already. Do you guys have any suggestions or words of wisdom? Have any of you went through the same thing? How soon before my body trusts me again?

Karen

From my understanding (please take my 2 cents for what they might be worth) if you have hit "starvation" mode, you have lost some lean body mass (muscle) as that is what your body will burn if it has nothing left to burn. The best thing you can do to "boost" your metabolism is to do some strengthening exercises. By that I don't mean crazy weight lifting. You can use use tension bands (those giant rubber band things) if you have them. Or you can even use bottles of water (get at least the 1l size). And although, I can't think of anything off hand....I know there are some articles on the web about homemade weights for light strength training too. Obviously up your calories properly. As far as how long til your body "trusts" you....well I imagine everyone is different, but the good news is, if you've only slipped up on the calories for a short amount of time, you haven't lost that much muscle mass. Just make sure that you keep up with your diet from here on out....I think you'll be fine!

Good luck!!

Karen, I think it's a wise choice to increase your calories, and especially the calories from fat. I know it goes against all those low-fat ingrained ideas but it really does hold a key. As far as upping the calories, I would just do it and the scales will follow.

I'd even be tempted to raise your calories higher than 1500, maybe closer to 1800-2000. There was an article around here recently saying that eating anything less than the amount of calories that your basal metabolism is equivalent to will put you into that depressed metabolism (I am just personally against the term starvation mode, I think it's a misnomer).

You've done a great job though, that's a lot of weight in such a short period of time, less than 3 months, way to go!

Valerie