starvation mode

Fit_Canuck

I sat on it's lap once and told it what I'd like for Christmas.

It's a shame your only recourse is to mock the topic being discussed.

Fit_Canuck

I like what Kymmu said LOL

Nobody in North America is starving sorry. Even if you train for an hour a day and eat 1500 calories you will do just fine! I know this because I did it for over a year and still do it most of the time.

http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/starvation-mode-why-you-probably-never-need-to-worry-about-it/

http://www.burnthefat.com/slow-metabolism-problems.html

Nobody in North America is starving, I'll make sure to pass that along to the soup kitchen, they can close their doors.( Sorry to sound mean or condescending but that comment deserved it.

Also we are talking about prolonged metabolism stifling which does exist and slow down your weight loss/fat loss and yes can lead to doing harm to your body. You absolutely need to feed your body with good calories and make sure there is plenty of gas in the tank! We can all argue this until we are blue in the face and agree to disagree as long as we all try to bring too points to the table.

As much as I love reading random websites to get my information I tend to believe the professionals I get to see and the education they have been providing me on my body and it's needs. I do enjoy sharing it with people on here and there are always going to be people who don't agree and provide a few random studies on the web to prove their point.

Di3012

I kept hearing over and over about starvation mode in these forums. I don't believe that people are not losing weight because they are in starvation mode.

http://www.sharecare.com/question/weight-loss-plateau-starvation-mode

It should have been logical enough for me, but after hearing it over and over, I started to think it must be true. But after reading these answers about it in the link above, I have to say that it makes sense that if you are truly in starvation, then you are not going to gain weight. So if eating back calories works for you then by all means. But is it possible that your calories burned measurement is off? Or the number of calories you are consuming is not correct?

I know that I personally am not sure of the calories I am burning because often I just use whatever calories are in the database here. But those calories could be for a 400 lb person which I am not. I also don't know that if I select a food in the database here and add it to my food diary that the number of calories that I am consuming is correct. It could be wrong. Unless I weigh/measure everything I eat and calculate the caloric content myself, and unless I have some device that is going to accurately tell me exactly the number of calories i am burning, then it just might be that my math is off.

I probably need to just eat a little less and exercise a little more.

Many, many times calories consumed are under-estimated and calories burned during exercise are over-estimated. People often log their food and drink and think there are a lot less calories than there really are and when it comes to their exercise, so many people over-estimate the calorie burn, log it in their diary and then eat all those back, when in actual fact, they may have burned a lot less than they are logging.

It happens time and time again. Unfortunately, it often sabotages their weight loss attempts. They then post on the Forums and ask if anybody would know why and one of the most "popular" replies are that they may be in "starvation mode" and so to eat more! So they eat more, the weight still does not come off and all because of an overestimation of calories burned and an underestimation of calories consumed.

Now then, put all of this to one side and view what sorts of foods are suggestions for people to "eat more of"...... candybars, crisps, chocolate, sweets, cakes, pizza..... - this, apparently is to make up the calories that the person may be short of at the end of the day.

It doesn't take Einstein to work out what the possible result regarding weight loss will be - or weight gain as the chance may have it.......

positivelylisa

I was wondering about eating those "extra" calories back - I am thinking not.

Think again,
Eat back your exercise calories.
MFP calculates our total daily calorie intake WITHOUT exercise to lose 1 pound or so per week.
And after we log exercises, our daily calorie limit increases.
Why?
Because MFP telling us to eat our exercise calories.
Large deficits are unhealthy, because while you will lose weight, what's the quality of the weight loss?
In many cases you'll lose lean body mass - MUSCLE - which LOWERS your metabolic rate, making weight loss harder.
These crash diets work well for a season -- and sure enough, the pounds melt away. But when you eat so
few calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories
more slowly -- and you gain weight.
Be smart.
Exercise well both cardio and resistance, and eat back the calories.
The exercise will RAISE your metabolism and burn more fat at rest.

This is exactly what I was told by a Registered Dietician, and it has taken me from eating 1200 calories, not eating my exercise calories and losing maybe .5 lbs or gaining each week, to an average of 1.5 to 2 lbs per week loss while averaging 1350 net calories per day.

Fit_Canuck

I was wondering about eating those "extra" calories back - I am thinking not.

Think again,
Eat back your exercise calories.
MFP calculates our total daily calorie intake WITHOUT exercise to lose 1 pound or so per week.
And after we log exercises, our daily calorie limit increases.
Why?
Because MFP telling us to eat our exercise calories.
Large deficits are unhealthy, because while you will lose weight, what's the quality of the weight loss?
In many cases you'll lose lean body mass - MUSCLE - which LOWERS your metabolic rate, making weight loss harder.
These crash diets work well for a season -- and sure enough, the pounds melt away. But when you eat so
few calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories
more slowly -- and you gain weight.
Be smart.
Exercise well both cardio and resistance, and eat back the calories.
The exercise will RAISE your metabolism and burn more fat at rest.

This is exactly what I was told by a Registered Dietician, and it has taken me from eating 1200 calories, not eating my exercise calories and losing maybe .5 lbs or gaining each week, to an average of 1.5 to 2 lbs per week loss while averaging 1350 net calories per day.

