Too Few Calories?

lodro

Starvation mode is largely a myth in my opinion.

http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html

What the article fails to show is that on a low calorie diet an abnormally large portion of the weight loss comes from lean muscle not fat, which is one reason the metabolism slows down. So yes you can still lose weight, but it is not healthy and you lose the type of weight you don't want to lose

Just dittoing. Your body will start breaking down skeletal muscle and other muscles in order to get the things it needs to function. There are a lot of things your body starts doing when it doesn't get the things it needs. I don't get where this argument about starvation mode not being real, when even in that blogspot post they even mention the changes that happen in the body with insufficient feeding. It seems to be the problem of people thinking starvation occurs in one day, when it is a problem of extended time being under what you need to sustain bodily functions.

Not to mention the problem, as pointed out in the "article," is more of a problem for people closer to normal weight than the super obese.

Your body will only start breaking down skeletal muscle IF it's at its minimum body fat percentage: below 6% body fat. For the majority of people that is not the case, even if they are on a regime that restricts their caloric intake. Yes, changes happen with insufficient feeding, but only if you are really underfed (<6% body fat)

As long as there is sufficient body fat, your body will use that up first before it starts converting muscle into energy. Also pointed out clearly in that article i linked to, by the way.

For me the take away lesson was that what you need in terms of calories is also something individual and not average. I'm a fairly short man, but male "averages" are for guys 6 ft tall, at least. It means that if i stick to that caloric goal I eat too many calories: smaller bodies need less calories to function.

The reason that 1200 calories is the minimum is that below that number, it's hard to get sufficient nutrients and that is an issue of course.

And lastly, most people underreport the calories they eat. When I started to measure accurately, it turned out i was underreporting by 300 cals/day, easily.