Starvation mode is a myth, so why do we keep saying it exist

karinaes

Seriously, stop it.

Starvation mode ("Starvation response" if you want to research it) only exists for males with 5% body fat or less and females with 10% body fat or less.

A link with cited sources:

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

Via Wiki:

Starvation mode is a state in which the body is responding to prolonged periods of low caloric intake levels. During short periods of caloric abstinence, the human body will burn primarily free fatty acids from body fat stores. After prolonged periods of starvation the body has DEPLETED ITS BODY FAT and begins to burn lean tissue and muscle as a fuel source.

(emphasis mine).

You should eat a caloric deficit that's comfortable for you regardless of the numbers.

can you seriously stop encouraging people to become unhealthy eaters. :noway:

Anyaaaa11

Wiki? Are you serious?

angng

I'm talking about metabolic response to a prolonged, very high calorie deficit (but not high enough to kill you) - how high is "very high" and how long is "prolonged" depends on things like your starting weight and your genetics. Women who live on 700cal a day for years without being able to lose weight would probably disagree with the statement that most of us don't have to worry about it."

~Raises hand~ I've been on a very high calorie deficit (at some points high enough to kill me if I'd continued) basically. . .all my life? And I certainly maintain/gain weight at this point.

And I agree that she was probably not less than 10% body fat: You have to look at the big picture. Anorectics and others who are on a high calorie deficit are robbing themselves of essential micronutrients. People with eating disorders (even at normal weight) can have seizures, hair loss, muscle wasting, etc.

This, of course, doesn't happen over night.

Iamjulez

I have seen a lot of studies saying it is a myth also. Some people fast two times a week for weight loss with no reverse effects. I am not saying anyone should fast but I think at my weight with all my stores fat, if I am 100-200 calories under I am not going to go into starvation mode. There are no fat starving people out there. Watching the show "Survivor" even where their calories are drastically reduced- those people lose a lot of weight! They do not hold onto their weight because of starvation mode. I am no expert. I might be wrong, but that is my gut feeling based on what i have read.

I think the point alot of people are trying to make is HEALTHY vs. LOSE WEIGHT QUICK SCHEME. You can lose weight quickly using a number of unhealthy diets like atkins. But is it truly ok even if you are losing weight? I suppose anything is ok if you're doing it on a restricted time limit. It shouldn't be a lifestyle and if you're thinking of diving below minimal calories it should be done with the ok of your Doctor.

I also think that those kinds of diets turn people off of the healthy lifestyle they should be living by making changing your eating habits so negative that they either get an eating disorder or just quit altogether and go back to eating whatever they want whenever they want.

I think moderation is the key!

sleepytexan

If I'm not hungry, I'm not going to eat. Plain and simple. Eating when you are not hungry is a big no no, so if I'm below whatever calorie goal I may be pursuing... I don't really give a flying f**k.

Hunger is a hormonal response that can be trained. If you consistently under eat, you will train your body to not be hungry.

Ya, but that hasn't happened to me. I've been doing quite fine the past year. I'm healthy and happy. I get that there are people who starve themselves, but people need to quit acting like they know everything when it comes to not eating below the magical number of 1200.

You are young. There are many things that haven't happened to you yet. There are many people who do many things that are not really very good for themselves and they remain "fine". for a while.

Christina1007

I was eating 1200 and lost nothing for 3 months!!!! Needless to say how frustrated I was. Then I read here that I have to up my calories and calculated an amount that gave me a higher calorie goal. I started on that and guess what?!!! I started putting on a lot!!!! of weight.

Now I eat 1000 calories a day and started losing weight like crazy. So, no I don't believe in that either!

jakes1971

Threads like this saddens me , the most apt comment is this one:

Meanwhile, this is my fitness pal, not my anorexia pal.

sigh, if you don't look after yourself noone else will.

