starvation mode?

SharonReitsma

lets talk starvation mode... what IS it and what are the signs/symptoms?

why do I ask? well I have a target of 1200 cal/day. I'm 5'4", currently 167lb. I exercise 5-6 times a week for an hour of decent intensity (600-700 cal burned). I eat all (ok...mostly) balanced unprocessed natural healthy foods and some days it's a struggle to make 1200cal. I keep hearing about this 'starvation mode' and how eating 1100cal per day with a good workout will send me straight into starvation mode. I feel good and the results are starting to appear. what do I need to watch out for?

cfloresmt

You are not going to hit starvation mode , there are tons of threads debunking that theory and explaining how you have to be under 4% body fat for that to happen BUT you will end up making yourself weaker by not eating enough. You will end up with teeth, hair, skin and nail problems.

wolfi622

I'm NOT an expert! But, I am in the minority in that I am dubious of the "starvation mode" thing. I would think that if things are "working" and you feel good, that you should not change anything until things don't work any longer rather than try to change something in anticipation of having gotten it wrong. As many say, weight loss isn't linear.

cfloresmt

Further to my post, list of references here as to why starvation mode is not really a problem: http://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/q71cl/my_dear_dear_rloseit_please_stop_talking_about/

mcarter99

I'm in that minority, too.

Captain_Tightpants

This is starvation mode. I doubt you need to worry about it.

kajpen

You are not going to hit starvation mode , there are tons of threads debunking that theory and explaining how you have to be under 4% body fat for that to happen BUT you will end up making yourself weaker by not eating enough. You will end up with teeth, hair, skin and nail problems.

^^^^^^

---

What he said. But I think if you are close to the 1200 calories and you're not weak or feeling drained you're fine. Also, I almost never hit my 1200 calories and my teeth, hair, skin, and nails have never looked better. :-) Of course I drink a LOT of water with fresh lemon too, so that helps with the skin :-).

As long as you are eating mostly unprocessed foods, lots of fresh vegetables, fruit, and protein then you don't really need to count calories. And frankly when you remove all the processed junk and sugar out of your diet, it can be hard to get the required calories in even when eating a lot of food.

dvisser1

*Starvation* is probably the word people get hung up about and think that you have to be truly physically starving (ie. little to no body fat or muscle mass) to be in starvation mode. Wrong.

What is generally and perhaps mistakenly referred to as "starvation mode" on these forum posts, mostly be non-experts (I am also a non-expert as I am not a doctor), is the point at which you are not providing enough fuel to your body and it starts to impair your metabolism. Yes, you can eat so little that your body reacts by slowing your metabolism in an effort to survive what it thinks is a prolonged famine. Body fat is the buffer to survive short stints of low calorie intake without severely impacting your bodily functions.

I've personally been there, many years ago. In college there was a short time I had to chose between paying rent and buying more than rice and oatmeal for groceries. Eating 1-2 a day, nothing but 1-2 servings of plain oatmeal a day at times. For about 3 months I lived off about 500 calories a day on a regular basis, with good days getting over 1000 (I'm 6'2" and was ~240 lbs when this happened). It screwed my body up for a while. This wasn't an ED or done by choice outside of having to decide if I felt like being homeless or not.

Constant fatigue, but also trouble sleeping. Trouble concentrating. Irritability and mood swings. Hair starting to fall out. Body fat increasing even while losing weight.

There is nothing magical about the 1200 calorie mark. You have to do something very extreme or a prolonged period of time to significantly impact your metabolism. If you feel fresh, alert and energetic while eating 1100-1200 Calories a day, you're not threatening your metabolism. 1200 Calories is obviously a low cut off that MFP put in place for this website. Someone like me right now (6'2" and 230 lbs) would be suffering badly eating 1200 calories, as I am losing weight while netting 2300 and consuming 2500-3000 calories a day (exercise dependent). Some women on this site are doing just fine eating 1200-1400 calories.

Mabohlale

1100 compared to 1200 probably isn't a big issue ... but there are lots and lots of people on here who are consistently eating under 700 calories a day. That's just not healthy. Can't be when your BMR is twice that.

