Fact or Fiction? Starvation mode?

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  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
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    Whenever you walk into a doctor's office, he's never going to be shocked and scream at you and say that you're in starvation mode. It's pretty much nonsense and people are making a much bigger deal out of it than what it really is. You will still lose weight on a low cal diet and some doctors will even recommend you to be on a 500 cal diet because starvation mode is not some mythical creature that will come in on you in the night and give you Type 2 diabetes or destroy your metabolism for months on end.



    Here's a registered dietitian take on the subject.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/755064-registered-dietitian-in-tx-here-to-answer-questions?page=2
    Your metabolism can slow down a bit if you have a very large caloric deficit. However, it is not enough to stall weight loss. If you eat less, you will lose weight. I don't recommend a huge caloric deficit for the average person because it makes it hard to stay compliant long term and it's not optimal for preserving lean body mass.
  • Jester522
    Jester522 Posts: 392
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    True "starvation mode" is when your body begins to burn lean muscle for fuel, due to a lack of fuel availability elsewhere, either in calories consumed, or stored in fats. It is an actual thing, and it does not happen until you're as lean as you can be - about 6% body fat for men. So most of us here don't need to worry about that kind of starvation mode.

    However, it's still true that if you consistently net less than your body needs to function, your body will assume this is the "new normal" and compensate by slowing metabolic function. It'll still burning fat for fuel, but your rate of weight loss will slow. This is not "starvation mode," but it's usually what people mean when they talk about it here.


    Spot on. Do a google search for the military's study on starvation mode. You will find that it is very difficult to send your body into starvation mode. The subjects were already very lean and subjected to extreme deficits and exercise. Bottom line, most people who say they are not losing weight due to being in starvation mode, are more than likely just not counting calories correctly.
    Thanks for saving me from typing a paragraph.
  • farmwife3815
    farmwife3815 Posts: 326 Member
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    I don;t know if it's truth or myth but I know from my own experience that when eating low cal for long time, weight loss will eventually stop and very hard (almost impossible) to break.

    Yup, me too. If I eat my calories and eat back the exercise calories I lose right along. I start cutting back or not eating exercise calories, and I won't lose much at all. Fact or fiction, I don't care. I just know what happens to me!! :wink:
  • Heather_Rider
    Heather_Rider Posts: 1,159 Member
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    I asked my doctor about this on Wednesday and his exact answer was "Fact, to a point." You can starve yourself and your body will pull from your fat reserves for fuel, but you will not GAIN weight from it. It will cause you to stop losing for a SHORT time but that is all."
  • Gwen_B
    Gwen_B Posts: 1,018 Member
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    I found this article that had a study of 36 young, healthy, psychologically normal men while restricting their caloric intake for 6 months. Their calories were restricted in various phases, but the least amount of calories they were allowed was 50% of the "normal" maintenance calories.
    A starvation diet does not mean the absence of food. It means cutting the total caloric intake to less than 50% of what the body requires.
    In general, it's true that metabolic rate tends to drop more with more excessive caloric deficits (and this is true whether the effect is from eating less or exercising more); as well, people vary in how hard or fast their bodies shut down. Women's bodies tend to shut down harder and faster.

    But here's the thing: in no study I've ever seen has the drop in metabolic rate been sufficient to completely offset the caloric deficit. That is, say that cutting your calories by 50% per day leads to a reduction in the metabolic rate of 10%. Starvation mode you say. Well, yes. But you still have a 40% daily deficit.

    http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/weight-loss/truth-starvation-mode

    Check it out.
  • TeriLynnSpano
    TeriLynnSpano Posts: 103 Member
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    :bigsmile: bump for later
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    Whenever you walk into a doctor's office, he's never going to be shocked and scream at you and say that you're in starvation mode. It's pretty much nonsense and people are making a much bigger deal out of it than what it really is. You will still lose weight on a low cal diet and some doctors will even recommend you to be on a 500 cal diet because starvation mode is not some mythical creature that will come in on you in the night and give you Type 2 diabetes or destroy your metabolism for months on end.



    Here's a registered dietitian take on the subject.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/755064-registered-dietitian-in-tx-here-to-answer-questions?page=2
    Your metabolism can slow down a bit if you have a very large caloric deficit. However, it is not enough to stall weight loss. If you eat less, you will lose weight. I don't recommend a huge caloric deficit for the average person because it makes it hard to stay compliant long term and it's not optimal for preserving lean body mass.
    No offense but that is utter BS. Just research the Minnesota Starvation Experiment - when the guys reached a certain point, no matter how little they continued to fuel their bodies, weight loss stopped.
  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
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    Whenever you walk into a doctor's office, he's never going to be shocked and scream at you and say that you're in starvation mode. It's pretty much nonsense and people are making a much bigger deal out of it than what it really is. You will still lose weight on a low cal diet and some doctors will even recommend you to be on a 500 cal diet because starvation mode is not some mythical creature that will come in on you in the night and give you Type 2 diabetes or destroy your metabolism for months on end.



