the myth, starvation mode, and dont eat before bed.

registers

KillingAurora-- Thank you for inejcting some sanity into this silliness. Best part? People overestimate their activity levels and undercount their intake. I bet some people went to look up how many calories were burned responding on this topic so they could justify eating more food while continuing to ignore how they look naked in the mirror... sorry I insist that the sarcasm is necessary.

I'm hungry right now; check out my profile pics, the pic with my hand in my pocket and my shirt on was taken early this month. I am about 5lbs light then that right now, I don't think I am wasting away from a muscle perspective. But I'm hungry because I continue to tweak and reduce my calories and most recently carb count. And I am not eating back my calories. My 4 highly intense BB & Power combo weight training workouts are still vigorous and plenty energetic. I have my bodyfat% (taken via calipers professionally), my weight, and pics to track my progress. And these increasing hunger pangs. I like to tell people this because it is true, it can be very hard and very easy to rationalize eating more. But this is working for me. Will it work for everyone? I'm not interested in proving that to people who very agilely will scour the net to selectively post studies against my thought. My message: Hey go put all that effort into achieving YOUR body image goals. Forget proving ME wrong. But after you post all this and that for and against anything and everything on the forums, go look in the mirror naked or in a binki or briefs and answer truthfully to yourself: Do you like what you see? Are you happy? Are you being honest? The frightening thing is that some people won't do this or will make exuses there too.

Best wishes to all. Let's post more about what our actual progress is, and how we are doing it. Less and less about who is right and who is wrong. Don't you see, in the end, the proof is in YOUR mirror...

That's what i keep on saying, "you can't argue with results". I am hungry too, i don't eat during the day... and you know i eat my meal at night. So i am glad you're hungry with me haha.

registers

This whole starvation mode thing just confuses the hell out of me to be honest.

I lose weight when I use more cals than I burn each week. I have set my amount to 1410 a day- but I usually go slightly over. Sometimes I eat 1800/1900 if I have exercised and still seem to lose- which makes me think you should eat back exercise calories.

When I was in my twenties I went on a few very silly low cal diets and lost loads of weight- sometimes eating under 1000 cals a day and I definitely didn't go into starvation mode - in fact I was almost underweight at one point after losing a couple of stone. How come my body didn't just hold onto it all?

Sorry I'm rambling now!

See i don't know what your diet was like at that time or what. You said "low caloric diets" from my understanding these diets are mostly based around vegetables. hey in some forms can be considered low carb diets. Compared to know you didn't say anything about what type of calories you're eating. If you're eating back mostly protien, then that explains why eating back your calories why it works. Protien releases glucagon which is a hormone that releases body fat. If you have been eating high carbs through the day, then exercise, and then eat protien... that would help in weight loss.

I am just saying there are many factors that come in to play when discussing starvation mode.

jansus

I hate the whole term "starvation mode" in terms of those in the world who are starving I just find it insulting.

However I have two simple questions to ask.

If it is purely a case of calories in and out - why is there a well known british slimming club on which you can eat lean meat fruit and veg freely ( so you are bound to go over calories recommended on here - that works?

also irrespective of excercise ( and i know I am hypothyroid) if I am sticking to 1300 net calories per day - why have my scales been stuck for about 9 weeks?

webbed1

jansus, the beauty of counting and tracking calories accurately is that you have a great base to test a hypothsis; in your case, stuck on the scale for 9 weeks, yet you've been diligently sticking to that calorie count. So go try a modest increase, make sure there is quality protein in that increase, and run that for 4 weeks and see what happens. You have the basis for effectively answering this question for yourself. I mean, you can only do 3 things right? Reduce calories, see what happens, maintain, increase.

registers

I hate the whole term "starvation mode" in terms of those in the world who are starving I just find it insulting.

However I have two simple questions to ask.

If it is purely a case of calories in and out - why is there a well known british slimming club on which you can eat lean meat fruit and veg freely ( so you are bound to go over calories recommended on here - that works?

also irrespective of excercise ( and i know I am hypothyroid) if I am sticking to 1300 net calories per day - why have my scales been stuck for about 9 weeks?

Okay i am glad you brought up that point. A lot of people think it's just about calories, it is and it isn't. The club you mentioned, notice it's low carbs. It's about your fat releasing abilities. There was this study where people at 1000calories from carbs a day, and they didn't lose any weight. Carbs play a big issue in this. I am not recommending to anyone a low carb diet, more of watchful of carb diet.

registers

jansus, the beauty of counting and tracking calories accurately is that you have a great base to test a hypothsis; in your case, stuck on the scale for 9 weeks, yet you've been diligently sticking to that calorie count. So go try a modest increase, make sure there is quality protein in that increase, and run that for 4 weeks and see what happens. You have the basis for effectively answering this question for yourself. I mean, you can only do 3 things right? Reduce calories, see what happens, maintain, increase.

