Starvation mode...

myfitnesspalmel
myfitnesspalmel Posts: 4
edited September 20 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone, I have a question for you all. I heard and experienced that on starvation mode you don't lose any weight, but could you even gain weight? I tell you what happen. In the past week I've been sick. I had a strong laryngitis, so I didn't do any exercise because I was afraid that I wouldn't get better if I did. I still ate healthy food and small portions. I thought that maybe I could eat a little bit less than usual because I wasn't exercising. So I did. For 4 days I ate around 1000kcal, the other days around 1400. I think I went into starvation mode. But I gained weight! I gained 300grams! Yes, I know it's not that much but I can't understand why. Maybe it's because I didn't exercise at all.
Please tell me what do you think.

Replies

  • Hi everyone, I have a question for you all. I heard and experienced that on starvation mode you don't lose any weight, but could you even gain weight? I tell you what happen. In the past week I've been sick. I had a strong laryngitis, so I didn't do any exercise because I was afraid that I wouldn't get better if I did. I still ate healthy food and small portions. I thought that maybe I could eat a little bit less than usual because I wasn't exercising. So I did. For 4 days I ate around 1000kcal, the other days around 1400. I think I went into starvation mode. But I gained weight! I gained 300grams! Yes, I know it's not that much but I can't understand why. Maybe it's because I didn't exercise at all.
    Please tell me what do you think.

    Maybe my metabolism went down because I didn't exercise....?:cry:
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
    Hi. I don't think you went into starvation that quickly, and at that calorie level. Changes in metabolism don't happen that quickly. More than likely, it's just fluid.
  • "Starvation mode" isn't an on/off thing, it's a gradual adaptation to lowered energy intake. Far greater than 300 gram changes can happen up and down due to changes in water levels, so I don't think that's anything to be worried about - especially after sickness, which can cause all kinds of weird things in fluid balance.

    As a general rule of thumb, you shouldn't go below 1200kcal/d, no matter how low level of activity.
  • I shouldn't worry too much I've just gone through a two week plateau where my weight went up 300 grams in this time (very demotivating when you know you've been trying hard!) but this week the scale is moving in the right direction again. It did motivate me to take another look at what I was eating and exercise so it may be worth taking a look at this to see if there's any changes you could make such as eat less carbs, sugars, proteins etc and replace it with something else. Good luck you'll work through it!
  • Thank'you all! I though it was a bit too quick to go to starvation mode! :laugh: I'm just gonna keep up the good work and eat more calories. And start exercising because I feel much better! Thanks for your help!!!!:flowerforyou:
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