"Starvation mode" a myth?

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  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    I am a big eater. I eat all the time. Pretty much healthy natural foods, but lots and lots. I couldn't go in starvation more if I wanted to.

    But this is me. Take my mother for example, and for her, the entire 5 small meals a day is garbage. She can only lose weight if she doesn't eat. Period. A couple of fruits and veggies. No sweets, fried stuff, refined carbs, sugar, meat. Maybe 2 meals a day for her, small. And then she loses weight. She tried the 5 small meals a day and it never works for her. Never, no matter how healthy she eats.
    So I truly believe that everybody's metabolism is different. And starvation mode is a myth for at least 90 percent of people who live in today's day and age.
    Starvation more was the body's mechanism of survival back in the time when humans were gatherers and hunters. When the body knew food was scarce and unpredictable. But those genes have long been modified. So yes, maybe a handful of people still have that problem... but mostly, it's not true. Unless you are doing the hunger strike.

    this is what I'm talking about, none of this is based in truth, it's all supposition, and opinion, therefore it isn't accurate.
    How does how many meals you eat factor in? (Answer, it has nothing to do with starvation mode).
    If you read the studies I pointed to, you'll see that the size of the person, or how obese they are has very little to do with how much metabolic slow down occurs, and in fact what this poster is saying is actually PROOF of starvation mode, not any kind of argument against it.
    The other thing is, where would you come up with that 90% number? pulled right out of thin air is my guess. No bearing in fact, but you know what? Someone, a year from now, is going to look for proof for their own statement, find that 90% number and use it as proof. Thus fiction begets fiction. That is how myths happen.
  • OliveRiver
    OliveRiver Posts: 81 Member
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    it's not a myth, it's just that 95% of people around here and EVERY OTHER weight loss site use the term mistakenly.

    starvation mode is what happens when you have a low BF% and deprive yourself for a long period of time of the necessary calories to maintain your body. you're body will start to consume itself to stay alive when you nearly run out of fat reserves and are not eating enough calories.

    this is what happened in WWII concentration camps.

    starvation mode DOES NOT happen if you fast for 3 days or go to bed without eating dinner. people who think that are so badly misinformed it's scary.

    there are studies about the subject.

    look up the Minnesota Study done in the 1940's or 1950's with soldier volunteers, IIRC.


    ^ That exactly ^
  • dbutorac
    dbutorac Posts: 120
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    You are absolutely correct.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    it's not a myth, it's just that 95% of people around here and EVERY OTHER weight loss site use the term mistakenly.

    starvation mode is what happens when you have a low BF% and deprive yourself for a long period of time of the necessary calories to maintain your body. you're body will start to consume itself to stay alive when you nearly run out of fat reserves and are not eating enough calories.

    this is what happened in WWII concentration camps.

    starvation mode DOES NOT happen if you fast for 3 days or go to bed without eating dinner. people who think that are so badly misinformed it's scary.

    there are studies about the subject.

    look up the Minnesota Study done in the 1940's or 1950's with soldier volunteers, IIRC.


    ^ That exactly ^

    The majority of this does not line up with fact. In fact the Minnesota study mentioned in the first quote actually contradicts the idea that you need low body fat in order to enter starvation mode. Most of the participants recorded BMR decreases of between 15% and 25% (please make a note that if all goes as planned, in a reduced calorie diet, you should optimally never reduce BMR) while still in the first period of the study, when their body fat % was still well within normal ranges. Another corruption of starvation mode. Also, starvation mode isn't what is being described, the first quote is describing starvation, a completely different concept, starvation mode is simply adaptive thermogenesis, I.E. the body's recognition of a large caloric deficit over a period long enough to deplete glycogen reserves, which results in the reduction in Basal functions in the body, which means less energy expended and thus what you THINK you should be eating to lose weight is usually higher than what you actually need to lose weight, the body also places a priority on fat storage and lean mass reduction (efficiency) in order to reduce (again) energy expenditure.
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
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    it's not a myth, it's just that 95% of people around here and EVERY OTHER weight loss site use the term mistakenly.

    starvation mode is what happens when you have a low BF% and deprive yourself for a long period of time of the necessary calories to maintain your body. you're body will start to consume itself to stay alive when you nearly run out of fat reserves and are not eating enough calories.

    this is what happened in WWII concentration camps.

    starvation mode DOES NOT happen if you fast for 3 days or go to bed without eating dinner. people who think that are so badly misinformed it's scary.

    there are studies about the subject.

    look up the Minnesota Study done in the 1940's or 1950's with soldier volunteers, IIRC.


    ^ That exactly ^

    The majority of this does not line up with fact. In fact the Minnesota study mentioned in the first quote actually contradicts the idea that you need low body fat in order to enter starvation mode. Most of the participants recorded BMR decreases of between 15% and 25% (please make a note that if all goes as planned, in a reduced calorie diet, you should optimally never reduce BMR) while still in the first period of the study, when their body fat % was still well within normal ranges. Another corruption of starvation mode. Also, starvation mode isn't what is being described, the first quote is describing starvation, a completely different concept, starvation mode is simply adaptive thermogenesis, I.E. the body's recognition of a large caloric deficit over a period long enough to deplete glycogen reserves, which results in the reduction in Basal functions in the body, which means less energy expended and thus what you THINK you should be eating to lose weight is usually higher than what you actually need to lose weight, the body also places a priority on fat storage and lean mass reduction (efficiency) in order to reduce (again) energy expenditure.

    Yes, thank you for correcting the "it only happens a low body fat" myth. I had two friends with eating disorders who were both clearly overweight. They were both put on what they described as a "disgusting" amount of food, and they began to lose weight.

    Think about fat as being your body's bank account. If you got fired from your job, would you start cutting expenses immediately, or would you wait until you were almost out of savings?

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