Do you believe you can damage your metabolism by eating too

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange · April 2012

thank you very much for sharing this. It can be restored...it will be restored BUT you have to be willing to increase your calories to true maintenance and gain some weight back, otherwise you'll always be living on 1400-1800 (a weight loss amount for MOST men).

LizKurz · April 2012

I do hope that statement is facetious......:noway:

darrensurrey · April 2012

After a bowel operation, I ate liquids for two months. I kept losing weight. And my stomach shrank so even small meals filled me up when I was able to eat solids again. Cheaper than a gastric band, eh?

So, your metabolic rate will slow down but if you remain focused, you will waste away. It's not healthy, of course, but we're talking about starvation mode/metabolism, not a healthy diet or healthy weight loss.

Also consider that anorexics and bulimics are pretty successful at reducing their weight despite starvation mode/metabolic rate drops. Again, not at all healthy but that's not the subject of this thread.

If you want healthy then: eat enough to keep your metabolic rate up, do cardio to increase the metabolic rate and burn calories, lift heavy weights to increase lean muscle mass to further increase the metabolic rate and burn calories.

And no, just being in the same room as a 10kg dumbbell will not turn you into Mr Universe.

Improvised · April 2012

Wow, that really puts it in perspective. Honestly, while I DO believe in starvation mode, I've been tempted to scale back on my calories anyway. Maybe I won't.

Improvised · April 2012

Nope, but I've read enough on it that I'm fairly confident that it's made up. The "Man Made" warming, that it.

cherryolac · April 2012

The body is a bit like a car in that if you don't feed it you will run out of gas. ie if you don't feed your body you will not have energy, your body will keep everything in order to survive. And if you don't believe about starvation look at pictures of people who are literally starving and see how unattractive they get...skinny arms and legs and big ole bellies.

o_delaisse · April 2012

Given that I have damaged my metabolism and came very close to starving myself, why yes, I DO believe in it. Kind of frustrates me when other people don't because I, like a load of other people on here, are living proof of it.

That said, "starvation mode" as a term to refer to a damaged metabolism really annoys me because, like I said, I was close to starving. Trust me, the scales not moving were the least of my concerns at the time.

beautifulbeast11 · April 2012

I want to throw my rooster into this **** fight, but man... everyone is doing such a good job already.

So I'll just stick with personal story fact:

Starvation mode (800 net cal plus heavy workouts) killed my muscle, took weeks to recover (still recovering), and good god I was grumpy, irritable, mean.
Now at 1300 (I'm slowly pushing it up as my body adjusts to intensity of workouts), I'm filled without being full, happy, and alert. I can tell my body is in repair mode.

hpsnickers1 · April 2012

Yes, you can. It's a biochemical response. When you aren't getting enough fuel/nutrients your body will start to down-regulate specific functions to conserve energy.

You can continue to lose weight but your body will be eating into lean muscle mass and holding onto adipose tissue because the adipose tissue is there in case of famine. It will conserve that too. Your fat is very, very important to your body.

I use a Body Media Fit. This happened to me last year. I wasn't eating enough because I was trying to battle sugar issues. (IF'ing is the WRONG way to do it). Almost overnight my daily calorie burn dropped. And it wasn't from losing weight. I was maintaining it.

BUT N=1.

beautifulbeast11 · April 2012

Wow, the site really starred * out the word c - o - c - k?

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo · April 2012

LOL I don't want to sound rude here but please get some education there lady. Its pretty obvious that you don't know anything about fitness but well I commend you for joining MFP, at least here you will learn more about proper nutrition and fitness.

EDIT: Sorry if I sound rude but I hate seeing such a misleading post like this that tend to mislead others who are trying their best to live a healthy life.

LizKurz · April 2012

Ooh, well, this would be a prime example then, of a preponderance of scientific evidence being ignored for no reason, other than a lack of "belief" in said scientific evidence.

hpsnickers1 · April 2012

Not true. I follow a very low carb diet and just watched my daily calorie burn take a jump. As long as you are getting enough protein/fat your body won't eat into your muscle mass. I make sure also to get enough protein so that if my body needs to make glucose it will from protein.

I also don't eat VLC processed crap. As long as you are giving your body the nutrients it needs your metabolism won't slow down.
"If you can't pick, dig or spear it, don't eat it. Mostly spear".
(gnolls.org)

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange · April 2012

HUH? Re-think that. What does your macronutrient composition have to do with the assertion that VLCDs cause a metabolic decline?

Are you on a high protein VLCD? Connect the dots for us because this makes no sense.

Improvised · April 2012

You can knock off the sarcasm, lady. There are plenty of scientists who are sketipcal of global warming, and or flatout call it a myth, I'm surprised someone as educated as yourself hasn't bothered to do some research on it. This isn't really the time or place to argue about it though, I suppose, since it's a thread about starvation mode.

MelV1 · April 2012

bump

LizKurz · April 2012

You know, I want to expound on this. The body, while being a very complex biomechanical machine of sorts, is built like a car, and like a car, you need more than gas. You need an alternator, a battery, gas, and spark plugs to make it go. You need oil to lubricate all the parts, so they don't lock up.

And just like a car, the body needs many thing to operate at prime capacity. You can give a car enough gas to get around, like putting food in your body, but if you don't put enough food of other RIGHT foods, and you don't get enough exercise, or enough sleep, if you aren't getting proper nutrition, well, you might not run out of gas in your car, but your alternator could go out, or you could lock up your engine or throw a rod by not having it lubricated properly.

It's not a simple "eat this, not that" and "eat less and less" ideology.

Eta for missing word.

Improvised · April 2012

Interesting. Hm. I've heard this too. What to do, what to do.

Improvised · April 2012

Double post, sorry!

jlewis2896 · April 2012

I'm proof positive that you can! I gained 12lbs while marathon training (not muscle, I LOST muscle mass...)

I am slowly trying to set things right again.

Do you believe you can damage your metabolism by eating too

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