Starvation Mode?

stephanielaugh
stephanielaugh Posts: 5
in Food and Nutrition
Hello all!

I'm new-- but have a question. I recently started a new job where I work overnights.. Midnight until 8:00 to be exact. I eat stuff like dry cereal, tuna-- drink lots of water, eat an apple, banana-- pretty much try to eat as healthy as possible. (the fast food demon sneaks up maybe 1 every 2 or 3 weeks)

Anyway, I have been gaining weight! I think it may be because I'm not eating enough! I don't feel the urge to eat more-- and I think my body is reacting badly to it. I've been feeling a little sick/under the weather/stomach aches lately-- and I feel like it may be because of my eating habits.

I do eat lunch, and I try to eat a good balanced dinner.

What do I need to do to lose weight, but stay healthy too? I'm lost-- don't know what to do!

Replies

  • GnochhiGnomes
    GnochhiGnomes Posts: 348 Member
    Unless your body fat percentage is incredibly low I don't think you have a chance of going into "starvation mode".
  • stephanielaugh
    stephanielaugh Posts: 5
    Maybe starvation mode isn't the right term-- but not eating enough is what I mean.
  • GnochhiGnomes
    GnochhiGnomes Posts: 348 Member
    Depends. What's your calorie goal?
  • postrockandcats
    postrockandcats Posts: 1,145 Member
    I worked overnights for years. I gained weight at first, just like you, because I didn't eat well. Once I thought of my shift as a regular day, and ate proper meals, I got back to normal.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    I worked overnights for years. I gained weight at first, just like you, because I didn't eat well. Once I thought of my shift as a regular day, and ate proper meals, I got back to normal.

    Cortisol (stress hormone) has been linked to this if I recall.
  • wftiger
    wftiger Posts: 1,283 Member
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

    Please read the link. The term "starvation mode" is used on this site and many others as a reason for people to stuff there faces. There is NO SCIENTIFIC proof that an overweight/obese person will stop losing weight if they do not eat enough. It is only if you are underweight and burn an extreme amount of calories that this may EVER come into play.
  • Modcom
    Modcom Posts: 18
    Starvation mode is a myth.

    http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35501
  • deepfuture
    deepfuture Posts: 35 Member
    I kept my calories between 1600 and 1900 daily for a month and was doing roughly 900 cal exercise 5 sometimes 6 days a week and lost no weight for a month .. took a break for 5 days , went to bbq ate regularly with no exercise and weighing scales said today i dropped 1 lb .. Has me believing in starvation mode .
  • hillbillybumpkin
    hillbillybumpkin Posts: 8
    Hi, it's a variety of things. And yes, if you do not eat your correct calories, you will see an increase in weight. Increase your food intake to what is required. And make sure to keep your protein a tad higher then the rest. Try a tablespoon of Peanut Butter on celery stalks. That is a good snack to help up your calories and protein. And set your eating schedule as it were a dayshift job. It will turn around soon.. Best Of Luck:smile:
  • grapegirl1
    grapegirl1 Posts: 22
    Hi, one of my friends Starklark who has lost like 180 lbs was able to change his food diary on MFP to time blocks instead of Breakfast ect. So eat every four hours.This might help you to calm down your metabolism that you are not starving by getting regular intervals of food. Takes an adjustment period too. Good Luck
    s
  • jfan175
    jfan175 Posts: 812 Member
    How many calories are you eating per day? They can creep up on you if you're not counting them. Eating healthy but in a caloric excess will still put the weight on. It would help to see your diary. How much protein are you getting, what kind of exercise are you doing and are you getting enough sleep? Starvation mode is a myth. Even in extreme cases of long term complete fasting, the greatest metabolism slowdown ever measured was 40%.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

    Please read the link. The term "starvation mode" is used on this site and many others as a reason for people to stuff there faces. There is NO SCIENTIFIC proof that an overweight/obese person will stop losing weight if they do not eat enough. It is only if you are underweight and burn an extreme amount of calories that this may EVER come into play.
    Starvation mode is a myth.

    http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35501

    Wikepedia and weight watchers are your go-to sites to prove your points?

    Wow.

    Here's the thing. 'Starvation mode' is something that won't affect very many of us at all. Pretty much, only those with eating disorders to be honest.

