starvation mode myth

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  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
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    There's no doubt you can lose weight when at 1200 calories. No one disputes that. But you will also lose weight at 1600-1800-2000 calories. Read about the numerous people on here who do so.

    So my question is, if you can lose weight eating more why not do so?
  • KaleidoscopeEyes1056
    KaleidoscopeEyes1056 Posts: 2,996 Member
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    The Starvation Myth
    The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters.
    Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department

    If you're going to post stupid ****, at least post pictures of kittens or something.

    I second the kittens suggestion. I want to see kittens.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    The Starvation Myth
    The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters.
    Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department

    Would you prefer the term adaptive thermogenesis?

    http://www.burnthefat.com/metabolic_damage.html
  • magelan
    magelan Posts: 12 Member
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    http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/starvation-mode-why-you-probably-never-need-to-worry-about-it/
  • lilojoke
    lilojoke Posts: 427 Member
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    I think we are all on the right path on what we are saying but what has been shown also is you can be on a reduced caloric diet, strength train, lose body fat and actually gain some muscle in the process. We only lose muscle if we do not use our bodies and do not strength train.

    The mantra "use it or lose it" exists with our bodies pretty much. When the body is challenging by lifting even on reduced calories it has no choice but to get stronger over time.

    What is dieting anyways??? I can eat 3000 calories and say that I am dieting... I can eat 3000 calories and say I am starving which clearly unless your at 5% body fat and compete your likely not to be starving. I can also eat 1500 calories and be stuffed to the maximum does that mean I am starving if I can't eat more? What do I do stuff myself until I explode just to get in what some dumb calculator tells me to eat?

    We all seem to children in here when it comes to this starvation mode stuff. Clearly none of us eating 1200 calories or whatever you may be eating is not in starvation mode unless your doing large amounts of exercise, lack sleep, are under stress and eat a crappy diet every day.
  • Amanda_Rae_Rae
    Amanda_Rae_Rae Posts: 109
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    My doctor actually recommended me to eat a diet of only 900-1200 calories, however these 1000 calories are very low in fat and high in nutrition. I'm losing weight like crazy. I don't know if it's a myth or based on scientific data, but I guess everybody loses weight differently with different nutrition and fitness needs.
  • marynmarty
    marynmarty Posts: 89 Member
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    I've heard about this myth and I keep trying to at least eat 1200 calories a week BUT the last two weeks I have been eating anywhere between 900-1100 so not even hitting my 1200 mark (which they say to try and do or you will go into starvation mode) but I can't bring myself to eat more if I'm not hungry. BUT in the last two weeks since I've eaten less I have lost 3.8 pounds. So I use to believe in that but seems when I eat less than 1200 I lose more. I think its different on each person.
  • BrettPGH
    BrettPGH Posts: 4,720 Member
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    The Starvation Myth
    The idea that "not eating enough" causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into "starvation mode" is a popular myth among dieters.
    Article By: The Weight Watchers Research Department

    I am sure Weight Watchers does support that stance. And I suspect it's why I see people coming to MFP on a daily basis when WW isn't working for them.
  • magelan
    magelan Posts: 12 Member
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    sorry ....I can't buy into the notion that 1500 calories is "severe" dieting . ( unless you burn 2000 calories EXERCISING per day )

    I knew I was going to get some resistance. we all need crutches sometimes....smile more....it uses 2 calories
  • MisterDubs303
    MisterDubs303 Posts: 1,216 Member
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    I hate the phrase starvation mode. I prefer to call it "sure, you'll still lose pounds, but a disproportionate amount will be from muscle mass so you'll look a lot worse when you get to your goal weight than you would have if you ate a little bit more and weren't so focused on the damn scale, not to mention that you're training your body to survive on a small amount of food, so you're going to be stuck 'dieting' just to maintain a healthy weight" mode.

    But it's a bit wordy.

    Perfect! :drinker:

    "Starvation Mode" haters typically grossly over-simplify or misinterpret the actual concept. By their definitions, "starvation mode" CAN be discounted as a myth, but those definitions are incomplete and short-sighted. Unfortunately, they usually don't address the actual dynamics involved that result in what contributes to the eventual problem. Oh well.
  • grumpya
    grumpya Posts: 54 Member
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    If starvation stopped you losing weight wouldn't my family have come out of Belsen looking healthy & well nourished! What utter rot! Yes sometimes eating a tiny bit more can break a plateaux but if you starve yourself you will lose weight, what will also happen is you will lose muscle permanently so you will never be able to eat as much again. That is the main reason why you shouldn't starve. Equally you cannot get proper nourishment if you donot eat a minimum amount. The research years ago classed starvation as 800 cals a day. This was done during WW11 when rationing was brought into GB
    The reason why the diet industry has peddled this myth is that the slower you lose weight the more weekly/monthly subs you pay & the more likely you are to spend a fortune with them.
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    My doctor actually recommended me to eat a diet of only 900-1200 calories, however these 1000 calories are very low in fat and high in nutrition. I'm losing weight like crazy. I don't know if it's a myth or based on scientific data, but I guess everybody loses weight differently with different nutrition and fitness needs.
    This^^ is how it's working for me. I almost always eat 1200 and I'm rarely hungry. If I don't reach 1200 it's because I exercised a lot, exercise lowers my appetite, I didn't eat a snack earlier in the day and I refuse to stuff myself because a chart says I need more food. If I'm hungry though, I EAT. Like you said, healthier food has more nutrition and less fat. It's higher in fiber too so it's more filling! Congrats on the weight loss! :)
  • kimiec
    kimiec Posts: 62
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    If there where such thing as starvation mode we wouldn't have people who are anorexic walking around, the sad thing is just take alook at what to few calories can do to a person. The truth is when you eat a low calorie diet your body does go into a "hold on mode" and it will for sometime but eventully it will kick in and start losing again. Thing is the sure fire way to trick the body into losing again is to up your calories. There are many people who us this trick all the time, they will lower there calories to let say 1200 for a day or 2 then up it for a day to 1700 then cut it back down for 3 days then back up to 1900 what this does is it keeps the body guessing and with exercise your body will not hold on to the fat. the one thing that is for sure if you put way to many calories into your body and give it no exercise you will gain weight. But the bottom line is here there is way to much information out there and most of it is wrong and why is that because everybody wants you to stay fat but make you want to lose weight so they can sell you something. Truth is there is still very little know about the body and fat if anyone found the cure to fat just think would we all be here? Thing is I like when people put stuff they find up here so that way if you want to read it if you want to then you can if you don't like what someone puts on here then don't read it.
  • Umeboshi
    Umeboshi Posts: 1,637 Member
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    Even if 'starvation mode' doesn't exist like you claim, starvation does. As in, you will be starving if you eat too few calories. Nutrition will suffer, and you will suffer all the fun effects of anorexia if your calories go too low. Unless you don't believe in all the medical problems anorexic people suffer either.

