So I am sort of struggling with the right number of calories to eat per day without putting my body into the "starvation" mode that I have read about. I am shooting for around 1400-1600 calories per day and hit it very consistently. Obviously I am trying to get results as quickly as possible, but I don't want to hamper my progress by eating too little. Is there a magic formula where you can determine the amount of fuel your body needs per day based on your weight loss goal? Is this "starvation" mode deal real or just made up B.S.?
Starvation mode is BS. It takes almost a week of eating no calories to get there, so you're fine. Especially if you're eating good calories and not saturated fats, etc.
I am eating a very protein heavy/low fat diet with minimal carbs coming from processed foods. Most carbs are coming from fruit and whole grain items. I also have cut out most boozing....still get to a solid level 7 or so once a month.
Some people say your body may start breaking down some muscle after 48 hours, some even earlier, and some say a week, so it's hard to say for sure. You don't have anything to worry about if you are only fasting 14-18 hours a day though. 1400 calories is really low though, I'd be careful going into too much of a calorie deficit, your body responds to weird diets in unpredictable ways sometimes.
I am eating little stuff every couple hours and trying to drink a crap ton of water. Also, most days I am closer to 1600 than 1400.
Cals all depend on your weight, age, activity level in your normal day, and what/how much you do when you work out. It is pretty different for everyone. The best way to get a handle on it is to get an app. Also, know this, most apps, even the good ones, over estimate your calories burned.
My recommendation would be to DL MyfitnessPal on your phone, enter stuff into it before you eat it, then monitor as you eat and as you workout(you enter all exercise outside your normal day). It will let you set a goal of how much to lose a week and track it for you.
Also, as for deficeit, there has been a lot of studies on this and most of the recent ones say that averaging 1# per week is they best way to do it and gives you a much higher likelihood of maintaining your loss over a long period of time. As you approach 2#'s or higher per week, ppl have a pretty high likelihood of regaining it back.
