"starvation" mode

exercisesucks

At the end of the day there's no 'right' answers - some do well on different regimens than others. There's no merit to passing judgment. The only thing people should be leaving here is their own personal experiences IMO.

Well said. We all have different things that work best for us. Let's find those things, compare notes, and all be successful!

AlyRoseNYC

THANK YOU!

And BTW, if you ever have any questions about ANYTHING, you can always come here and find someone who is an expert on everything.

*eye roll*

lol

exercisesucks

Sorry, I should have clarified. I did not mean a quote from a spokeswoman on what she "believes" and other random articles. I meant could you post some scientific evidence? I don't believe you can, because there isn't any.

On the other hand, there is scientific evidence that disproves this. A lot of what I was going to post has been posted already by binary_jester. So please refer to his two posts.

A spokesman for the American Diabetes Association is required to give factual information so as not to mislead or confuse the public. Am I to assume that since your posting of "evidence" from Google was not your original scientific work, that makes you a "spokesman" too?

exercisesucks

well if you feel like actually helping instead of just telling me how much i'm sucking at this, i'd love some good examples of high calories healthy meals.

Feel free to search the forum for posts on meals. There have been many posts which do this very thing. All you have to do is look for it.

ginnyroxx

.While I am impressed by the vast amount of knowledge everyone has here in this thread (Google), I am curious how many of you have taken this knowledge and used it for tangible results. What does one do with all the research data requested from other posters. Is it just to win an argument or will it be used to make an educated decision that will positively impact your weight loss goals? Do you run and high five your friends when you feel you have shut down another poster or do you learn something from the many different points of view and experiences here? I wish you all much success and hope you all make your weight loss goals. Your points of view have helped make this a great place to learn from others' experiences.

i can tell you it helped me not feel like i was ruining my whole fitness plan. i'm just starting out, haven't been doing this even a month and i was looking for *help*. Telling me 'you're doing this all wrong' and not offering other suggestions wasn't using knowledge for any positive tangible results. All it did was make me feel small. so i appreciate reading the other side and knowing that i'm doing just fine.

lmell

I've got that message a couple times too I just ignore it..lol

ginnyroxx

well if you feel like actually helping instead of just telling me how much i'm sucking at this, i'd love some good examples of high calories healthy meals.

Feel free to search the forum for posts on meals. There have been many posts which do this very thing. All you have to do is look for it.

I did this, thank you very much. However, doesn't it make more sense that if a poster is here offering their opinion/giving advice that they may offer an alternative? Or was it just to say - i'm far better at this than you and you're doing this all wrong. how is that helpful?

ginnyroxx

double post

binary_jester

.While I am impressed by the vast amount of knowledge everyone has here in this thread (Google), I am curious how many of you have taken this knowledge and used it for tangible results. What does one do with all the research data requested from other posters. Is it just to win an argument or will it be used to make an educated decision that will positively impact your weight loss goals? Do you run and high five your friends when you feel you have shut down another poster or do you learn something from the many different points of view and experiences here? I wish you all much success and hope you all make your weight loss goals. Your points of view have helped make this a great place to learn from others' experiences.

Regardless of the motive, correct information is correct information. I read quite a bit, like many of the people here and we all share information.

stormieweather

Being 'not hungry' does NOT mean you have taken in adequate nutrition.

In some cases, it can simply mean your ghrelin hormone levels have adjusted to the lower calorie intake and since ghrelin controls your hunger, you feel less hungry. Ghrelin also promotes fat storage during low (food) intake periods. The problem is, once you begin to eat normally again (after you've lost the weight), your ghrelin levels will increase, as will your hunger. Subsequently, 95% of dieters who lost more than 10 pounds will, within 1 year, regain all the weight they've lost.

So, eating enough food to fuel your body helps maintain the delicate balance of metabolic hormones.

Healthy, long term, sustainable weight loss IS more than just calories in/calories out.

http://themonterydiet.com/ghrelin_and_leptin.html

SHBoss1673

I won't argue the topic, but scientific evidence was requested for starvation mode. OK well here's some research done via scientific method done on the resting metabolic rate after prolonged fasting (greater than 72 hours).

