Starvation mode, does it end?

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  • milleniahexe
    milleniahexe Posts: 1 Member
    I am on phentermine and i was told by the doctor that if i eat less than minimum necessary calorie intake (for me its about 1200), my body will go into starvation mode and weight loss will slow down. I often eat less than that, but my theory is that even if starvation mode occurs it cant last forever and eventually the body will have to dig in into the ample yummy fat reserves! What is your take on it? I have never heard of a person who for whatever reason has been forced to eat few calories for weeks or months to emerge with the same weight as before so the mode has to stop after some time! I read here that muscles get used up before fat but what if i am using my muscles in regular exercise? That further lowers my calorie intake. According to starvation mode, id stay fat forever or even put weight on, and that doesnt make any sense. If less is coming in than going out, weight has to go!
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    Well, the origination of the idea of "Starvation mode" is often cited as the Minnesota Starvation Experiments of 1944-45.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment
    http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25782294

    I'd point out that:
    1) This was a carefully controlled experiment that started with normal-weight volunteers.
    2) "Starvation" was defined as a 1000 kcal/day deficit, more or less. The object was for the men participating to lose 25% of their body weight, which was "normal" at the start of the experiment. They were "starved" on between 1500 and 1800 calories a day.
    3) The period of starvation lasted 24 weeks.
    4) participants experienced "marked declines in physiological processes indicative of decreases in each subject's basal metabolic rate (the energy required by the body in a state of rest), reflected in reduced body temperature, respiration and heart rate." They also experienced some fairly serious psychological symptoms, including depression and anxiety.
    5) They experimented with different forms of re-feeding afterwards, but it took months to years for some men's health to return to normal.

    The objection that "if starvation mode existed, no one would starve to death" ignores the fact that for most people experiencing famine, they're surviving on significantly *less* food than they need, not on NO food. What "starvation mode" means is that you become able to live and maintain on a lower amount than you would have previously, as your body defends its mass by slowing everything down. Yes, if you stop eating entirely, you'll die eventually. "Starvation mode" makes it take longer. "Starvation mode" means that if you get put in prison and given 1000 calories a day, you'll lose weight to the point where CI=CO again -- and that point may not be what the calculators on sites like this would predict.

    Multiple studies since 1945 have documented that drastically lowering intake results in significant lowering of metabolic rate, and you don't have to be "starving" to experience it. How many people here are aiming for 1500-1800 calories a day? How many people here are trying to create a deficit of 1000 calories per day? Everyone aiming for 2 pounds a week of loss is creating as big a deficit as these men were.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    milleniahexe wrote: »
    I am on phentermine and i was told by the doctor that if i eat less than minimum necessary calorie intake (for me its about 1200), my body will go into starvation mode and weight loss will slow down. I often eat less than that, but my theory is that even if starvation mode occurs it cant last forever and eventually the body will have to dig in into the ample yummy fat reserves! What is your take on it? I have never heard of a person who for whatever reason has been forced to eat few calories for weeks or months to emerge with the same weight as before so the mode has to stop after some time! I read here that muscles get used up before fat but what if i am using my muscles in regular exercise? That further lowers my calorie intake. According to starvation mode, id stay fat forever or even put weight on, and that doesnt make any sense. If less is coming in than going out, weight has to go!

    Holy zombie thread...

    Anyway to answer your question...there are many reasons to not eat below 1200 calories, but "starvation mode" is not one of them. Your body can only metabolize so much fat a day, so once it reaches that point it'll start burning muscle.
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  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    savithny wrote: »
    Well, the origination of the idea of "Starvation mode" is often cited as the Minnesota Starvation Experiments of 1944-45.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment
    http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25782294

    I'd point out that:
    1) This was a carefully controlled experiment that started with normal-weight volunteers.
    2) "Starvation" was defined as a 1000 kcal/day deficit, more or less. The object was for the men participating to lose 25% of their body weight, which was "normal" at the start of the experiment. They were "starved" on between 1500 and 1800 calories a day.
    3) The period of starvation lasted 24 weeks.
    4) participants experienced "marked declines in physiological processes indicative of decreases in each subject's basal metabolic rate (the energy required by the body in a state of rest), reflected in reduced body temperature, respiration and heart rate." They also experienced some fairly serious psychological symptoms, including depression and anxiety.
    5) They experimented with different forms of re-feeding afterwards, but it took months to years for some men's health to return to normal.

    The objection that "if starvation mode existed, no one would starve to death" ignores the fact that for most people experiencing famine, they're surviving on significantly *less* food than they need, not on NO food. What "starvation mode" means is that you become able to live and maintain on a lower amount than you would have previously, as your body defends its mass by slowing everything down. Yes, if you stop eating entirely, you'll die eventually. "Starvation mode" makes it take longer. "Starvation mode" means that if you get put in prison and given 1000 calories a day, you'll lose weight to the point where CI=CO again -- and that point may not be what the calculators on sites like this would predict.

    Multiple studies since 1945 have documented that drastically lowering intake results in significant lowering of metabolic rate, and you don't have to be "starving" to experience it. How many people here are aiming for 1500-1800 calories a day? How many people here are trying to create a deficit of 1000 calories per day? Everyone aiming for 2 pounds a week of loss is creating as big a deficit as these men were.

    Again... Zombie Thread.

    As far as how many here are aiming for 1500-1800 per day? If I eat at 1800 per day, I struggle to lose unless I exercise more than I have time for. If I eat 1500 per day, I can lose. If I eat 1600-1700 per day, I can lose extremely slowly to the point that the weight loss is very difficult to notice except when looking at data over several months. So I aim for 1500 per day. All of that assumes a low carb diet. If I eat a moderate carb diet at 1500, I lose so slowly that results are more similar to 1600 to 1700 calories per day on a low carb diet. That is me... I assume there are others like me within that 1500-1800 range.
  • Peregrymj
    Peregrymj Posts: 34 Member
    Starvation mode only affects people who are actually, you know, starving. As in they've only eaten a bowl of rice this week. If you're eating the recommended 1200-1800 calories a day MFP suggests, you aren't starving and so don't worry about starvation mode.
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