Starvation mode, does it end?

rosey808

How long does starvation mode last? I always hear, don't eat to few calories or you'll go into starvation mode and your body will hold on to allt he fat. Well eventually the body will have to start dropping the weight right? So how long does starvation mode last?

janalayn

It won't end unless your body is getting enough calories to think you aren't starving it....your diary isn't public so I don't know how many calories you are netting but it should be at least 1200 ... and probably more than that for a little while so your body will realize you aren't going to starve. ... there are lots of good threads on this topic ... you have to eat to lose weight

annacataldo

it lasts until u stop.. once u start to eat enough, you start to loose again. You can still loose in starvation mode, but instead of 2lbs a week, you might see results such as a half pound a week, or less, so u can loose more quikcer by eating more.. Also, when u dont eat enough ur body has to get its calories from somewhere so it sits there and eats away your musles... i suppose youd start to loose alot once all of your muscles are gone..

also to be noted... u might loose alot when u first enter starvation mode territory--but after lets say a week or two, ur body realizes its starving and you go from losing tons really fast to losing nothing or little to nothing..

my last diet, i lost 30pounds in 2weeks by netting 600calories a day... then came to an abrupt hault and couldnt loose no matter what i did...

shannieboo

bump, I would also like to know this answer.

MrsWibbly

starvation mode doesn't usually stop you losing weight, the problem with going into starvation mode is that when you try to go back to normal calories your body will store more of this as fat, as it is preparing for any future period of starvation - hence the perennial problem for dieters of gaining more back when they stop dieting.

To lose weight and keep it off don't try to go too fast. This is also why MFP recommends that you also eat all exercise calories gained in a day.

chevy88grl

Once starvation mode kicks in (and it usually takes awhile -- not a day or two of eating too low of calories...) it won't stop until you begin eating enough again. I've read a lot about it and they say that putting yourself into starvation mode for an extended time and then adding back in calories screws up your metabolism for awhile.

shannieboo

bump, I would also like to know this answer.

Suzeesmu

You might want to read Marla's story on MFP: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/174065-starvation-mode-is-real-and-ugly

It pretty much goes into detail about what happens to your body and how it can mess up your metabolism incredibly.

ellenkxxx

If this was true, wouldn't it be impossible to starve to death? I don't mean to sound petulant, but I am wondering?

Bob314159

So if If I only eat 100 calories a day, starvation mode kicks in and I gain weight. Interesting.

purple_tux1

If this was true, wouldn't it be impossible to starve to death? I don't mean to sound petulant, but I am wondering?

I'm thinking the same thing?!? :laugh: :noway:

Honestly, what I think is if you starve your body, it uses up muscle mass before fat. Then when you stop dieting, it's so easy for you to regain the weight because your metabolism is lower. OR if you keep trying to diet, it's harder to lose weight...again, because of your lowered metabolism.

I read the link above about the women who 'starved' herself, then can't lose any more. It sounded to me like she also ate alot of processed crap AND has 9 kids to take care of on a very tight budget AND was overdoing it. A person's body can only take so much, IMHO.

Jesse_Hunter

lol, nonsense ladies, It's nonsense.

nate92315

Are you people high? You honestly think starvation mode doesn't stop until you start eating more calories? Really? Tell that to all the emaciated starving children in Africa. By your logic they should all be fat and plump because they are in a magical state of never ending fat retention.

grimendale

Are you people high? You honestly think starvation mode doesn't stop until you start eating more calories? Really? Tell that to all the emaciated starving children in Africa. By your logic they should all be fat and plump because they are in a magical state of never ending fat retention.

Not so. Adaptive thermogenesis (commonly called "starvation mode") is a bodily process that attempts to retain fat stores during periods when food is scarce. Since muscle requires more calories to maintain than fat, your body will consume muscle mass when large calorie deficits are entered in order to maintain as much fat reserve as possible. Using muscles, however, will convince your body that those muscles are required for food attainment (hunting and gather days holdover), and will attempt to preserve these muscles as well. Once the muscles that are not commonly used are depleted, your body will then start to pull from fat stores and required muscles if the deficit persists. This is why those "emaciated starving children" have no muscle mass. We're not saying they have huge fat reserves, we're saying they burned their muscles first. To answer an earlier question, yes, you still can starve to death while this is going on. Adaptive thermogenesis only reduces the amount of calories you need; it doesn't reduce them to zero. Your metabolism slows, you get sluggish, non-essential processes get stopped, etc. Eventually, your body runs out of places to pull extra calories from and you start to die. Starvation mode is real, but you don't enter it from undereating for a day or two. It takes extended periods of consistent under eating to enter. When you start getting calories again, you body comes out of thermogenesis and tries to replace fat stores as quickly as possible. People on starvation diets often rebound once they start eating again and put on more fat than they lost without necessarily replacing the lost muscle. This can result in being "skinny-fat". There are several good threads on this subject already. Hope that helps.

