Starvation mode Myth?
chadewey2000
Posts: 57 Member
I found this article on Muscle pyramid The article is about people who fast for weight loss and other reasons but this was a cut out about Starvation Mode myths... any thoughts? Goes against everything Ive been told but seems to make sense??
Starvation Mode Myth:
When people say that if you won’t eat every three hours your body will turn into a starvation mode and start using muscles for energy, it really drives me nuts. Because if someone can say BS like this he obviously has no idea how the human body works, doesn’t have a clue about research, can’t point out difference between fat mass and muscle mass and is just repeating what he heard from some guy that took a summer dietitian course.
What should really raise the red flag if you hear about this concept, that’s finally starting to be pushed away even from media, is why the hell would your body consume muscle tissue before fat? That’s completely contrary to how your body works. The reason why your body stores fat is to save the energy for later when it’s needed and to protect your body from having to go into muscle tissue. Muscles on the other hand are responsible for movement, so why would they be consumed for energy? That just doesn’t make any sense (like most of the conventional fitness advice).
The idea is that after prolonged way of eating very little calories you should burn muscle instead of fat, that’s just BS.
The truth is, your body tries to preserve muscles at any cost, because it needs them to move around. It would only go there to get energy, if you were approaching life threatening low body fat levels. Most literature suggests that this is around 4-5% of bodyfat. And this suggestion seems very likely considering the fact that professional bodybuilders are on muscle building drugs even when they are cutting down to preserve the muscle mass. They want to get to extremely low body fat, so in their cases their bodies might actually try to “consume” lean body mass.
Anyway, the point is that yes something like a “starvation mode” does happen, but you have to be incredibly lean and I mean 4% body fat lean. And that’s not just six pack ripped, to give you an idea 4% of body fat is where you look sick, your face is skinny even though you may have big muscles, it just isn’t attractive and if you were at 4% you would know it.
Starvation mode is basically when your body is no longer able to metabolize fat for energy. This is why and when it turns to lean body mass. This will happen at a very low body fat level and for most people who are healthy is not a possibility.
Conclusion is that you don’t have to worry about your body turning to lean body mass as a fuel just by skipping few meals every day.
Starvation Mode Myth:
When people say that if you won’t eat every three hours your body will turn into a starvation mode and start using muscles for energy, it really drives me nuts. Because if someone can say BS like this he obviously has no idea how the human body works, doesn’t have a clue about research, can’t point out difference between fat mass and muscle mass and is just repeating what he heard from some guy that took a summer dietitian course.
What should really raise the red flag if you hear about this concept, that’s finally starting to be pushed away even from media, is why the hell would your body consume muscle tissue before fat? That’s completely contrary to how your body works. The reason why your body stores fat is to save the energy for later when it’s needed and to protect your body from having to go into muscle tissue. Muscles on the other hand are responsible for movement, so why would they be consumed for energy? That just doesn’t make any sense (like most of the conventional fitness advice).
The idea is that after prolonged way of eating very little calories you should burn muscle instead of fat, that’s just BS.
The truth is, your body tries to preserve muscles at any cost, because it needs them to move around. It would only go there to get energy, if you were approaching life threatening low body fat levels. Most literature suggests that this is around 4-5% of bodyfat. And this suggestion seems very likely considering the fact that professional bodybuilders are on muscle building drugs even when they are cutting down to preserve the muscle mass. They want to get to extremely low body fat, so in their cases their bodies might actually try to “consume” lean body mass.
Anyway, the point is that yes something like a “starvation mode” does happen, but you have to be incredibly lean and I mean 4% body fat lean. And that’s not just six pack ripped, to give you an idea 4% of body fat is where you look sick, your face is skinny even though you may have big muscles, it just isn’t attractive and if you were at 4% you would know it.
Starvation mode is basically when your body is no longer able to metabolize fat for energy. This is why and when it turns to lean body mass. This will happen at a very low body fat level and for most people who are healthy is not a possibility.
Conclusion is that you don’t have to worry about your body turning to lean body mass as a fuel just by skipping few meals every day.
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Replies
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I'm not Paleo, but this is a well sourced blog post that shows an overview:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-weight-loss/#axzz2ngtsOTtR0 -
haven't we been through this post before?0
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and yes skipping meal four out of six will not put you in starvation mode..
not eating for greater than 72 hours will more than likely put you in initial stage of starvation mode...0 -
on here, isnt the starvation mode myth more that if you cut your calories too low then you will stop losing weight because your body will want to hold on to as much weight as possible (fat and muscle)?
at least that's how i've seen it used.0 -
on here, isnt the starvation mode myth more that if you cut your calories too low then you will stop losing weight because your body will want to hold on to as much weight as possible (fat and muscle)?
at least that's how i've seen it used.
there are about ten different versions of it..depends on which thread you are in...0 -
Which is wrong, but that won't stop people from continuing to believe it.on here, isnt the starvation mode myth more that if you cut your calories too low then you will stop losing weight because your body will want to hold on to as much weight as possible (fat and muscle)?
at least that's how i've seen it used.0 -
starvation mode...sure in Ranger School or RIP or you somehow get stranded in the woods...the huge majority of people will never understand the meaning of those words...starvation mode, so dont worry about it0
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not eating for greater than 72 hours will more than likely put you in initial stage of starvation mode...
Can you please clarify further?
1. "Not eating" means not eating at all or consuming very low calories?
2. If consuming very low calories e.g. 500/day for 3 days, will the effect be the same i.e. initial stage of starvation mode?
3. If we did not eat at all for 71 hours, will the 1 hour difference mean the difference between no starvation mode and metabolism slowdown? Or are you talking about a gradual slowdown of the metabolism the longer we starved?0
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