    Here's a registered dietitian take on the subject.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/755064-registered-dietitian-in-tx-here-to-answer-questions?page=2
    Your metabolism can slow down a bit if you have a very large caloric deficit. However, it is not enough to stall weight loss. If you eat less, you will lose weight. I don't recommend a huge caloric deficit for the average person because it makes it hard to stay compliant long term and it's not optimal for preserving lean body mass.
    No offense but that is utter BS. Just research the Minnesota Starvation Experiment - when the guys reached a certain point, no matter how little they continued to fuel their bodies, weight loss stopped.


    I'm not sure if you actually read the experiment you referred to but those guys kept losing weight until their bodies looked like the picture below so it really doesn't support the assumption that your body will hold onto your fat when you do a starvation diet. Obviously, the picture below is scary but knowing when to stop and eating at maintenance is the key and 14% body fat is a good stopping point for those trying to cut fat.


    Here's a picture from the experiment you are referring to.
    http://www.2medusa.com/2009/08/anorexia-bulimia-minnesota-starvation.html
    Minnesota+starvation+experiment%232.jpg


    .
  • scottbrown78
    scottbrown78 Posts: 142 Member
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    If our bodies started consuming muscle, wouldn't we still see weight loss? Muscle does weigh something right? If calories in doesn't equal calories out, our bodies MUST be pulling the energy from somewhere and even if it is muscle, weight loss MUST happen. Am I missing something here?

    And if your hair is falling out, you are missing something in your diet and it aint calories.
  • lizzue
    lizzue Posts: 276 Member
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    There was a recent documentary in the UK about a feast and famine diet where two days a week you only ate 400 calories and the rest you stuck to a well balancd diet.

    It seemed to work well, he lost weight and all his statistics were improved.

    Not sure how well it would work over a prolonged period of time but its food for thought.
  • SJCon
    SJCon Posts: 224
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    There was a recent documentary in the UK about a feast and famine diet where two days a week you only ate 400 calories and the rest you stuck to a well balancd diet.

    It seemed to work well, he lost weight and all his statistics were improved.

    Not sure how well it would work over a prolonged period of time but its food for thought.

    I have not followed the fasting research trail to far yet but found these two items that piqued my interest so thought I would share. I Especially like the one that says you can get a rest and heal if done right.

    An Introduction to the Benefits of a Professionally Supervised Fast
    http://www.healthpromoting.com/learning-center/articles/therapeutic-fasting

    Fasting and starvation mode
    http://www.netwellness.org/question.cfm/37350.htm
  • ladypenel
    ladypenel Posts: 88 Member
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    I don;t know if it's truth or myth but I know from my own experience that when eating low cal for long time, weight loss will eventually stop and very hard (almost impossible) to break.

    I always remember my Dr informing me that no fat people came out of Belsen or even Biafra, or the Sudan today. Lower cal in than cals used must result in weight loss, not maybe the ideal kind, but still weight loss

    Well I disagree with the idea re fat people didn't come out of Belsen etc as this is what my doc told me and stuck me on a 700 cal diet, which nearly killed me, caused liver damage! Now I am on MFP and upped my cals to 1200 I am starting to lose weight And No I haven't changed the food I ate before just having more of it. So call it what you want but there is definitely something going on if you eat too little, ask my GP who is now putting other people on higher cals and seeing good results with them too!
  • scottbrown78
    scottbrown78 Posts: 142 Member
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    I don;t know if it's truth or myth but I know from my own experience that when eating low cal for long time, weight loss will eventually stop and very hard (almost impossible) to break.

    I always remember my Dr informing me that no fat people came out of Belsen or even Biafra, or the Sudan today. Lower cal in than cals used must result in weight loss, not maybe the ideal kind, but still weight loss

    Well I disagree with the idea re fat people didn't come out of Belsen etc as this is what my doc told me and stuck me on a 700 cal diet, which nearly killed me, caused liver damage! Now I am on MFP and upped my cals to 1200 I am starting to lose weight And No I haven't changed the food I ate before just having more of it. So call it what you want but there is definitely something going on if you eat too little, ask my GP who is now putting other people on higher cals and seeing good results with them too!
    How does low caloric intake damage the liver? I do remember seeing on "super size me" that his doc told him his liver function was degrading from to much fat intake.
  • MaraDiaz
    MaraDiaz Posts: 4,604 Member
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    Try this. Get down to your goal weight. Find a buddy who is the same height and weight as you at your goal weight and who has never been on a diet.