ElliottTN

How long does starvation mode last? I always hear, don't eat to few calories or you'll go into starvation mode and your body will hold on to allt he fat. Well eventually the body will have to start dropping the weight right? So how long does starvation mode last?

Well, you are in luck today because I have the definite answer for you. For normal people who enter into a third world country or have eating disorders, it lasts until you get you metabolism back on track.

You see, as you reduce your calories your body reacts as well. Your energy level decreases. You will start to loose a mix of muscle and fat as your body prioritizes your vital organs intake above all else (seriously, your vital organs take up much more of your caloric intake than anything else). Your metabolism will also slow. You wont ever stay the same weight because as slow as your metabolism can be, the caloric deficit will always be greater (or else you will die..hello). It takes weeks for your body to really go into starvation mode and it can take weeks and sometimes much longer to get it running at full steam again. It is basically your body reacting to environmental circumstances for survival.

NOW. WITH THE ABOVE SAID.

For people who we'll categorize as "non-normal" ( although they seem to be the majority now )
Their starvation mode hits whenever they count their calories perfectly, never cheat at their diet, always use a food scale and heart monitor 24/7 and their weight magically stays the same for over 24 hours on their electronic weight/body fat scale. They usually emerge from starvation mode merely hours after making a post on MFP complaining about starvation mode and everyone telling them to eat more.

It's F!_!CKING AMAZING!

nate92315

bump

nate92315

Well I believe "starvation mode" is a myth, along with a lot of other unproven negative thoughts towards starvation diets. They are all unproven thoughts and theories that hold no merit. With so much bunk food science theories floating around the only way to know what is fact or fiction is to test it on your own body. I have lost 11 pounds in the last 11 days eating 400-600 calories a day. So far I have noticed a slimmer waist, thinned out face, and decreased belly fat. My muscles appear the same as they did before I started the diet. So through my own personal testing I have concluded that the body eating muscle and storing fat in this so called "starvation mode" is an absolute myth.

bchalker51

Yes 11 days and it is an "absolute myth". Sheesh. Betting you're no scientist.

nate92315

Well according to the the theory of starvation mode I shouldn't be losing weight every day. Sure its only been 11 days but countless people have done what i'm doing for months and consistently lost weight without "starvation mode" occurring. Sheeesh. Betting your'e a sheep that follows everything they are told without investigating it yourself.

neanderthin

Just entered the twilight zone.

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/1d/c8/1dc865f5baac7864fa0b0fb127903e08.jpeg

saigrundy

your body only starts consuming that muscle when it gets down to a very low body fat percentage, though. the entire purpose of fat is for your body to burn it "during starvation." which is why our bodies use fat when we are "starving"

saigrundy

BUMP

neanderthin

your body only starts consuming that muscle when it gets down to a very low body fat percentage, though. the entire purpose of fat is for your body to burn it "during starvation." which is why our bodies use fat when we are "starving"

Well, that just makes too much sense.......so it must not be true. Muscle can and is used as energy during a deficit depending on diet and exercise protocol, but essentially your right.

psuLemon

Well I believe "starvation mode" is a myth, along with a lot of other unproven negative thoughts towards starvation diets. They are all unproven thoughts and theories that hold no merit. With so much bunk food science theories floating around the only way to know what is fact or fiction is to test it on your own body. I have lost 11 pounds in the last 11 days eating 400-600 calories a day. So far I have noticed a slimmer waist, thinned out face, and decreased belly fat. My muscles appear the same as they did before I started the diet. So through my own personal testing I have concluded that the body eating muscle and storing fat in this so called "starvation mode" is an absolute myth.

Someone who regularly eats will not experience starvation mode. But if you think you are maintaining your muscle mass at 400-600 calories you are highly mistaking. I can almost bet that 50% of your weight loss will be from lean body mass and additionally, at some point, your resting metabolic rate will adapt. And when people on this board mention starvation mode, that talk about metabolic adaptation which occurs with large deficits and muscle loss.