    Also, fitnessblackbook is not a scientific journal, as I see no scientific facts or studies cited whatsoever. Trust what scientific journals say over some random website's advice.
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    If starvation stopped you losing weight wouldn't my family have come out of Belsen looking healthy & well nourished! What utter rot! Yes sometimes eating a tiny bit more can break a plateaux but if you starve yourself you will lose weight, what will also happen is you will lose muscle permanently so you will never be able to eat as much again. That is the main reason why you shouldn't starve. Equally you cannot get proper nourishment if you donot eat a minimum amount. The research years ago classed starvation as 800 cals a day. This was done during WW11 when rationing was brought into GB
    The reason why the diet industry has peddled this myth is that the slower you lose weight the more weekly/monthly subs you pay & the more likely you are to spend a fortune with them.
    Maybe this why I shot up to 179 after recovering from anorexia? (1984) When I was so thin I still had a lot of muscle because I worked out constantly, played raqetball, etc. Then one day I started having chest pain so obviously the 'diet' had started to affect my heart. I don't know because I never went to a Dr. but it was enough to scare me into eating again.
  • Dare2Believe
    Dare2Believe Posts: 140 Member
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    My point was !!!! don't use the "starvation mode theory" to up your calories.....stick to HEALTHY lifestyle plan and over time the weight will come off...don't tell me that you ate 300 calories more of potato chips and it fooled your body into losing weight. it's not rocket science....weight =calories consumed - calories expended over LONG TERM.....and getting the most out of the plan requires insuring you body gets the minimum requirements ....:wink:



    Adding 300 calories to your plan doesn't mean you are now eating crap like potato chips! When I upped my calories I added healthy foods to my plan. It was at this point that I started to lose more weight each week than when I was eating only 1200 calories a day. You can & do lose weight on more calories than that & it isn't rocket science either. The point being you do not have to go to such low caloric numbers to lose weight. So why should you if you feel better, eat healthy and are less hungry on consuming more calories, have the added benefit of getting proper nutrients which is harder to do at lower caloric levels. I have seen it proven over & over again here on MFP that increasing your calories does work! My rocket goes farther on more calories and it fizzled out on 1200!
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    If starvation stopped you losing weight wouldn't my family have come out of Belsen looking healthy & well nourished! What utter rot! Yes sometimes eating a tiny bit more can break a plateaux but if you starve yourself you will lose weight, what will also happen is you will lose muscle permanently so you will never be able to eat as much again. That is the main reason why you shouldn't starve. Equally you cannot get proper nourishment if you donot eat a minimum amount. The research years ago classed starvation as 800 cals a day. This was done during WW11 when rationing was brought into GB
    The reason why the diet industry has peddled this myth is that the slower you lose weight the more weekly/monthly subs you pay & the more likely you are to spend a fortune with them.

    they may have come out of Belsen weighing less, but that doesn't mean they came out healthy. Most people on 1200 or less just worry about the calories and ignore whether they are getting enough nutrition, protein etc

    If people had 2 choices

    1) eat at 1200, lose weight, but most of the weight would be lean muscle so that when you get to maintenance your BMR would be less, and it would be easier to gain fat
    2) eat above your BMR, but below TDEE, lose weight a bit slower, and most of the weight is fat, so you retain lean muscle and have a higher BMR when you get to goal so you can eat a bit more with less chance of gaining fat..

    there would be some for whom no2 is a no brainer, but there will still be others who put more importance on the number on the scale than the nutrition and fat percentages. They just want a quick fix.
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    sorry ....I can't buy into the notion that 1500 calories is "severe" dieting . ( unless you burn 2000 calories EXERCISING per day )

    I knew I was going to get some resistance. we all need crutches sometimes....smile more....it uses 2 calories
    Like^^^
  • beckybernardo
    beckybernardo Posts: 93 Member
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    All I know is that if I eat 1200 or more calories, I will gain. As of right now, I stop eating when I am full. If it is under the 1200 then so be it. If I continue to eat when I am full, then that will lead to overeating. Just like someone said. Listen to your body.
  • tabulator32
    tabulator32 Posts: 701 Member
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    I think all this crap talk about starvation mode just sucks! http://tinyurl.com/3hdaywv

    When are we going to learn to listen to our bodies vs listening to a forum or even a professional? ;)

    I "listen" to my body more so than any particular forum source and I have to agree with many folks here in this thread...

    I do better with my weight loss when I increase my calories to the limit suggested by the MFP app.

    If I eat 15% or 20% less than that, I stop losing weight.

    That's been my experience.

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