Starvation

Pebble321

You've had lots of definitions, so I won't give you another one.... but I will give you my opinion on why it's useful to consider the idea behind the concept (even if the way the concept is often used is flawed!)

I don't believe that there is a defined number of calories (the magic 1200?) which will suddenly cause your body to stop losing weight forever.
I do believe that reducing calories dramatically puts you at risk of not getting enough energy and nutrition to stay healthy and to have the energy to do all the things you want to do in your life.

We all know that we have to "eat less and move more" to lose weight. The problem is that it is easy to think that if a bit of a calorie deficit can help you lose weight, then a BIG calorie deficit must make it happen even faster.
It may or may not happen this way (we are all different) but it's not likely to be a safe or healthy approach for most people.

I think it is easy to lose sight of the fact that calories are good. They aren't inherently evil and something to be avoided at all costs. Calories are the fuel that keeps our bodies alive and healthy. The real challenge is finding the right number to lose weight but stay healthy and feeling good for the long term, and that number is going to be different for different people.

poundsgalore

I really appreciate this post, I have been on the fence for a bit since a friend starting upping her calories. I think I just fell back onto the eat less side. The eating more never made complete sense to me. I also believe it depends on the person and their make up. Not everyone can do the same thing and make it work. Thanks!

yarwell

I have no idea what people mean when they say it.

It means you can safely ignore their postings, perhaps even use the little arrow under their profile picture to Ignore them permanently.

Their world view does not fit with any reputable scientific observations. If you want some fun ask them to explain the guy who fasted for over a year http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2495396/pdf/postmedj00315-0056.pdf

BuckeyeLife

I really appreciate this post, I have been on the fence for a bit since a friend starting upping her calories. I think I just fell back onto the eat less side. The eating more never made complete sense to me. I also believe it depends on the person and their make up. Not everyone can do the same thing and make it work. Thanks!

So fueling your body properly doesn't make sense to you? Interesting... And no, not everything works for everyone, sometimes you have to tweak a basic game plan to fit your needs.

cheesy_blasters

I've been interested in this term too. I feel like I always eat a full day of food. I never not let myself eat or go to sleep starving or anything but I'm always below my calories. When I exercise I try to eat extra protein but unless I fall back to "filler foods" I have no idea how I'd eat as much as MFP suggests.

However, out of the nutrients I track, I get almost all of them. I do need to get more calcium but I've started eating more kale and spinach to try and meet that. I don't feel like I'm depriving myself of anything so I don't get how I could go "into starvation mode". I eat full meals, have a few snacks, I just eat a ton of veggies which aren't high in calories. It seems silly to me.

steveinct

I think people make this more complicated that it needs to be. Think of it this way: your body needs fuel to survive and will get that fuel from somewhere. If your body knows there will always be fuel from an outside source, it will use fat when there is a deficit, especially if you are active, because it is inefficient to carry a bunch of fat you don't need. As you may have heard, muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does so the reverse is also true. If you starve yourself, your body will use your muscle first because it is inefficient to carry all that muscle if there is not enough food to fuel it. It will slow your metabolism to survive through the famine by reducing your muscle mass, retaining as much fat as possible, and will quickly convert any new fuel into fat for future use.

In this world you see a lot of "skinny fat" people. They are bone thin with a pooch. The above explains precisely why that happens. Your real goal in a weight loss program should be to build lean muscle mass and fuel your body correctly and often. If you do that, there is no reason to store fat so your body will be more likely to turn to your fat when it needs some calories.

callsitlikeiseeit

There are so many great (helpful) responses on here. The "magic 1200" has confused me for a long time. I have never had a medical test to determine my BMR but I have a very slight frame and when I eat according to appetite my calories are very low. I don't usually reach 1200 naturally and I experience little or no hunger throughout the day. That is one of the reasons I have been so perturbed by advice to eat more to avoid 'starvation mode'. I always thought hunger was a pretty good indicator of how much energy a person needs

im fat (hey i call it like i see it LOL) but i too naturally dont usually eat more than 1200 calories - even when im 'over' - its still less than 1300 at the most (since beginning to track). Since I've stopped drinking sodas all day every day, and switched to plain water, I've eliminated 700-800 calories per day (that is not counted in that 1200), so effectively in the past two weeks, I've dropped my calorie count from around 2000ish/day to 1200, which is what MFP is recommending for me to eat anyways, given my size/weight/lifestyle

if im hungry, i will eat. During the weekdays i dont eat much. what ive noticed though is that on the weekends i want to eat more. whether its psychological or boredom or what i dont know, but ive been trying to be much more mindful of it....

nichalsont

Are you still getting hungry?

If the answer is YES, your body is not in starvation mode.