Heck, even with small deficits a person will lose lean body mass.. it's just the natural process when you are in a catabolic state. Eating large amounts of protein and resistance training will mitigate it. So good luck when you don't provide your body with any fuel.

SezxyStef

wow just wow.

Starvation mode is a myth and does not equal adaptive thermogentics on definition alone.

if you are starving you are not eating and you are losing muscle mass, weight, hair, etc...

eating vlcd do not mean your body is going to hang onto "fat" or weight because it thinks it's in a famine or better yet "gain weight"....:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

It means your body is not being fueled and you will feel lethargic and tired and hungry.

Eat the foodz people, stay within a reasonable calorie deficet ...in other words if you have 10lbs to lose don't try to do it in 3 weeks try 20 weeks, that is reasonable.

Exercise because you want to and like to.

As well know that if you are eating low calories (under 1200) you may be losing weight but that weight is not only fat but muscle mass as well so when you get to the magic number you are just gonna be that number and soft and squishy and not very strong.

jenny3008

Since muscle requires more calories to maintain than fat, your body will consume muscle mass when large calorie deficits are entered in order to maintain as much fat reserve as possible.

I just found this out today and I have to say I think its a rotten biological trick from nature. I want my body to burn the fat way before it even considers burning my little muscles that I have worked so hard to build up.

Ok this is a bit tongue in cheek, I'm no where near the scenario where this is likely to happen..... but it still sucks

WalkingAlong

Are you people high? You honestly think starvation mode doesn't stop until you start eating more calories? Really? Tell that to all the emaciated starving children in Africa. By your logic they should all be fat and plump because they are in a magical state of never ending fat retention.

There is a new thread on starvation mode about hourly. Why did you go back to last May, and a thread originally from 2011, and revive this one?

Mythos_

When I was 20 years old, I got E. coli food poisoning that damaged my stomach. I couldn't eat anything without being in excruciating pain and then eventually throwing it all up. My doctor put me on a baby food diet for 3 months. I couldn't eat anything solid and even milk shakes would make me sick. I lost about 40lbs and all of it was due to basically starving myself because I literally couldn't eat. After I started forcing myself to eat again - which always resulted in me being in terrible pain, throwing up and passing out - I managed to stop the weight loss. I know for a fact that starvation mode does work as a way to lose weight, but you end up paying a huge price for it in malnutrition. My system was messed up for years.

But I have another question. Say you eat your 1200 calories a day, but you exercise 300 calories - more or less - off. Does that mean you have to eat another 300 calories to get back to that 1200 number? Cuz the app bit**es at you that you are eating too few calories and are going to end up in starvation mode. Anybody got an answe for that?

Iwishyouwell

When I was 20 years old, I got E. coli food poisoning that damaged my stomach. I couldn't eat anything without being in excruciating pain and then eventually throwing it all up. My doctor put me on a baby food diet for 3 months. I couldn't eat anything solid and even milk shakes would make me sick. I lost about 40lbs and all of it was due to basically starving myself because I literally couldn't eat. After I started forcing myself to eat again - which always resulted in me being in terrible pain, throwing up and passing out - I managed to stop the weight loss. I know for a fact that starvation mode does work as a way to lose weight, but you end up paying a huge price for it in malnutrition. My system was messed up for years.]

3 months of undernutrition doesn't take "years" to correct. Sounds like your system was a mess prior to your "starvation" and simply continued to be. Also the quality of your diet during the succeeding years would have far, far more impact on your greater health than your 3 month baby food/soft diet.

DeguelloTex

I feel like I went to an astronomy site and found a bunch of posts about how astrology is scientific.

"Aquarius, does it end?"

fullercorp

i do not understand how someone eating 1200 or thereabouts would go into starvation mode. i feel this term is just a grab bag that those w weird metabolisms get tossed into. Someone says 'i did all the right things to lose and everyone says i should be but i am not' becomes STARVATION MODE.
but then why have i never met a real person this happened to? every person, like the one w EColi above or w an ED, lost weight. i have never met a fat non eater. i have never met anyone who embarked on a diet and exercise program who didn't lose at all.
well, except me. But i do not think, nor have ever thought, i was in starvation mode. my body gets food all day; i am never weak or hungry.