Starvation Mode: a myth, right?

brb2008

I find you all to be very informative and I have a question about advice I see that I never quite understood the reason behind it. I have read that starvation mode is a myth, that such a thing as eating less than 1200 calories is more about nutrition than it is about having "enough" to eat.

So if that's true, doesn't ones "minimum" calories have more to do with their available body fat storage than some arbitrary number? In a deficit isn't body fat where that energy comes from anyway? I definitely don't quite understand.

Please feel free to just post links if you have studies that address my questions. I just like to know where this advice comes from and for what purpose. Knowledge is power!

Liftng4Lis

Starvation mode is a myth. Metabolic adaptation, however does exist http://www.biolayne.com/tag/metabolic-adaptation/

LaurenAOK

This is a very informative article on "starvation mode":
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/

Basically, yes, it's a myth. As in, eating under 1200 calories, or even less than that, is not going to cause your body to hold on to its fat and stop you from losing weight. However, there is evidence that chronically undereating can mess up your metabolism in the long run. That's why many recovering anorexics have a damaged metabolism that takes a long time to repair. Your body has to compensate somehow for not getting enough food.

Plus, undereating is just a bad idea all around. Sure, you may lose weight, but it'll come back once you eat normally again. Many people experience hair falling out, brittle nails, etc. from not eating enough.

TL;DR: starvation mode isn't real, but starving is still a bad plan.

ultrahoon

Your body fat that you are consuming to make up the energy deficit is nutritionally void, i.e you don't get any micro-nutrients from it.

So you get the missing energy from the fat stores, but still need to get nutrients from somewhere. The 1200 number is picked because as you go below this, it becomes increasingly more challenging to fit all the various RDA's for these micro-nutrients in. Eating at 1150 requires smarter more nutritionally dense food choices than 1200, 1100 even more so than 1150, and so and and so on. Very quickly you hit the point where it's impossible to hit those RDA's consistently, hence the 1200 figure for safety.

brb2008

Thank you everyone, that's everything I was curious about and it makes sense!

pollypocket1021

The body won't JUST burn fat for energy, with an excessive deficit you will use lean muscle for energy as well. That is hard work to regain. That is one of the reasons for losing slowly, to avoid losing lean body mass.

There's also the risk of malnutrition and loss of bone mass, which comes with risk of fracture.

Our bodies are amazing and will make amazing ajustments so we can continue to function. However, the consequences of those adjustments are less than ideal.