I'm so happy for you!! I was in the same boat, I wasn't eating enough and it took a doctor, a kinesiologist and a sports nutritionist to convince and me and put me on the right eating path. I went from the 1700 calories that MFP gave me which was insanity and they took me to 2600+ calories and the weight is dropping and the muscle is building.

lilojoke

Real world application is always different then some research lab experiment done on people... Ok worded that incorrectly but I like what DecemberChild has posted.

Eating MORE and moving less is what has so many people tipping the scales and its sad to see that nobody thinks outside of the box and think for themselves but rather go by some random number instead of listening to their bodies.

If your eating 1500 calories and working out for 30 minutes a day and your losing a lot of weight eat 1600 calories per day to slow it down and if your not losing on 1500 plus 30 minutes take a look at your food quality before reducing your 1500 calories if your quality is in check then reduce to 1400.

Quality before quantity. 1500 calories of low carb or paleo friendly choices is a lot better then 70% clean and 30% dirty. Often times when people get hit with you need to eat more they eat the wrong foods period.

Fit_Canuck

Real world application is always different then some research lab experiment done on people... Ok worded that incorrectly but I like what DecemberChild has posted.

Eating MORE and moving less is what has so many people tipping the scales and its sad to see that nobody thinks outside of the box and think for themselves but rather go by some random number instead of listening to their bodies.

If your eating 1500 calories and working out for 30 minutes a day and your losing a lot of weight eat 1600 calories per day to slow it down and if your not losing on 1500 plus 30 minutes take a look at your food quality before reducing your 1500 calories if your quality is in check then reduce to 1400.

Quality before quantity. 1500 calories of low carb or paleo friendly choices is a lot better then 70% clean and 30% dirty. Often times when people get hit with you need to eat more they eat the wrong foods period.

I agree with much of what you said, so we are on the same page for sure. And you made a great point, you need to eat more but you also need to work more! When that happens you really rev up that metabolism, the fire is burning and your on your way to health.

positivelylisa

I was wondering about eating those "extra" calories back - I am thinking not.

Think again,
Eat back your exercise calories.
MFP calculates our total daily calorie intake WITHOUT exercise to lose 1 pound or so per week.
And after we log exercises, our daily calorie limit increases.
Why?
Because MFP telling us to eat our exercise calories.
Large deficits are unhealthy, because while you will lose weight, what's the quality of the weight loss?
In many cases you'll lose lean body mass - MUSCLE - which LOWERS your metabolic rate, making weight loss harder.
These crash diets work well for a season -- and sure enough, the pounds melt away. But when you eat so
few calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories
more slowly -- and you gain weight.
Be smart.
Exercise well both cardio and resistance, and eat back the calories.
The exercise will RAISE your metabolism and burn more fat at rest.

This is exactly what I was told by a Registered Dietician, and it has taken me from eating 1200 calories, not eating my exercise calories and losing maybe .5 lbs or gaining each week, to an average of 1.5 to 2 lbs per week loss while averaging 1350 net calories per day.

I'm so happy for you!! I was in the same boat, I wasn't eating enough and it took a doctor, a kinesiologist and a sports nutritionist to convince and me and put me on the right eating path. I went from the 1700 calories that MFP gave me which was insanity and they took me to 2600+ calories and the weight is dropping and the muscle is building.

Thanks! Same to you! I could do the 1200 calories, but it wasn't 'right' for me. It felt wrong, I was hungry most of the time, and I just knew it wouldn't be my lifetime change. I'm sure eventually I would have lost weight - if I'd stuck to it- but this feels much better. I believe I can do this for a lifetime, and isn't that what it is all about?

_Kitten_Kate

Bump.
to read this debate novel later....

funkycamper

ha ha well said ....I am on 700 cal per day under Dr supervision , he says I should not be eating MFP s recommended 1200 and should only be doing a small amount of exercise like a 30 min walk 3 Times a week. .If I ate 1200 a day I would gain back all the fat Ive lost and more. Its about nutrition and quality not quantity, then when weight loss is reached you can have a once a week sin day, you can expect to go up and down by about 3 kg , this is when your on a maintain schedule

I'm curious, why can't you exercise more? Is it due to a medical condition? If so, then no further comment from me. I'm not going to question how your doctor is treating your medical condition.

However, if it's due to some strange idea that more exercise is bad for weight loss and fitness, then I think your doctor is whacked.

Fit_Canuck

ha ha well said ....I am on 700 cal per day under Dr supervision , he says I should not be eating MFP s recommended 1200 and should only be doing a small amount of exercise like a 30 min walk 3 Times a week. .If I ate 1200 a day I would gain back all the fat Ive lost and more. Its about nutrition and quality not quantity, then when weight loss is reached you can have a once a week sin day, you can expect to go up and down by about 3 kg , this is when your on a maintain schedule

I'm curious, why can't you exercise more? Is it due to a medical condition? If so, then no further comment from me. I'm not going to question how your doctor is treating your medical condition.

However, if it's due to some strange idea that more exercise is bad for weight loss and fitness, then I think your doctor is whacked.

100% agree with you on this one, can't comment on why your doctor would ever think 700 calories is safe/healthy . Have you thought about also seeing a registered nutritionist to confirm or even get a second medical opinion. If I told those numbers to my nutritionist should be very worried. But again we don't know why your doctor would have ever told you that.