Is it true that your body enters into starvation mode if you don't eat for a while?

ilovefood9998
ilovefood9998 Posts: 24 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
So I eat 1 meal a day and I have eaten this way ever since I was around 10 years old. I eat my dinner at around 6pm everyday and thats about it. I now consume around 1300-1400 calories per day as I have completely removed snacks and soda. I have been dieting for 3 months now and I have gone from 196 pounds to 182 pounds. Everyone keeps telling me that my body will be going into starvation mode as I eat once every 24 hours. Yet I have been able to lose 14 pounds in 3 months. I am not actively starving myself in anyway I just feel like this has been my routine for years and I don't tend to get hungry during the day. Does anyone else eat 1 meal a day and still loses weight.

Replies

  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    I dropped 20lbs with intermittent fasting which is set up to eat this way.

    A few months ago I stopped eating that way because my increased training changed my appetite
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    It is true but you have to not eat anything for weeks and literally starve (not figuratively).
  • kokonani
    kokonani Posts: 507 Member
    I eat once a day as well. Great for weight loss,weight maintenance, and numerous health benefits. Go to "OMAD Revolution" group. Alot more info and members who do what we do.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    The effects commonly associated with starvation mode are a myth - the syndrome better called adaptive thermogenesis is real and has been known about for many years, and isn't that hard to get into it's true effects if consistent with bad choices.

    Yours isn't one of those.

    Now, only eating 800 calories for that one meal and trying to be active - now we're talking!
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    edited August 2017
    nevermind... not worth getting into. The previous replies cover things pretty well.
  • FlavourfulBear
    FlavourfulBear Posts: 11 Member
    I was going to make a post asking a completely different question but I found my answer here. Thank you!
  • gabriellejayde
    gabriellejayde Posts: 607 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    If it were true, anorexics wouldn't lose weight

    THIS.
    or people in concentration camps. or poor people all over the world.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    edited August 2017
    ilovefood9998 wrote: »
    So I eat 1 meal a day and I have eaten this way ever since I was around 10 years old. I eat my dinner at around 6pm everyday and thats about it. I now consume around 1300-1400 calories per day as I have completely removed snacks and soda. I have been dieting for 3 months now and I have gone from 196 pounds to 182 pounds. Everyone keeps telling me that my body will be going into starvation mode as I eat once every 24 hours. Yet I have been able to lose 14 pounds in 3 months. I am not actively starving myself in anyway I just feel like this has been my routine for years and I don't tend to get hungry during the day. Does anyone else eat 1 meal a day and still loses weight.


    14 lb in just around/over 12 weeks? Good job. ~ 1 lb per week is very good for the vast majority of people trying to lose weight.

    And the people telling you that - in regards to eating once a day leading to "starvation mode" - truly have no clue what they're talking about.

    As such, this obviously works for you and you have what seems to be a decent Caloric intake for the day. So continue on!
  • Ironandwine69
    Ironandwine69 Posts: 2,432 Member
    No
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Give all the people who are worried that you will go into starvation mode this article: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
  • Bob314159
    Bob314159 Posts: 1,178 Member
    rsclause wrote: »
    I don't buy into starvation mode but have always felt that eating smaller but more frequent meals keeps metabolism at its peak. I suppose if you were to fast and then binge eat your body may be a little more efficient at storing the extra calories. In your case your are consistent so your body has and does adjust so it really falls back to the total calories in and out.

    Possibly the exact opposite
    http://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/features/6_meals_a_day#1
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited August 2017
    rsclause wrote: »
    I don't buy into starvation mode but have always felt that eating smaller but more frequent meals keeps metabolism at its peak. I suppose if you were to fast and then binge eat your body may be a little more efficient at storing the extra calories. In your case your are consistent so your body has and does adjust so it really falls back to the total calories in and out.

    1) If you eat larger, less frequent meals, the body takes longer to digest/metabolize the nutrients because the bolus is larger than it would be in smaller meals. So in theory it would even out, given equal calories. If I pour a cup of water into a container sixteen times a day or add a gallon of water once in the evening, there's a gallon of water in the container at the end of the day in either case.

    2) That theory falls flat due to the fact that many people do intermittent fasting and have been successful with weight/fat loss. (Disclaimer: I don't ascribe any magical properties to IF other than it being an eating schedule which helps some people with adherence.)
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    It's really easy to get wrapped up in minutia like "is it better to eat one large meal a day, or six little meals?", or "do I have to eat breakfast?" or whatever, which to me seems besides the point. Who knows, maybe one really is slightly better than the other. The real point is, the number one reason by far that people fail to maintain weight loss is that they stop keeping up the eating habits that lost them the weight in the first place. That's why the best diet is always going to be the one that YOU can stick to. It's better to lose slow and keep it off than to lose fast and gain it back.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    rsclause wrote: »
    I don't buy into starvation mode but have always felt that eating smaller but more frequent meals keeps metabolism at its peak. I suppose if you were to fast and then binge eat your body may be a little more efficient at storing the extra calories. In your case your are consistent so your body has and does adjust so it really falls back to the total calories in and out.

    1) If you eat larger, less frequent meals, the body takes longer to digest/metabolize the nutrients because the bolus is larger than it would be in smaller meals. So in theory it would even out, given equal calories. If I pour a cup of water into a container sixteen times a day or add a gallon of water once in the evening, there's a gallon of water in the container at the end of the day in either case.

    2) That theory falls flat due to the fact that many people do intermittent fasting and have been successful with weight/fat loss. (Disclaimer: I don't ascribe any magical properties to IF other than it being an eating schedule which helps some people with adherence.)


    There is a limit to how many calories per hour you can process from food before it processes through. So there may be some slack if you're doing IF.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    stanmann571 wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    rsclause wrote: »
    I don't buy into starvation mode but have always felt that eating smaller but more frequent meals keeps metabolism at its peak. I suppose if you were to fast and then binge eat your body may be a little more efficient at storing the extra calories. In your case your are consistent so your body has and does adjust so it really falls back to the total calories in and out.

    1) If you eat larger, less frequent meals, the body takes longer to digest/metabolize the nutrients because the bolus is larger than it would be in smaller meals. So in theory it would even out, given equal calories. If I pour a cup of water into a container sixteen times a day or add a gallon of water once in the evening, there's a gallon of water in the container at the end of the day in either case.

    2) That theory falls flat due to the fact that many people do intermittent fasting and have been successful with weight/fat loss. (Disclaimer: I don't ascribe any magical properties to IF other than it being an eating schedule which helps some people with adherence.)


    There is a limit to how many calories per hour you can process from food before it processes through. So there may be some slack if you're doing IF.

    Food takes like 8 hours just to go through your stomach and small intestine where most digestion happens. Another day and then some for the large intestine on average. How many calories would you need at once that 8 hours wouldn't be enough?
  • Sunna_W
    Sunna_W Posts: 744 Member
    Every body is different.

    The risk is that as you get older that it might cause spikes in your blood sugar and you can go into hypoglycemia (or not) after eating such a big meal, depending on what it is you eat.

    That is the theory around spacing out your calories over your waking hours and you "break your fast" when you awake and fuel yourself over the day with food.

    Here is a history of mealtime: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20243692

    Food does help concentration and that is why kids are recommended to eat before school and teens / college kids / adults are encouraged to eat before a test.

    But, you know yourself, best.
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