BR3ANDA

I think you would have to literally be starving yourself to go into starvation mode, here is a good read on how "starvation mode" really occurs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation_response

My MIL was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year, for nearly 3 months she didnt eat more than 200-300 cals a day, if she ate at all, coupled with the cancer it finally got the best of her and she died of cardiac arrest, attributed to malnutrition. Now, she didnt starve herself on purpose, she was just so sick that she couldnt eat, and the little bit she did eat would get used up in no time fighting the cancer. About one month before her death, her oncologist said we needed to try increase her protein because her levels were dropping so fast and its really hard to recover from protein loss, and thats just what happened, she got weaker and weaker every day.

I agree with the others here, as long as you feel healthy and strong, then eat however much you want, if you get concerned about eating too little after a couple weeks, then go see your doctor and have him run some blood tests on you to check your levels and see if they are within a healthy range.

LaLouve_RK

Good question! I have 1200 cal too.. and that will trigger my starving mode: I am so damm hungry! ahahahahah! :laugh:
But feel good... but has always no more energy... always was easily tired...

Mabohlale

Giving more thought to this topic over the past few days ... I think that people get hung up with the term "starvation mode" ... maybe it's just semantics. It's not literally starving yourself if you eat less than 1200 calories a day. A good percentage of the world's population lives on less than 1200 calories. I think maybe a better term would be something like "Metabolic Slow Down". Now we are talking about something that is real. You metabolism will slow down if you consistently eat less than 1000 calories a day and you will do damage to your skin, teeth, hair and nails ...

teez52

For those looking for more information, there is some really good information here.

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

Study that was done on some military guys with regards to starvation mode. Basically you will not hit it.

Silver14

As long as you don't feel super tired, sluggish and fatigued (which I know I do when I eat that little but I do train a lot), then it should be fine But you can always have a lil "treat" like some peanut butter or nuts to make the Cals up if you DO find you feel sluggish the next day

Silver14

Giving more thought to this topic over the past few days ... I think that people get hung up with the term "starvation mode" ... maybe it's just semantics. It's not literally starving yourself if you eat less than 1200 calories a day. A good percentage of the world's population lives on less than 1200 calories. I think maybe a better term would be something like "Metabolic Slow Down". Now we are talking about something that is real. You metabolism will slow down if you consistently eat less than 1000 calories a day and you will do damage to your skin, teeth, hair and nails ...

So... re you saying that if you Eat SOMETHING it's not classified as starving yourself? Even if it's only 500cals or less? Do you consider "starving" as eating not a single thing only?

sophiedalton22

Starvation mode shouldnt really be used as a technical term... i was told by my trainer that yes you are losing weight and maybe the inches are coming off.... but what weight are you losing... what is says on the scales or body fat without impairing your muscles? when in starvation mode and exercising you can for a while, but long term results are poor, especially if you end up exercising more or wanting to tone, you will not be able to replace your glycogen levels which your body burn up during exercise and without that you will not be healing properly. it will not just damage your musle but can in turn damage your internal organs (if carried on for a long time). i did this and my muscles started to ache all the time, i felt tired constantly and my body was literally burning itself up... maybe now it is fine with the amount you are doing. but if you up your exercise make sure you seek professional advice to keep your body functioning healthy. last thing you want is to train your bum off and destroy yourself in the long run. good luck!

ladyraven68

Staravation mode is the wrong term

When people say Starvation mode, they usually mean metabolic slowdown, or adaptive thermogenisis.

http://www.burnthefat.com/metabolic_damage.html

http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/comment-page-5/#starvationmode

Mabohlale

Exactly my point. ^ ^ ^

FahadNaseem

it really worries me as well "starvation mode" but i personally wont think it will affect.
I am For 2 days im eating like 700 to 800 cals, mostly fruit, veges and cooked chicken in little quantity and i feel full and not tired.
Before i was taking 2200+
lost 5 kg in 21 days.

LJeanOsborne

I'm so glad I found this topic. I am just now starting my own weight loss journey. I am tracking here on this site and noticed I had so many calories left for dinner. I was worrying about the metabolic slow down if I consumed less calories than the 1200 recommended. I'm going to try to get as close as I can and tomorrow is a new day...I think I need to bring an afternoon snack so I'm not so far away from my alotted amount of calories.