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=789564&jid=PNS&volumeId=54&issueId=01&aid=789556

http://www.ajcn.org/content/46/4/557.full.pdf+html?sid=d622cbd8-5962-41af-8041-e6f63a032e75

http://www.ajcn.org/content/46/4/622.full.pdf+html?sid=d622cbd8-5962-41af-8041-e6f63a032e75


if you want more research, there's tons of it at www.ajcn.org free for the asking, if you search on "Fasting Metabolic Rate" you'll uncover dozens of studies done on fasting and our metabolic rates.

Is there information there on WHEN your body switches. I do believe in starvation mode, but I tend to disagree with the length of time in which it occurs.

yes, the timeframe is essentially universal. Usually between 60 and 72 hours although some of the studies show that obese people tend to take longer because of the amount of adipose tissue being used as an energy substrate. But it's closely tied to insulin , HGH, testosterone, and cortisol. If you don't understand intimately these hormones, you really can't talk about starvation mode as they are key to the changeover from a high carbohydrate based metabolism and a high Krebs cycle based metabolism.

buggaboo73

I am so over this topic in every possible form. It's one of the reasons I don't post in the forums very much anymore. The other, main reason, is the true underlying problem is that there are some people on here who are very intolerant and preachy. It's sad, sometimes I quit MFP all together because of it, then I say well I will come back but not visit the forums. Too bad, really.

SHBoss1673

How long are you going to be able to stick with such low calorie intake? Guess what! after you start eating even slightly more, the weight will start piling back up! Because your metabolism is way down!
Good luck!

Your metabolism doesn't decrease that much and it's only when you drastically decrease your calories that it may lower by 10%. With any diet, you're going to have to slowly increase your calorie intake once you get to maintenance in order to prevent weight gain.

proven in multiple control group studies to be 16% of RMR on average. I.E. for most women, that would be about 250 to 400 calories (2000 X .16 = 320 calories), which in my opinion is quite a bit, enough to cause problems.

edorice

2500 mg guideline for sodium is based on a 2,000 calorie diet. If you are going over or reaching 2,500 mg of sodium then your sodium intake is too much for less calories. Taking in 1,000 calories in one meal is not a great plan for weight loss, especially at dinner.

Eat like a king for breakfast.
Eat like a prince for lunch.
Eat like a pauper for dinner.

yeah...i understand that. but seeing as though i just wrapped my head around this eating my exercise calories thing this afternoon, it's a little too late for that tonight.

thanks for the help tho

I don't know where you saw from my statement that I was saying your eating plan sucked, that you were wrong, and that I feel that I am better than you. That was not my intention. Reading back to what I said I simply typed out fact: 2,500 mg of sodium is based upon a 2,000 calorie diet. From my personal experience, since I am on a 1,500 to 1,700 calorie diet I try to stay under 2,300 mg of sodium. In my personal experience I eat 2-3 servings of fruit (naturally no sodium). I eat 3-4 servings of veggies, low sodium. I eat lean meats and other sources of protein. I eat low fat or non-fat dairy. We all have our preference in food, so it would be difficult to lay out a meal plan for you. However, using the above guidelines have helped me.

Going further, I eat the bulk of my calories during the day before I get home from work. I workout in the morning. My metabolism is at it's peak during the day. That is why I eat most of my food during the day. This is from my real life application. This is what works for me. So, if any of you are finding great success in eating 1,000 calories at dinner time, not eating anything all day long, and finding success in taking in 3,000 mg of sodium a day then that is wonderful. Do you.

Sweet13_Princess

I hate that comment I get on MFP too. The goal is to be under your net for the day. I wish we'd get credit for it, even if we didn't exercise. I hate it too, when you're like 30 calories over and it doesn't give you credit. I think it should be more of a range....

Shannon

SHBoss1673

I hate that comment I get on MFP too. The goal is to be under your net for the day. I wish we'd get credit for it, even if we didn't exercise. I hate it too, when you're like 30 calories over and it doesn't give you credit. I think it should be more of a range....

Shannon

the goal isn't to be under you net, it's to be net 0, at least if you follow MFP strictly that's what it is.

Stewie316

How long are you going to be able to stick with such low calorie intake? Guess what! after you start eating even slightly more, the weight will start piling back up! Because your metabolism is way down!
Good luck!

Your metabolism doesn't decrease that much and it's only when you drastically decrease your calories that it may lower by 10%. With any diet, you're going to have to slowly increase your calorie intake once you get to maintenance in order to prevent weight gain.

proven in multiple control group studies to be 16% of RMR on average. I.E. for most women, that would be about 250 to 400 calories (2000 X .16 = 320 calories), which in my opinion is quite a bit, enough to cause problems.

