Preventing Starvation Mode

RosscoBoscko
RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi,

I am currently drinking a Promax Diet Shake as a meal replacement for breakfast and lunch and eating a normal (low to no carb) meal in the evening. Am also taking 3 thermobol caffeine free tablets a day and 5 CLA 100mg. On top of this I am drinking 4 litres of water per day. Finally I am trying to limit calorie intake to 1000.

In terms of exercise I am trying to do press ups and situps every day, rugby training twice a week and will be rejoining gym soon as well as starting to go road running. So far I have lost approx. 5-6 pounds in 8 days.

Obviously I will not keep the 1000 calorie limit in place permanently, but for the moment I am looking to keep the above going but am concerned about the infamous starvation mode kicking in. Does anyone have any suggestions how to prevent this, maybe by having 1 day a week eating more/differently?

Any comments/tips greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Replies

  • Smuterella
    Smuterella Posts: 1,623 Member
    Ummm, WHY eat so little?
  • RosscoBoscko
    RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
    To create a calrie deficit. Am trying to lose approx 2 stone, (started at 17 1/2) before getting into more power based training, but want to drop the excess fat and increase cardiovascular fitness before doing so. Like I say will start to increase calorie intake as exercise level increases and/or weight drops but looking for significant changes.
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
    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.
  • RosscoBoscko
    RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
    Ok, so going on current regime is the repair mode likely to be triggered? and if so is there a way to kick body back out of this again after a few days, therefore allowing it to do the "repairs" but not preventing weight loss going forward.

    As an addition to above have also cut out all alcohol.
  • ceefin
    ceefin Posts: 16
    You also need to remember that if you are starting a new exercise (like your plans to go road running) your body will start buiding muscle which is heavier than fat so you may find that you are not losing anything at all and be tempted to eat even less. Be very careful to fuel your exercising properly or you will be storing up trouble for later.
  • RosscoBoscko
    RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
    Thanks, yes will take this into account in terms of the muscle.

    Although I have set a weight target I am not overly so concerned about my overall weight, as playing rugby to some extent weight helps, just the right type of weight! As I am not starting the running for another few weeks yet though I am hoping to have lost a large chunk of the fat by then but as well as monitoring weight I am also primarily watching excess body fat, so size of gut etc!
  • ceefin
    ceefin Posts: 16
    My instinct is telling me that you need patience, nothing else. You sound as though you know what you are doing, but want the end result too quickly. Try being the tortoise and not the hare :) and good luck
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
    How's the thermobol going - ant bad side effects?
  • jesz124
    jesz124 Posts: 1,004 Member
    Your not going to build muscle on a calorie deficit. Going in such an extreme fat loss plan is just asking for trouble in my opinion. You will be mentally and physically draining trying to do that much exercise and on so few calories. You will be burning off everything you eat therefore basically trying to run your body on nothing. What's the hurry for anyway? Why not just take a more healthy relaxed pace and be less hard on yourself?
  • RosscoBoscko
    RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
    No side effects on the caffeine free. Took the standard thermobol tablets for about a month at the beginning of the year, and suffered massively with paranoia and anxiety due to fact that I do not drink tea or coffee so have very little caffeine intake, so have very little tolerance to it. In short unless you're used to lots of caffeine wouldnt recommend the standard one.
  • Alderaic
    Alderaic Posts: 294 Member
    starvation mode (I hate that name) is not an on off switch, it's just a result of your metabolism slowing down a bit when you are out of resources.
    Obviously if you are trying to lose a lot of weight, you do have resources!
    Second it is a slowdown between 10 to 15% so with a huge calorie deficit you wont notice it.
    TO prevent it just make sure your blood sugar spikes once in a while, else you just get less receptive to insulin, so your current diet blocks carbs, make sure that once a week you get some fruits, some milk and other good stuff that will spike your sugar without being crap (donuts and stuff)
  • RosscoBoscko
    RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
    Jesz124, I understand your point about muscle building, but not looking to do this too much until have got rid of a large amount of fat, and boosted cardio fitness.

    The hurry is that I am fed up with being the way I am, lost nearly 2 stone at start of year on no carb diet, but put 1/2 to a stone back on recently. Last time i was remotely close to being a weight I was happy with was aged 18, so time is right to sort things and get fit asap. Also stuff going on in my life means I know need to change and not make same mistakes again.
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
    No side effects on the caffeine free. Took the standard thermobol tablets for about a month at the beginning of the year, and suffered massively with paranoia and anxiety due to fact that I do not drink tea or coffee so have very little caffeine intake, so have very little tolerance to it. In short unless you're used to lots of caffeine wouldnt recommend the standard one.
    thanks.
  • cjc166
    cjc166 Posts: 222
    Check out "Eat to Live". It's absolutely no BS about weight loss, and it is absolutely sustainable. Quite possibly the healthiest way to eat on the planet.

    I started 6 weeks ago, have been eating a heck of a lot of food, and have lost 26 lbs in that timeframe. Its absolutely amazing. I feel much better than I have felt in a long time.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    take a week's diet break after 6-8 weeks perhaps ?
  • RosscoBoscko
    RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
    cjc166, thanks for the suggestion will take a look.

    yarwell, will bear that in mind. May well use that as the time period to adjust diet as well.

    Thanks,
  • now_or_never12
    now_or_never12 Posts: 849 Member
    Your body will begin to burn away at it's muscle if you aren't providing enough fuel.

    Why not eat at your target and do it the right way? Focus on eating right, exercise and strength training to retain as much of your current muscle as possible?

    It's definately not healthy to be eating so little and exercising.
  • now_or_never12
    now_or_never12 Posts: 849 Member
    Also, keep in mind your heart is a muscle... and it's the muscle that improves your cardio fitness.
  • Awkward30
    Awkward30 Posts: 1,927 Member
    Do be careful. Starvation mode isn't as prevalent as people here imply, but I did have problems that resulted in me losing my period and stalling weight loss, presumably from eating too little for my activity. Then put on 10 lb eating what should have been maintenance (metabolism likely was in the ****ter). And now I'm having trouble trying to get those 10 lb back off... So I would suggest not doing what you are planning. But if you do, I have no advice on how to avoid what happened to me, since I took a diet break approx every 2 months and had natural cheat days for social events during lower calorie periods
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
    take a week's diet break after 6-8 weeks perhaps ?

    Yup.

    Or eat one day at maintenance should do the trick.

    I don't understand the rationale of having such a restrictive intake myself, especially given the amount of exercise you do, which leads to a less efficient fat loss programme (as opposed to weight loss) but I guess you gotta do what ya gotta do...
  • RosscoBoscko
    RosscoBoscko Posts: 632 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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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