That's what i am starting to see, I think there are people on this site who lie to themselves about their portions. Or what they ate exactly, like a world of delusion. I am currently not counting my calories, i am estimating. I try to estimate high. Once my weight loss stops, i will go to counting calories, I have done it many times in the past.

Another thing to do is, this is about learning what works best for your body, The best thing to do is, to see how certain foods affect your weight loss... increase your carbs a bit see what happens, lower your carbs a bit see what happens, up your fats, lower your fats, do the same with protien, find the proper combination for you.

registers

jansus, the beauty of counting and tracking calories accurately is that you have a great base to test a hypothsis; in your case, stuck on the scale for 9 weeks, yet you've been diligently sticking to that calorie count. So go try a modest increase, make sure there is quality protein in that increase, and run that for 4 weeks and see what happens. You have the basis for effectively answering this question for yourself. I mean, you can only do 3 things right? Reduce calories, see what happens, maintain, increase.

That's what i am starting to see, I think there are people on this site who lie to themselves about their portions. Or what they ate exactly, like a world of delusion. I am currently not counting my calories, i am estimating. I try to estimate high. Once my weight loss stops, i will go to counting calories, I have done it many times in the past.

Another thing to do is, this is about learning what works best for your body, The best thing to do is, to see how certain foods affect your weight loss... increase your carbs a bit see what happens, lower your carbs a bit see what happens, up your fats, lower your fats, do the same with protien, find the proper combination for you.

crisanderson27

I am not recommending to anyone a low carb diet, more of watchful of carb diet.

Oh my...if you delete all the crap surrounding it...you and I agree for once =D.

It's progress!

stefanwolf

My personal experience is a little of a mix of those opinions. Before using this website, we had a bit of a Biggest Loser contest at my work, and I won by loosing 30 pounds. I did that by exercising and eating no more than 1200 calories a day. I still have weight I would like to loose, but I can say that it absolutely does not come off when I eat back my exercise calories. There is a lot of discussion on here and back and forth opinions, but I can say that no matter what anyone else says about needing to eat the extra calories, that does not work for me. However, I don't choose to go back to all those people and say that they are wrong, because they may not be wrong about what works for them. The other thing I have noticed is how many people recommend just looking at the calorie number instead of the quality of food they put in there mouth. If anything about this website has been extremely clear, everyone has their own method and opinion on what works for them. And I also have noticed that as stated by someone else, there is a study for EVERYTHING!! The fact is some people's bodies are obviously able to cope with eating a restrictive calorie diet, and some people's bodies can't.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

stormieweather

People should really only trust verified scientific studies, not a bunch of anonymous strangers on a message board who say something is a myth or is true.

registers

People should really only trust verified scientific studies, not a bunch of anonymous strangers on a message board who say something is a myth or is true.

Scientific studies can be highly misleading and interpenetrated wrong.

crisanderson27

People should really only trust verified scientific studies, not a bunch of anonymous strangers on a message board who say something is a myth or is true.

Scientific studies can be highly misleading and interpenetrated wrong.

So can all the magazines you read...making you an internet expert.

registers

People should really only trust verified scientific studies, not a bunch of anonymous strangers on a message board who say something is a myth or is true.

Scientific studies can be highly misleading and interpenetrated wrong.

So can all the magazines you read...making you an internet expert.

Yes I read pump magazine article today, It said you're wrong. I don't think for myself I can't add 2 and 2 together and i come up with bogus theories based on illogical relationships. I let other people guide my thinking, and believe everything i hear and read, despite the fact of how it affects me physical and others.

My newest theory is, people who eat below 1200 calories are in starvation mode, it doesn't matter if they mostly eat carbs proteins or a balanced diet. Even though studies have concluded a 1000 calorie a day diet based on pure carbs, didn't have much effect on weight loss. Yeah you're right it's starvation mode, not a macro nutrient ratio issue.

crisanderson27

Yes I read pump magazine article today, It said you're wrong. I don't think for myself I can't add 2 and 2 together and i come up with bogus theories based on illogical relationships. I let other people guide my thinking, and believe everything i hear and read, despite the fact of how it affects me physical and others.

