oops - I started my cut eating too few calories the first week. Starvation mode?

[thrashertm]

I just started cutting on Monday. I am using Fit Day.com for a calorie counter, and mistakenly put in "chicken" instead of "chicken breast no skin". Instead of the 2200 calories I was shooting for, I ended up with approximately, 1900, 1900, 1900, 1900 and 1700 calories for each day this week. Do I to worry that my body has gone into "starvation mode"?

It looks like I have already dropped a pound, as I am 27, 5'11 168 (before cut) with an estimated maintenance of 2800 calories.

Thanks for your help

[Billy_The_Kid]

I just started cutting on Monday. I am using Fit Day.com for a calorie counter, and mistakenly put in "chicken" instead of "chicken breast no skin". Instead of the 2200 calories I was shooting for, I ended up with approximately, 1900, 1900, 1900, 1900 and 1700 calories for each day this week. Do I to worry that my body has gone into "starvation mode"?

It looks like I have already dropped a pound, as I am 27, 5'11 168 (before cut) with an estimated maintenance of 2800 calories.

Thanks for your help

There is no such thing as starvation mode. And eating 1900 calories per day at 5'11" is nowhere near the very-low calorie diet levels required to drop your metabolism by a maximum of 20 - 30%. If you want to lose weight, eat 500 calories less than maintenance and workout a lot. You'll lose 1 - 3 lbs a week. Don't worry about your metabolism going up or down; unless you have thyroid disease or the like, you'll be fine. If you want to lose weight faster, do more cardio or cut your calories. Just make sure you get at least 100 g of protein.

This thead provides scientific evidence debunking the starvation mode myth you'll read about on this site a lot.

[roysboy]

I just started cutting on Monday. I am using Fit Day.com for a calorie counter, and mistakenly put in "chicken" instead of "chicken breast no skin". Instead of the 2200 calories I was shooting for, I ended up with approximately, 1900, 1900, 1900, 1900 and 1700 calories for each day this week. Do I to worry that my body has gone into "starvation mode"?

It looks like I have already dropped a pound, as I am 27, 5'11 168 (before cut) with an estimated maintenance of 2800 calories.

Thanks for your help

Why are you cutting at 168ibs?

[thrashertm]

There is no such thing as starvation mode. And eating 1900 calories per day at 5'11" is nowhere near the very-low calorie diet levels required to drop your metabolism by a maximum of 20 - 30%. If you want to lose weight, eat 500 calories less than maintenance and workout a lot. You'll lose 1 - 3 lbs a week. Don't worry about your metabolism going up or down; unless you have thyroid disease or the like, you'll be fine. If you want to lose weight faster, do more cardio or cut your calories. Just make sure you get at least 100 g of protein.

This thead provides scientific evidence debunking the starvation mode myth you'll read about on this site a lot.

Thanks for setting me straight. I am doing weights and cardio 4 days a week, cardio and abs the other 2 days.

[thrashertm]

Why are you cutting at 168ibs?

I want to lose the love-handles and belly. I think I can easily drop 10 lbs and look a lot better. Maybe go for 20 or 25 depending on how things work out.

[edogger]

I think quite a few people will agree with me when i say it may be wiser to build some muscle first before cutting, otherwise you will look skinny with no muscle.

[Sevb33]

I think quite a few people will agree with me when i say it may be wiser to build some muscle first before cutting, otherwise you will look skinny with no muscle.

168 is a pretty darn good weight for someone 5'11". But everyone is different.

[Billy_The_Kid]

I think quite a few people will agree with me when i say it may be wiser to build some muscle first before cutting, otherwise you will look skinny with no muscle.

I second this. I am 5'11" and personally, if I weighed 168 lbs and had love handles, I would still do a bulk. I would eat clean, lift heavy and hard, and try to gain weight to about 190 lbs (gaining about 1 lb per week), then I would cut down until I could just barely see my abs, then repeat the cycle. OP, I hope to be where you are some day - I am 5'11", 243 lbs. Fortunately, I have some muscle and I think 175 - 185 lbs would be a good weight for me with my present lean body mass, but we'll see when I get there.

[edogger]

168 is a pretty darn good weight for someone 5'11". But everyone is different.

Yes it would be an alright weight if most of it was lean body mass, but as the OP stated, he has love handles and a bit of a belly indicating that his body fat isn't all that low, so im sure a bulk before cutting down would be beneficial.