Does the occasional "starvation mode" day hurt you?

27strange

I think starvation mode takes much more than just one day, probably even more than a week. I know if I binge eat one day that I do feel guilty for it and the next couple of days food disgusts me.... basically the same premise with alcohol or candy and so forth. I definitely have had days following a huge meal where I have eaten 700 - 900 calories and worked out and not been hungry. Some how I feel better and it makes me feel like I have made up for the bad day, even though that technically is not correct so its bad advice. Better advice is to just chalk it up as a bad day and continue on with your plan the next day.

Corizon

Starvation mode is a terrible place to be , it took me to 400 lbs at under 1200 calories a day for a year I gained over 100 lbs !!!

Lybertie

Occasional starvation mode, I have to assume, means simply to take a couple days and forgo eating. That is not actually a good way to loose weight. Your metabolism requires food intake to pick up pace and it works hard to use up the calories you consume. The higher your metabolism is the more weight you will loose. It is wiser after you "fell off the wagon for a day or a weekend" to just pick back up where you left off and eat 5 to 7 very small meals a day. Just enough to give your body something to work with.
True "starvation mode" usually starts after a fast of 5 or more days. The body will start to compensate for not having enough food intake and you will actually gain weight with every little bit of food you take in. It can also cause you to become seriously ill and change the way your metabolism and hormones and the endocryne system in your body works.

STARVING is DANGEROUS!! Don't do it!

TK421NotAtPost

Absolutely not. In fact, tossing in a day of very low calories is actually good for you. Heck, go for the whole Sh'Bang and do an entire day's fast (provided you don't suffer from blood sugar swings or hypoglycemia).

Enjoy the catecholamine high during your fast. I certainly do!

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20110405/periodic-fasting-may-cut-risk-of-heart-disease-diabetes

strido

I looked up "starvation mode" on wikipedia some time ago as I was trying to understand what it implied, and although it's very scientific and to the point, the wikipedia page had a great link to an article that exposed several myths about weightloss. You should check it out.
Good luck with your journey:)

LaJauna

After a bad, bad dinner I had on July 4th (though it was my first "free" meal in weeks), I thought about trying to complete under my 1510 calorie goal today. This won't happen, but just for example's sake, let's say I hit 7-800 calories today. Is 1 day of low calorie intake after a day of high calorie intake really terrible for you? I've been at or under 1510 for a few weeks now but hit probably 3k yesterday.

Starvation Mode is a myth. You can only go into starvation if you are completely depleted of any body fat. Then your body will start to burn muscle and organ mass. If you are worried about going into metabolism slow down then calorie cycling is a way to confuse your body into not lowering your metabolism. You would have to lower your calorie intake over months to slow it down to any noticeable levels, especially if you are over your ideal weight.