LondonEliza

Here is my experience of starvation mode.
I was anorexic for 3 years. Some days I ate an orange and a piece of toast and thought I was wonderful for it (more fool me)

In the short term (1-6) months eating under 800 or 900 cals a day:
Makes you irritable, grumpy and a pain to live with
Your breath will smell
Your face skin will dry out and/or you'll get spots
You will feel nauseous with hunger
You stomach will make noise all the time
You will lose hell of a lot of weight (up to 7lbs a week)

6 -12 months
Your period will stop
Your appetite will be gone.
You will have trained yourself to go without food.
Your energy will be non-existant
Your circle of friends will have whittered away as you fall out or cut out all of them in turn because of your eating
Your family will be in a panic about your appearance
Your weight loss will slow down to about 1lb a week (or less)
Your hair will thin

12-18 months
You are really ill now
You panic about your weight loss and drop down to 300-500 cals because some other anorexic on an internet forum said this worked for her
The other Anas on the forums are your only "friends" now
All your muscle has gone
The skin all over your body and your face will be in a shocking condition
You are cold all the time, a horrible soul sucking coldness that seems to come from within
Organ damage has started
Your hair will stop growing and may start to fall out

18 months +
As well as everything else above
The symptoms of mental illness appear (paranoia being the most common)
Irreversible organ damage may have started
Lumps of your hair will fall out leaving you with bald patches

After recovery:
Your body clings on to every calories like a dying man to a shipwreak and you put on weight. You think dropping back to your previous habits will lose it - it doesn't. What do you do then?

Those are the consequences of surviving on anorexic portions of food. Those are the ones I saw myself and others in real-life support groups go through. Some lived, some died. Those that lived took years to get over the consequences of our eating habits. That is the reality of eating half what a woman needs to survive on.

Do you know that anyone can edit wikipedia? Do you really want to ruin your life because someone thought it would be clever to justify their lifestyle choices by lying about the consequences of eating like this?

Is this really the path you want to go down? I am begging you now to stop before it is too late and you embark on a lifestyle that negatively shapes the rest of your life.

Right now, I am now losing 2lbs a week eating around about 2000 cals a day. I am happy, healthy and energetic.

Be smart before it is too late for you.

susannamarie

I was eating 1200 and lost nothing for 3 months!!!! Needless to say how frustrated I was. Then I read here that I have to up my calories and calculated an amount that gave me a higher calorie goal. I started on that and guess what?!!! I started putting on a lot!!!! of weight.

Now I eat 1000 calories a day and started losing weight like crazy. So, no I don't believe in that either!

WTF?

You have a 3-day stretch in December, a 4-day stretch in January and a 3-day stretch at the end of March where you actually ate 1200+ for a few consecutive days. Other than that you have at most two days in a row where you ate 1200+, and a pattern of alternating a few very-low days (and yes, you're under 800 a fair amount) with a higher day.

If you want to starve yourself and then binge, knock yourself out. But don't use statements that just plain aren't true to try and convince others to join you.

Christina1007

No one here is talking about anorexia!!! As I can see the OP is a very active person, doesn't have an eating disorder either!

All she is saying is that she doesn't believe in the starvation mode. It hasn't been scientifically proven to exist anyway.

LondonEliza

No one here is talking about anorexia!!! As I can see the OP is a very active person, doesn't have an eating disorder either!

All she is saying is that she doesn't believe in the starvation mode. It hasn't been scientifically proven to exist anyway.

Really? Really?? You think so.

Anyone advocating an anorexic intake of calories would be advocating anorexia as far as I, and a lot of people on site, are concerned.

Once again for those at the back .....

Those (above) are the negative consequences of surviving on anorexic portions of food. Those are the ones I saw myself and others in real-life support groups go through. Some lived, some girls died. Those that lived took years to get over the consequences of our eating habits. That is the reality of eating half what a woman needs to survive on.

I went to funerals because of what the OP is advocating. The pro-Anorexia sites are full of potential donors like you two all telling each other the same deluded mantras to justify starving themselves. Smarten up.

Christina1007

But I don't have an eating disorder and am completely against this!

Don't know where you got that idea. I'm just saying what worked for me. I am quite tiny 5'' and MFP 1200 cals a day might not fit the bill for every type of person out there. I think you agree?!

ladyraven68

^because **** like this happens when you eat under 1200 cals a day for a long period of time. i also havent had my period for over a year because i decided to get restrictive so.....yeah. my body pretty much was shutting down from the lack of cals.

