Preventing Starvation Mode

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  • RosscoBoscko
    RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
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    msf74, whilst I do a reasonable amount of exercise and am planning to do more, I also do a lot of sitting around as have an office job so sitting at desk for 8-9 hours per day, plus total 3 hours commuting (driving) time. So not a lot of calories burned during this.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    Starvation mode is a myth (in the sense that most people use it). In light of recent research on fasting I perer to think of it as 'repair mode'- and that it is actually very beneficial for health.

    You are confusing 2 different things. Fasting is something done intermittently. Eating at 1000 calories is a significant ongoing deficit.
    To the OP, I agree with what others have said about takeing a break about every 8 weeks. I also a agree that one refeed day per week help the hormonal issues that could retard your loss as time goes on. Like some others, I think the way you are going about this is not optimum. The deficit is too agressive. You risk the loss of significant lean muscle mass.
    There is some additional info on how to manage this and what happens on a hormonal level in the series of articles exerpted from The Ultimate Diet 2.0 by Lyle McDonald: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/calorie-partitioning-part-1.html
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    msf74, whilst I do a reasonable amount of exercise and am planning to do more, I also do a lot of sitting around as have an office job so sitting at desk for 8-9 hours per day, plus total 3 hours commuting (driving) time. So not a lot of calories burned during this.

    Fair enough mate.

    if you feel your energy levels dropping, feelings of lethargy etc then don't be afraid to up your intake though. As a general role 8 cals per lb of total body weight would be a good baseline if you are considering such a low intake. So for example, if you weigh 200lbs then you are looking at an intake around 1,600 calories per day. However, exercise needs to be at a fairly lowish level to ensure lean mass preservation.
  • RosscoBoscko
    RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
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    Thanks all for you tips and advice. Whilst I do appreciate that I am taking a pretty extreme tack at the moment it is not something I intend to do long term. After a certain period will return to a more managed low-carb diet with calorie intake in line with calories burned, however feel it is right for me to take a strict line with myself for now.

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