Starvation mode V 3500 cal deficit CONFUSION

suemorgan1969

Hi
I have just been reading forum postd that agree and disagree with starvation mode myth. Im not sure what I think about this.
It is clear from posts that everyone believes if you have a deficit of 3500cals a week then you will lose 1lb.
Ok...I get that
My question is this..............if the 3500=1lb loss is TRUE, then how come it is argued that people eating too few calories (which makes more of a deficit)will stall or gain??????
why wouldnt they lose more? A deficit is a deficit?

gc2951

Too much of a deficit for too long signals the body that you are living through a famine. The body will do all it can to conserve calories and send them to the parts that need it most (brain, heart). It will gear down and not release any fat supplies that may be needed by vital organs. 3500 calories per week is not enough to trigger this response but double that might be. It depends on your body's triggers.

SideSteel

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

drmerc

I can't blame you for being confused, the term is thrown around here so often and with so many different (and many incorrect) meanings

Basically if you eat very little
a) your quality of life will suffer and
b) you will probably not exercise and/or move around as much and therefor burn less calories in your day to day life

ukulele2010

Deficit is calories in - calories out where the result is <0. Sometimes eating too little may reduce the calories out side of the equation as your metabolism slows. In other words, reducing calories in may also effect calories out...But the equation still holds - if the equation is negative you will lose weight...

kw85296

I agree with Sue that I do find a lot of this confusing. If the Bigges Loser is having the contestants on 1200-1500 calories a day with 5-6 hours of exercise and Extreme Weight Loss Makeover is putting them on a 1500 calorie a day with 4-5 hours a day of exercise and they are continuing this for months or more--then wouldn't these contestants not be losing? Not that I am trying to have that kind of quick fix loss, but I am just trying to understand it all.

guardian419

I cut myself down to 1000 calories at one point, while I had a deficit, I had no energy to do ANYTHING.

Everyone does something different... I've found that no carb (this means so sugar too), works well for me. Not having glycogen and forcing my body to use the excess fat stores I have has given me way more energy than I've had before. I'm in no way saying this works for you, but it all depends on what works for you

geekyjock76

To clear things up, you should first understand what semi-starvation (starvation mode) actually is by reading the few studies on the subject such as the infamous Minnesota Experiment and others that have duplicated its design. Pay attention to the degree of deficit subjects maintained as well as the physiological insults they experienced at the end of the 6 month long experiments.

For the Minnesota Experiment, the men first ate, for 3 months, 3200 calories which was then followed by a reduction intake of 1800 calories per day. In addition, the men walked 22 miles and burned approximately 3000 calories every day.

Here are two detailed descriptions of the Minnesota Experiment:
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/6/1347.full

http://www.madsciencemuseum.com/msm/pl/great_starvation_experiment

Here is one for you to read which addresses weight recovery post-semi-starvation:

Autoregulation of body composition during weight recovery in human: the Minnesota Experiment revisited.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8696417

Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
To gain insights into the control systems underlying human variability in the regulation of body composition during weight recovery, as well as the disproportionate recovery of fat relative to lean tissue, the classical Minnesota Experiment conducted on 32 men subjected to long-term semi-starvation and refeeding was revisited with the following objectives: (1) to determine whether the control of energy-partitioning between lean and fat tissues during weight loss and weight recovery is an individual characteristic, and if a predictor can be statistically identified, (2) to determine whether the reduction in thermogenesis during weight loss persists during weight recovery, and underlies the disproportionate recovery of fat tissue and (3) to integrate the control of energy-partitioning and that of thermogenesis in order to explain the pattern of lean and fat tissue mobilisation and deposition during weight loss and weight recovery.
METHODS:
Individual data on body weight, body fat, fat-free-mass (FFM), and basal metabolic rate (BMR), assessed during the control baseline period (i.e. prior to weight loss), at the end of 24 weeks of semi-starvation, and at the end of a 12 week period of restricted refeeding, were used to calculate the following parameters: (i) a quantitative index of energy-partitioning, the P-ratio, defined as the proportion of body energy mobilised as protein during weight loss, or as the proportion of body energy deposited as protein during weight recovery, (ii) a quantitative index of changes in thermogenesis, defined as the change in BMR adjusted for FFM (or for both FFM and fat mass) and (iii) the degree of replenishment of fat and FFM compartments, defined as the recovery of body fat and FFM (during refeeding) as a percentage of that lost during semi-starvation.
RESULTS:
This re-analysis indicates the following: (i) a large inter-individual variability in P-ratio during both weight loss and weight recovery, but for a given individual, the P-ratio during refeeding is strongly correlated with the P-ratio during semi-starvation, (ii) body composition during the control period is the most important predictor of variability in P-ratio, such that the higher the initial % body fat, the lower the proportion of energy mobilised as protein, and hence the greater the propensity to mobilise fat during semi-starvation and to subsequently deposit fat during refeeding and (iii) at week 12 of refeeding, the change in adjusted BMR is found to be reduced by a magnitude which is inversely proportional to the degree of fat recovery, but is unrelated to the degree of FFM recovery. A quantitative relationship is derived between the P-ratio during refeeding, the % fat recovery, and the P-ratio during semi-starvation.
CONCLUSIONS:
Evidence is presented here suggesting that (i) human variability in the pattern of lean and fat tissue deposition during weight recovery is to a large extent determined by individual variations in the control of energy-partitioning, for which the initial % body fat is the most important predictor and (ii) the disproportionate gain in fat relative to lean tissue during weight recovery is contributed by a reduction in thermogenesis (i.e. increased efficiency of food utilization) for accelerating specifically the replenishment of the fat stores. These control systems, operating via energy-partitioning and thermogenesis, have been integrated into a compartmental model for the regulation of body composition during underfeeding/refeeding, and can be used to explain the individual pattern of lean and fat tissue deposition during weight recovery in situations ranging from the rehabilitation after malnutrition to the relapse of obesity.

MinMin97

Sue,
You need a certain number of cals to "run your machine"...your organs, hormones, systems.
You must fuel your body.

You also need some additional cals to fuel your daily activity.
Some people are more active than others.

You also need some cals to fuel your exercise.

If you don't eat enough to fuel all of this, your body will start getting defensive, and slow your metabolism down.
This is counterproductive to dieting.

When you do some calculations to figure out approximately what your daily calorie intake should be,
the deficit you need to lose weight will already be figured into it.
As you probably know, 500cal deficit per day will give you a 1lb loss per week, which is plenty fast.

Don't think that eating less and less equals fat loss.
If you do this all the time,
It means you are underfueling,
So your systems will slow down.
You won't feel like getting a good hard workout in,
which means you won't be moving forward in fitness and metabolism.

Eat well. Sleep well. Exercise....increase your metabolism, maintain your muscle mass....increase your fitness.