True, it could cause problems if you're on a 1000 calorie a day diet, then once you decide to maintain you immediately switch to 1600. Your RMR is going to decrease on a diet no matter what, but it doesn't have to be a permanent decrease. Slowly increasing your calorie intake, exercising on a regular basis and adding muscle will result in your RMR going right back up.



Someone mentioned that 95% of dieters who lost weight gain it all back in a year. It's because people go back to their old habits, eating more too soon, not watching their calories anymore and stop exercising. It has nothing to do with starvation mode. I was one of those people that would fluctuate in weight by 10 pounds. I would gain 10, then diet and lose and this would continue because as soon as I lost it, I would go back to eating like I did before.

I finally realized that I need to make a permanant change and did my own research and joined this forum for opinions and success stories. I'm doing what is working for me and I know when I get to my goal weight, the changes are going to need to continue.

Glucocorticoid

I won't argue the topic, but scientific evidence was requested for starvation mode. OK well here's some research done via scientific method done on the resting metabolic rate after prolonged fasting (greater than 72 hours).
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=789564&jid=PNS&volumeId=54&issueId=01&aid=789556
http://www.ajcn.org/content/46/4/557.full.pdf+html?sid=d622cbd8-5962-41af-8041-e6f63a032e75
http://www.ajcn.org/content/46/4/622.full.pdf+html?sid=d622cbd8-5962-41af-8041-e6f63a032e75
if you want more research, there's tons of it at www.ajcn.org free for the asking, if you search on "Fasting Metabolic Rate" you'll uncover dozens of studies done on fasting and our metabolic rates.

I personally was never arguing the validity of starvation mode, but rather meal frequency. Things like “eat 6 meals a day” or ”eat every “2-3 hours” or “don’t eat carbs at night!” etc. If things like that help you adhere to your diet more, great – but it does NOT affect your metabolism. It takes much longer for that to happen. Some people give the human body less credit than it deserves.

.While I am impressed by the vast amount of knowledge everyone has here in this thread (Google), I am curious how many of you have taken this knowledge and used it for tangible results. What does one do with all the research data requested from other posters. Is it just to win an argument or will it be used to make an educated decision that will positively impact your weight loss goals? Do you run and high five your friends when you feel you have shut down another poster or do you learn something from the many different points of view and experiences here? I you all much success and hope you all make your weight loss goals. Your points of view have helped make this a great place to learn from others' experiences.

This is exactly my point. I can link you to thousands of people who have had successful results doing opposite things. That is why it is important to get to the core science of it all. Some people care about the truth. You, on the other hand, are asking to do the opposite. Forget the science.. and facts.. who needs that stuff! Let’s just listen to random advice. Hey guys, I don’t eat carbs at night and I have a 6 pack! Therefore, no one should eat carbs at night!
It’s not to “high five” friends. It’s called an argument in order to seek the truth. And no, it is not Google.

Why all the hostility in this statement? No one is holding a gun to your head with the intent of forcing you to conform. This forum is about sharing ideas and opinions that have worked for each individual. I hope this clarifies things for you. If you are not open to other peoples ideas and opinions, what is the point of being on a forum. I hope you have a wonderful day and whatever has put you in such a mood turns to your favor.

Relax, no one has hostility. I am simply describing a stubborn myth that has not died. In fact, your previous post could be argued to have "hostility".
I never said anyone is holding a gun to my head. I know what this forum is for, and I have shared my opinion and backed it up with scientific evidence, and I ask others to do the same. That is what people do when they are arguing (or at least should).

jrlenig

I think it is super important you hit that 1200 if you are doing vigorous psychical workouts, I know not only would my body be in starvation mode at a 1000 calories doing everything I do right now, my stomach would be, and your bodies need a certain amount of fats and proteins to get the essential building blocks for your bodies processes. It may not take a toll on your body now, but it will eventually, I think it is important to know that occasionally it is ok ( I know I myself have days where I don't hit my numbers), but overall your body needs 1200 calories a day. Also if you are not hitting 1200, your body will ( for a certain amount of time) breakdown your muscles to provide your body with those building blocks.

navs52

Then maybe MFP isn't for you.

Why is that?