    Eat the same thing your buddy does every day.

    I guarantee you will gain weight on your buddy's maintenance calories. You may not gain quickly, but you will gain, because you have dieted in the past and your buddy never did. That is starvation mode.
  • missjennifer1966
    missjennifer1966 Posts: 143 Member
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    It takes quite a while for your body to go into starvation mode so eating less than the calories they say you need will not do anything byt let you lose weight faster. Of course, if you do it for an extended period of time it will hurt you by keeping the fat on.
  • MIM49
    MIM49 Posts: 255 Member
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    I have a friend that had to undergo surgery to her jaw (bone cancer in jaw bone.) After removing her jaw bone and rebuilding her face her jaw was wired shut for 6 months. She was given a feeding tube into her stomach (called a G-tube) and was put on liquid feeds (Ensure). She happened to be overweight--perhaps even obese--at the start. The doctor prescribed a certain # of cans/calories per day. She, however, having no taste involved and no feeling of hunger found she rarely ever used the amount prescribed--she just sort of "forgot" to eat. She lost weight rapidly and says the only bright side of the ordeal is that she is now thin.(It also appears she is cancer free) At no time did she enter a "starvation mode". She doesn't feel that she sacrificed muscle (never had much anyway as she is older--mid 60's--and not one for working out) The thing is that she was aware EXACTLY how many calories were going in--no underestimating, no "cheating". The lesson--Reduce caloric intake and your body will resort to "burning" body fat for "fuel" . It takes a deficit of 3500 calories to lose a pound. A 700 calorie deficit will take 5 days to lose a pound. A 500 calorie deficit will take 7 days to lose a pound. I think of metabolism like a car: some cars get 48 miles to a gallon of gas: others only manage 8 miles per gallon. Why would someone choose a 800-1000 calorie diet when weight loss will occur at 1200 or more calories (depending on BMR or TDEE or whatever)? Some people would rather see a faster weight loss. I don't think anyone on an extremely restricted calorie diet expects to maintain that for life and will at some point increase calories to a more survival level. I think anyone with a history of obesity recognizes that there was a problem with eating habits that will require a change to maintain weight loss and not regain the fat. Some people are satisfied with the "I didn't gain it in a day" approach and choose to incorporate a healthier way of eating as they lose weight. Others would rather shed the pounds faster and then incorporate a healthier approach in maintaining the weight loss. "Tricking" your body by eating more because you are at a plateau? Hogwash. Instead try not eating at all for 24-48 hours (drink water.) Yeah, you might feel hungry. But if you are upset over a "stuck" scale then a few hunger pains would be worth the effort. I can assure you that the starved people in Biafra or the concentration camps of WWII underwent more than just a day or two of hunger pains. Of course when you resume eating you have to count every calorie in every nibble. They mount up fast. If you aren't losing weight it is not due to starvation but to eating.
  • MIM49
    MIM49 Posts: 255 Member
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    Try this. Get down to your goal weight. Find a buddy who is the same height and weight as you at your goal weight and who has never been on a diet.

    Eat the same thing your buddy does every day.

    I guarantee you will gain weight on your buddy's maintenance calories. You may not gain quickly, but you will gain, because you have dieted in the past and your buddy never did. That is starvation mode.

    No--that is genetics. Some people due to their DNA have a propensity to store fat--ie put on weight. Other people do not have the fat cells to do this. Some people are more "fuel efficient" than others. They burn or utilize calories slower--like an economy car. It takes less food to fuel them. Your buddy may be a sports car--goes the same distance but uses a lot more fuel
  • riveradee
    riveradee Posts: 40 Member
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    i hope i didn't miss out on this debate
    i've thought about this a lot ..if it were true that your body goes into starvation mode when you eat under the required calorie amount and your body stops losing fat and stores it ....why would people with some eating disorders lose so much weight they have to be tube fed?
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
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    Haven't read the whole thread, but I find it a little odd that those who are yelling about starvation mode and in the eat more camp aren't necessarily eating healthy in order to eat more. Not sure why eating a brownie in order to get to 1600 calories vs a healthy 1200 calorie diet is better.

    I find that eating healthy results in my just not necessarily being hungry enough to eat much more than 1200 calories a day. Starvation mode sounds silly to me.
  • wrevhn
    wrevhn Posts: 864 Member
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    this almost seems like an attempt to get ppls feathers ruffled.


    a working one.

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