See, when people keep telling me there is no scientific reason not to eat below bmr I keep remembering posts like this.

BMR calories are needed for you brain to function, for pumping blood, growing hair, nails, repairing your body , keeping you warm, if you don't supply it with the fuel to do these things, then it can't do all of them. For me it was the warmth, eating at 1200 I felt cold under my skin, felt dizzy, and my blood pressure plummeted , then there are people like this poster who lose their hair, stop their periods etc.

And what about all the threads of people plateauing after being on 1200 or less.

It's all very well telling me there is no scientific reason to not eat below my BMR , but I'd rather not risk it thanks,

1600 calories for me.

MisterTEZ

oh nooo!!!

not another one of these posts!

beckajw

Seriously, stop it.

Starvation mode ("Starvation response" if you want to research it) only exists for males with 5% body fat or less and females with 10% body fat or less.

A link with cited sources:

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

Via Wiki:

Starvation mode is a state in which the body is responding to prolonged periods of low caloric intake levels. During short periods of caloric abstinence, the human body will burn primarily free fatty acids from body fat stores. After prolonged periods of starvation the body has DEPLETED ITS BODY FAT and begins to burn lean tissue and muscle as a fuel source.

(emphasis mine).

You should eat a caloric deficit that's comfortable for you regardless of the numbers.

They keep saying it exists so they can tell you that it's unhealthy to eat less than 1200 calories. However, that's simply not true for everyone.

sisierra

" [/quote]
*sigh*

Famine response is real, and has absolutely nothing to do with catabolizing muscle vs burning fat. It's a hormonal response (by the thyroid) that slows your metabolic rate to match your caloric intake, in order to survive the perceived famine due to severe caloric restriction. Also, fat burning is slow, and when you exhaust glycogen supplies during intense activity, your body will switch over to breaking down amino acids, because those can be converted to glucose faster to replenish glycogen supplies. Oh, and there wasn't a single citation in the article you posted.
[/quote] "

you just made me incredibly happy lol

Aineko

All she is saying is that she doesn't believe in the starvation mode. It hasn't been scientifically proven to exist anyway.

I'm sorry, but I have to ask - you read exactly how many studies about this?

But I don't have an eating disorder and am completely against this!

Don't know where you got that idea. I'm just saying what worked for me. I am quite tiny 5'' and MFP 1200 cals a day might not fit the bill for every type of person out there. I think you agree?!

this is a very different thing from saying "SM does not exist" and even adding a complete misinformation that studies don't show consequences of a prolonged VLCD on human hormonal system. you see, I'm much taller than you but my BMR is 1037 cal/day and I can probably eat 1200cal/day for quite a while and not put myself in the SM, but without knowing what my BMR really is I'd never risk it (plus the issues of getting enough nutrients and the sustainability of your weight loss - why would you do it the hard way?).

beckajw

No one here is talking about anorexia!!! As I can see the OP is a very active person, doesn't have an eating disorder either!

All she is saying is that she doesn't believe in the starvation mode. It hasn't been scientifically proven to exist anyway.

Really? Really?? You think so.

Anyone advocating an anorexic intake of calories would be advocating anorexia as far as I, and a lot of people on site, are concerned.

Once again for those at the back .....

Those (above) are the negative consequences of surviving on anorexic portions of food. Those are the ones I saw myself and others in real-life support groups go through. Some lived, some girls died. Those that lived took years to get over the consequences of our eating habits. That is the reality of eating half what a woman needs to survive on.

I went to funerals because of what the OP is advocating. The pro-Anorexia sites are full of potential donors like you two all telling each other the same deluded mantras to justify starving themselves. Smarten up.

Stop being dramatic. Some people have a BMR less than 1200 calories. It's okay for some people to eat less than 1200 calories. The OP isn't advocating starving. She's saying it's okay to eat less than your BMR for a little while. She specifically said that women shouldn't have less than 10% body fat.

determinedbutlazy

reka74

Is it a joke?