My newest theory is, people who eat below 1200 calories are in starvation mode, it doesn't matter if they mostly eat carbs proteins or a balanced diet. Even though studies have concluded a 1000 calorie a day diet based on pure carbs, didn't have much effect on weight loss. Yeah you're right it's starvation mode, not a macro nutrient ratio issue.

You actually don't know for sure what I believe, because I don't totally spout it all over the place as gospel truth...particularly if it might be dangerous to others. I know eating more is safe, and for the majority (most likely ALL people, if they do it right) of people it WORKS FINE.

End of story.

I also know that your posts are irresponsible, potentially harmful, insulting, and in general a waste of time. If it wasn't for the fact that without an opposing viewpoint they could harm others...my squirrel brain and I would ignore them completely.

Cris

Russellb97

Starvation mode is very real. Technically if we are burning up our stored reserve energy, ie, bodyfat and glycogen because we have a negative balance of energy, we are in a way starving.
Yeah "Starvation" is not too PC when some people don't have enough food to eat. IT should be "metabolism Slow-Down Mode" or something like that.

It's not as drastic as some think and it takes a while before it's a real issue.

For example if I ate only 500 calories today, my metabolism wouldn't just drop me into a starvation state, but after one day it would slow down a bit simply because I am metabolizing less food than normal, and the metabolism of food is part of RMR.

Now if we eat too little for too long, we run the risk of losing muscle mass, and this also happens if we don't eat enough protein and too many carbohydrates. More carbs typically inhibit fat oxidation. If we drop muscle mass, we drop metabolism.

The big problem is long-term dieting, when our hormones get involved and our body has a large drop in leptin and t3, which does happen when we have a large calorie deficit for a long period of time.

Personally, no one can ever tell me it's just a myth, that is bogus. I've lived it.
I know beyond reasonable doubt that it's true, and if it isn't then I must have magical powers or something, because I eat more now and exercise less than when I was over 300lbs.

The 2nd part of the OP post is spot on, it is far better for fat-loss to limit carbs throughout the day and eat more calories at night.

Teemo

I call it my main meal, it's within 2hrs...
muscle milk protien shake 2 scoops 280 calories
tortilla 120 calories
Hot dog 180 calories
A small bag of peanuts 290
Burrito 975
chips ahoy 6 cookies 320
Peanut butter cup 300
A smoothie(pineapple, mixed fruit apple juice) 160
1lbs of cod 368

This has been my favorite post in this thread. I hit 2,400 in a meal today on garlic knots, a giant steak, veggies and eggs. 190g of carbs, 90g of fat, 190g of protein. 8g of sugar.

How's your diet working out for you?

crisanderson27

KillingAurora-- Thank you for inejcting some sanity into this silliness. Best part? People overestimate their activity levels and undercount their intake. I bet some people went to look up how many calories were burned responding on this topic so they could justify eating more food while continuing to ignore how they look naked in the mirror... sorry I insist that the sarcasm is necessary.

I'm hungry right now; check out my profile pics, the pic with my hand in my pocket and my shirt on was taken early this month. I am about 5lbs light then that right now, I don't think I am wasting away from a muscle perspective. But I'm hungry because I continue to tweak and reduce my calories and most recently carb count. And I am not eating back my calories. My 4 highly intense BB & Power combo weight training workouts are still vigorous and plenty energetic. I have my bodyfat% (taken via calipers professionally), my weight, and pics to track my progress. And these increasing hunger pangs. I like to tell people this because it is true, it can be very hard and very easy to rationalize eating more. But this is working for me. Will it work for everyone? I'm not interested in proving that to people who very agilely will scour the net to selectively post studies against my thought. My message: Hey go put all that effort into achieving YOUR body image goals. Forget proving ME wrong. But after you post all this and that for and against anything and everything on the forums, go look in the mirror naked or in a binki or briefs and answer truthfully to yourself: Do you like what you see? Are you happy? Are you being honest? The frightening thing is that some people won't do this or will make exuses there too.

Best wishes to all. Let's post more about what our actual progress is, and how we are doing it. Less and less about who is right and who is wrong. Don't you see, in the end, the proof is in YOUR mirror...

Now this, is a responsible post, unlike ascriminal's wild claims of conspiracy theories and falsehoods.

And while I know you weren't pointing at me =D....I wanted to say, I actually take the time to look into the mirror EVERY day, and critique the specific things I don't like...while praising myself for the things I do like. I generally will take pictures as well...to track progress...which can be highly subjective to the naked eye.