People who think a SLIGHT metabolic slowdown after several weeks of dieting is starvation mode have no idea what they are talking about.

Be careful who you listen to on here! Be careful of internet BMR calculators, and be careful of anyone who tells you to eat more calories to lose weight. (with the small exception of re-feed days if you believe in that)

Thank you for this. I feel vindicated now. I was slammed for a previous post for saying essentially the same thing. In my previous attempts at weight loss, I listened to all this starvation mode nonsense and used it as an excuse to continue to eat too much. If you aren't hungry, don't eat. If you have weight to lose, eating below 1200 calories every so often is NOT going to kill you. The human body will use the fat stores before it starts going after the muscle because the fat breaks down more easily.

Babies are born with the ability to sense when they have had enough to eat. Over time, well meaning adults sometimes force children to "clean your plate" and use food as rewards thereby causing them to lose the ability to realize true hunger. They grow up to associate food with happiness and become overweight adults like me.

myfitnessnmhoy

There is one way to lose weight. Keep the calories you ingest and process below the calories you use for daily activities.

You have easy control over the first, and more difficult control over the second (and the first is ONE of the controls you have over the second).

As you eat less, and especially if your food intake is out of balance, your metabolism will slow down to adapt.

The trick is finding the caloric intake that allows your body to function "properly" (and by that I mean sleeping well, not excessively fatigued or tired, able to do some awesome workouts), while still running a sufficient caloric deficit to lose weight at a reasonable pace. For the vast majority, that's somewhere between 1-2 pounds a week

CAN you lose weight by restricting your caloric intake further? Absolutely. But your body will naturally adapt and burn fewer calories, so you end up in a cycle where you are chasing your body's caloric burn rate down as your weight goes down, you're generally going to be hungrier, more prone to cheating, more prone to poorer food decisions, and have such a small calorie budget that you'll have to work really hard to make sure you are getting all the nutrients your body needs. Vitamin supplement and a concentration on making sure you get decent amounts of protein and lots of water highly recommended.

I chased the calorie rabbit down the hole for a year. I reached the point where I was doing 2-3 day water-only fasts to break plateaus, and I was doing so on a fairly regular basis. At the end of a year, I had successfully lost about 50 pounds. I was pretty useless during that year - I was tired a lot, concentrating on anything was hard, and I was unable to exercise - I simply lacked any energy. When I reached my goal, despite my best efforts at reintroducing additional calories slowly, every calorie I ate for the next month or so felt like it went straight to my belly and I gained 10 pounds back in the first two weeks, even though my energy levels were coming up and I was trying really hard to exercise.

I'm much closer to my ideal weight now, quite a few years older, and now I'm maintaining a relatively controlled diet where I eat a 1,000 calorie deficit every day. I'm losing weight faster than I did during my "year of hunger". I'm riding my bike back and forth to work frequently (14 miles each way in somewhat hilly terrain). I'm training for the Trek Across Maine - a 3-day 180-mile charity bike ride. I hike multi-thousand foot mountains on a lark. I have all the energy I need to do anything I want to do. I literally, in the middle of a weight loss regimen, without stimulant assistance, feel the best I have in my entire life.

You CAN chase calories down to lose weight. Doing so more slowly and gradually while eating enough to remain energetic and happy is just way more pleasant.

Your body, your rules. Best of luck whatever you choose.

steveinct

If you say the words "lose weight", then starve yourself, you WILL lose "weight". I prefer to lose fat and I am not ashamed to say I have fat to lose. As soon as you start looking at it as losing fat, you will take the time to understand how fat is used and why it is stored. All the people who want to tell you to eat less and lose "weight" are correct.. but then again, you might have a higher ratio of fat to muscle when you are done.

jynnantonnyk

Yup, in my first week here I was scared off by people telling me I was in starvation mode and even one kind person who suggested I see a counsellor!

I am always under my calories, always over in protein. It seemed that I was focussing on eating lean foods (low fat, low sugar) but they were also typically low calorie foods.

So eating 3 good meals a day, being under calories but not hungry. I do eat a lot of fish and chicken, vegetables and weirdly, less fruit than I used to (was under the impression fruit juice and smoothies were gonna help me loose weight)

One of my goals is to be more active and get fit, yet as soon as I do any exercise, it brings my calories down even further.

Almost two weeks on I am seeing results so I will continue as long as I feel fitter, healthier and happier. As soon as my body tells me I need to make a change, I will.

Is starvation mode a myth? In extreme cases of prolonged malnutrition and hunger, it is very real. In the scheme of an overweight person attempting to lose weight in a sensible pattern of diet and exercise, we are probably all fortunate enough to never experience it.

My opinions, I may be wrong but until my body tells me I'm doing something wrong, I consider myself to be sensible and responsible enough to know when I need to eat more.