    HOWEVER...if you don't eat an appropriate amount of calories, over a prolonged period, your body CAN AND WILL 'stress' itself for want of a better word. Weight loss will stop, and/or reverse.

    Hormone depletion is one of the factors cited for this. Cortisol levels raise as I mentioned above. Insulin sensitivity can seriously go nuts. Some people have stronger reactions than others.

    But say what you like, call it what you like...deny it if you don't feel like accepting it...I don't much care. It is however very real.

    A couple weeks eating at maintenance after prolonged dieting is very effective at correcting this. My method to correct it (apparently) was simply to raise my daily intake from 2200-2400cal, to 3000cal. I was stalled for over 3mos between 188 and 192lbs. Lifting heavy 3x a week, with an active job. Nothing I did changed a damn thing (and I've done this before...so it wasn't like I was going into this uneducated). I bought a fitbit, freaked out at the TDEE number of over 3100cal (some days it showed me burning 4000cal or so, and wasn't even counting the lifting and carrying I do at work...just the steps), raised my intake to 3000cal, and have been losing weight ever since.

    *shrug*
  • stephanielaugh
    stephanielaugh Posts: 5
    I definitley know I'm not eating enough calories. I'm shooting shy of my calorie goal for sure. I also know that my sleep schedule could be to blame too. I feel like there are days where I don't get enough sleep. It's pretty hard to cope with at first--- sleeping during the day.

    Like today. spent all day at a water park walking up flights of stairs, swimming, walking-- and ate a healthy lunch-- when I got home after I showered I weighed two pounds more than usual.

    It's so frustrating.....
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Hi, one of my friends Starklark who has lost like 180 lbs was able to change his food diary on MFP to time blocks instead of Breakfast ect. So eat every four hours.This might help you to calm down your metabolism that you are not starving by getting regular intervals of food. Takes an adjustment period too. Good Luck
    s

    Eating ever couple hours is completely, totally unnecessary, barring a medical condition that requires it. Your metabolism doesn't notice a lack of food in 4hrs. It doesn't even notice a lack of food in 24hrs. Actually, it won't notice a lack of food for about 72hrs on average, at which point it starts to realize that you REALLY suck at providing for yourself, and it had better start doing something so that your crappy ability to feed yourself will be sufficient to keep you alive.

    If eating breakfast and something else every 4hrs helps you maintain a healthy calorie deficit, go for it...it'll do wonderful things for you! If NOT eating breakfast, and eating a healthy amount of calories all in TWO hours, at 9pm at night...helps you maintain a healthy calorie deficit...guess what? GO FOR IT!! It'll do wonderful things for you :).
  • stephanielaugh
    stephanielaugh Posts: 5
    What kind of meals did they eat every four hours?
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    I also know that my sleep schedule could be to blame too. I feel like there are days where I don't get enough sleep. It's pretty hard to cope with at first--- sleeping during the day.

    Definitely can be partly to blame. I thought sleep was my main issue though...I got about 4hrs a night.

    Turns out...after upping my calories, I'm still losing, and still getting about 4hrs a night.

    Erratic sleep though is a lot worse than regular, minimal sleep, from my reading.
  • stephanielaugh
    stephanielaugh Posts: 5
    Yeah, before I started this job I worked the 9-5 schedule. I never gained weight-- unless I did something where I KNOW I would have gained weight.

    *sigh*
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

    Please read the link. The term "starvation mode" is used on this site and many others as a reason for people to stuff there faces. There is NO SCIENTIFIC proof that an overweight/obese person will stop losing weight if they do not eat enough. It is only if you are underweight and burn an extreme amount of calories that this may EVER come into play.

    LOL then I have been stuffing my face (as you call it) for the last 37 months and managed to lose 310 lbs. in the process.... The term starvation mode is taken way out of context or should I say taken way to literally by some on this site... The whole point of this statement is that if you do not eat enough and/or exercise way to much you are going to create to large of a calorie deficit and overtime your metabolism is going to stall causing you to not see any weightloss on the scale.. hence the starvation mode comments.... I for one have been through this over my trials and tribulations... That is why I eat back my exercise calories keeping a deficit big enough to lose 1/2 lb. a week (currently). I don't consider this aka.. stuffing my face, my belief is I am fueling my body for the workouts that I ask of it to do... I am currently eating 3200-3400 calories a day and am still in a deficit..... Best of Luck

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