Here is todays (apologies if it's offensive to anyone...I had to crop it low to fit my big belly...which looks even bigger in the light from my bathroom lol =p):



There's parts of that I'm happy with, and parts I'm not. I know that the 1500 calorie diet (my maintenance is around 2300) MFP recommended had me stuck at 187lbs for three weeks. I didn't like that, so I switched it up, upped my calories, and started zig zagging them. We'll see how the results work out come Monday. I also know that every time I have EVER lost weight in my life...I took the time to eat substantially more food than I was before (including the entire month before I found MFP, in which I lost almost 20lbs).

Here's the before picture:



That's 20lbs of fat around my middle.

jansus, the beauty of counting and tracking calories accurately is that you have a great base to test a hypothsis; in your case, stuck on the scale for 9 weeks, yet you've been diligently sticking to that calorie count. So go try a modest increase, make sure there is quality protein in that increase, and run that for 4 weeks and see what happens. You have the basis for effectively answering this question for yourself. I mean, you can only do 3 things right? Reduce calories, see what happens, maintain, increase.

Again, totally responsible and intelligent reply. It's clear that safety and moderation rule your advice to others my friend, and you have my respect for that.

Cris

registers

Starvation mode is very real. Technically if we are burning up our stored reserve energy, ie, bodyfat and glycogen because we have a negative balance of energy, we are in a way starving.
Yeah "Starvation" is not too PC when some people don't have enough food to eat. IT should be "metabolism Slow-Down Mode" or something like that.

It's not as drastic as some think and it takes a while before it's a real issue.

For example if I ate only 500 calories today, my metabolism wouldn't just drop me into a starvation state, but after one day it would slow down a bit simply because I am metabolizing less food than normal, and the metabolism of food is part of RMR.

Now if we eat too little for too long, we run the risk of losing muscle mass, and this also happens if we don't eat enough protein and too many carbohydrates. More carbs typically inhibit fat oxidation. If we drop muscle mass, we drop metabolism.

The big problem is long-term dieting, when our hormones get involved and our body has a large drop in leptin and t3, which does happen when we have a large calorie deficit for a long period of time.

Personally, no one can ever tell me it's just a myth, that is bogus. I've lived it.
I know beyond reasonable doubt that it's true, and if it isn't then I must have magical powers or something, because I eat more now and exercise less than when I was over 300lbs.

The 2nd part of the OP post is spot on, it is far better for fat-loss to limit carbs throughout the day and eat more calories at night.

I agree with you, I think this it's misinterpreted what i said. The myth is "how starvation mode works."

registers

I call it my main meal, it's within 2hrs...
muscle milk protien shake 2 scoops 280 calories
tortilla 120 calories
Hot dog 180 calories
A small bag of peanuts 290
Burrito 975
chips ahoy 6 cookies 320
Peanut butter cup 300
A smoothie(pineapple, mixed fruit apple juice) 160
1lbs of cod 368

This has been my favorite post in this thread. I hit 2,400 in a meal today on garlic knots, a giant steak, veggies and eggs. 190g of carbs, 90g of fat, 190g of protein. 8g of sugar.

How's your diet working out for you?

Workings great 15lbs in 2 weeks, what about you?
Here is the problem with most people on these subjects,they jump to conclusions, i never said I ate that every day. I know what I am doing with my diet.

size08

Yes, I'm lovin' these articles. Breakfast is over rated, breakfast cereal companies are only trying to make money. I've reduced my breakfasts' and I'm feeling fine. well, most importantingly I'm not fainting at work on the morning shift. it's O.K to have a small breakfast. as for the:- eat a good dinner ever wondered why anorexics can't sleep at night.......they will wake-up at 2am because their bodies need food. and the calsium theroy:- there's no point drinking a huge glass of milk in one sitting because the body can't absorb it so the excess is turned to fat, I'm assuming. trick is, to drink milk or eat cheese in small amounts over the day.:drinker:

jansus

Thanks for replies. I have actually dropped from 1500 calories then 1400 and then to 1300 - but still have taken over 20 weeks to loose 12lb- tbh most of that was lost before I cam on here. I agree that the exercise calories may be over estimated on here ( thats when i found out my running machine tells me the calories burnt.lol)

On the weight loss programme I was talking about we did have someone who was disabled who lost a lt of weight - so that why I was discussing taking the exercise factor out of the equasion .

During the time on here I have tried - zig zagging - seemed to help but hard to track
and at the moment I try 40 /30/30 - protein/carbs/fat.

Also I have tried measuring the calories but using full(good fat product) rather than low fat.

I think sometimes when you have been on lots of different diets - it is easy to mix things up in your head - and think that the odd measurement or slip up does not matter - but it does if you are on a different type of "diet"

I am not giving up .But have now realised I can not rely on my thyroid medication helping me either.

iamthepreston

To the OP I can see where you are coming from, but you are over generalizing it and confusing people.

The way you are eating is actually something I agree with. Stay in a calroic defecit for a few days and then eat above maintenance. I do not think you need to eat way above maintenance just around 300 cals. There is also a scientific method of doing this where you eat below maintenance until your body temp drops and then you go above. Its been awhile so I dont remember the specifics.

Starvation mode does exist, and it occurs in people who ate in a severe defecit for an extended period of time.

registers

To the OP I can see where you are coming from, but you are over generalizing it and confusing people.

The way you are eating is actually something I agree with. Stay in a calroic defecit for a few days and then eat above maintenance. I do not think you need to eat way above maintenance just around 300 cals. There is also a scientific method of doing this where you eat below maintenance until your body temp drops and then you go above. Its been awhile so I dont remember the specifics.

Starvation mode does exist, and it occurs in people who ate in a severe defecit for an extended period of time.

Wow that's very interesting... basing it on body temperature...

clipsychic

Bump... Till I get to my puter.

jansus

actually I would just like to say that the low carb comment about the diet I mentioned was not entirely correct. on the green version -wholemeal pasta and potatoes are "free" and protein is measured. and that works as well. It is more sugar and fat that is restricted - but it is definitely not calorie counting.

Tbh I am thinking of going back on it and still using here for support because I have made some good friends.

Like you say what works for some does not work for others and I am still not convinced by some research because the recommendations seem to change from day to day.

jcl1981

just curious but why would we want to be like cavemen, wasnt their life expectancy like in the 30's?

crisanderson27

just curious but why would we want to be like cavemen, wasnt their life expectancy like in the 30's?

In defense of that whole 'lifestyle' paleo thing...there was a lot of other things that contributed to that life expectancy than just what they ate. Their lifestyle was very hard on them...for one. If you too 20 of us, trained us to live as cave men, and threw us in the wild...I'd be surprised if we made it 30 years. The whole 'paleo/caveman' thing was an unfortunate way to spark people's imagination and get them interested. Everyone is so literal minded nowadays unless they're thinking about themselves lol. It's more a 'back to basics' approach to eating...with whole foods, no grain, minimal carbs (not NO carbs)...and oddly enough, you can EAT ALL YOU WANT, unlike ascriminal's approach.

Just thought I'd clarify there.

registers

just curious but why would we want to be like cavemen, wasnt their life expectancy like in the 30's?

In defense of that whole 'lifestyle' paleo thing...there was a lot of other things that contributed to that life expectancy than just what they ate. Their lifestyle was very hard on them...for one. If you too 20 of us, trained us to live as cave men, and threw us in the wild...I'd be surprised if we made it 30 years. The whole 'paleo/caveman' thing was an unfortunate way to spark people's imagination and get them interested. Everyone is so literal minded nowadays unless they're thinking about themselves lol. It's more a 'back to basics' approach to eating...with whole foods, no grain, minimal carbs (not NO carbs)...and oddly enough, you can EAT ALL YOU WANT, unlike ascriminal's approach.

Just thought I'd clarify there.

Cris not once have i said "don't eat." I am against long term fasting. That doesn't mean I don't believe in it. I wouldn't long term fast to lose weight. Somedays I eat 3000 calories within 1hr, with peanut butter cups, and cookies. I'll classify this as eating whatever i want. If people read this and think "oh he eats whatever he wants all the time" no i don't. I have specific days for certain biochemical goals.

In your defense cris. I also think a big part of it, it's for human nature to prolong their life span. Throughout time this has been true.

registers

Yes, I'm lovin' these articles. Breakfast is over rated, breakfast cereal companies are only trying to make money. I've reduced my breakfasts' and I'm feeling fine. well, most importantingly I'm not fainting at work on the morning shift. it's O.K to have a small breakfast. as for the:- eat a good dinner ever wondered why anorexics can't sleep at night.......they will wake-up at 2am because their bodies need food. and the calsium theroy:- there's no point drinking a huge glass of milk in one sitting because the body can't absorb it so the excess is turned to fat, I'm assuming. trick is, to drink milk or eat cheese in small amounts over the day.:drinker:

I wasn't aware of the cereal pitch. Another pitch is the "eat 6 meals a day" thing, that it speeds up your metabolism. That came from the meal replacement shakes.