"You'll gain weight from starving yourself"
ShoShoyi
Posts: 34 Member
First, let me just preface this with the fact that I AM NOT AN EXPERT, but I am speaking this from my own experience and from the many posts that I've read as well as the videos I've watched.
People often think starving yourself is the easiest way to lose weight. And honestly, it definitely is. So then where does the "you'll gain weight from starving yourself" come from? Well, the thing is, I'm relatively sure that during the time period that you're starving yourself, you WILL lose weight. But as soon as you start eating normally again, the time it takes for you to recover that weight that you lost will be extremely fast. I know this because I tried fasting once for a week and lost 10lbs. I felt that I would be able to control myself in my dietary habits once I start eating again. Well, the thing is, once you start allowing your body food again, you have a natural instinct to eat an immense amount because your body is ravenous for food. Psychologically, it's very hard to control the hunger. Thus, while you may not be physically hungry, psychologically, you'll want to fill up that "void" that you may feel and interpret as hunger. And then because you've starved yourself before, your TDEE will have decreased by a lot as well (this will depend on how long you've starved yourself or ate very little below your BMR), and subsequently, you may end up being allowed to eat only half the amount of calories you ate before to stay at a certain weight. With that, you'll then not only gain back ALL that you lost, but you may also end up gaining a few more pounds before your body decides that it's no longer in famine and you'll be psychologically more stable with food again. But, this also puts you at a worse position than you were before you started dieting.
And therein lies where I think the "you'll gain weight from starving yourself" comes from.
I am aware that there are definitely a few people who have succeeded in losing and keeping weight off from starving, however, it takes an incredible amount of self-discipline (and you would also start having a rather unhealthy view of food), which I feel is often unrealistic to expect from yourself. So really, don't take your chances and think, "Oh, I'll be one of those few extremely self-disciplined people who is able to avoid binging once I reach my goal weight of lose that 20lbs." Cause chances are, you won't and you'll end up gaining even more weight.
Yes, you'll still need self-discipline to lose weight the healthy way (exercising and eating a couple hundred calories below your tdee), but with this, I believe that you're working more in line with nature as opposed to going against the natural flow of your body by starving yourself.
People often think starving yourself is the easiest way to lose weight. And honestly, it definitely is. So then where does the "you'll gain weight from starving yourself" come from? Well, the thing is, I'm relatively sure that during the time period that you're starving yourself, you WILL lose weight. But as soon as you start eating normally again, the time it takes for you to recover that weight that you lost will be extremely fast. I know this because I tried fasting once for a week and lost 10lbs. I felt that I would be able to control myself in my dietary habits once I start eating again. Well, the thing is, once you start allowing your body food again, you have a natural instinct to eat an immense amount because your body is ravenous for food. Psychologically, it's very hard to control the hunger. Thus, while you may not be physically hungry, psychologically, you'll want to fill up that "void" that you may feel and interpret as hunger. And then because you've starved yourself before, your TDEE will have decreased by a lot as well (this will depend on how long you've starved yourself or ate very little below your BMR), and subsequently, you may end up being allowed to eat only half the amount of calories you ate before to stay at a certain weight. With that, you'll then not only gain back ALL that you lost, but you may also end up gaining a few more pounds before your body decides that it's no longer in famine and you'll be psychologically more stable with food again. But, this also puts you at a worse position than you were before you started dieting.
And therein lies where I think the "you'll gain weight from starving yourself" comes from.
I am aware that there are definitely a few people who have succeeded in losing and keeping weight off from starving, however, it takes an incredible amount of self-discipline (and you would also start having a rather unhealthy view of food), which I feel is often unrealistic to expect from yourself. So really, don't take your chances and think, "Oh, I'll be one of those few extremely self-disciplined people who is able to avoid binging once I reach my goal weight of lose that 20lbs." Cause chances are, you won't and you'll end up gaining even more weight.
Yes, you'll still need self-discipline to lose weight the healthy way (exercising and eating a couple hundred calories below your tdee), but with this, I believe that you're working more in line with nature as opposed to going against the natural flow of your body by starving yourself.
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Replies
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Interesting post. I'm not sure how to define "starving" though. I guess it depends on person and activity level. This past week I consumed about 7,700 calories while burning 20,000. I'm a 206 lb man. Nutritional thermodynamics suggest that we cannot be in balance and lose weight. So I'm trying to run a steady deficit.
I've tried to keep my calories at or above 12,600 per week and increase my burn rate to 25,000 but that doesn't work. I get exhausted and weak and then resort to binge eating.
My problem is that I eat too much. So I've cut way back to about 1000-1200 calories per day. I'm hoping this approach works. My blog is declarewaronfood.wordpress.com in case you want more details.
Good luck with your journey. Tom0 -
Uh, you have to already have a pretty unhealthy relationship with food to try to starve yourself in the first place.
Second, you might lose weight while you're starving yourself but 1. you'll probably gain at first and 2. the weight you lose is all water and muscle. That's why people that are/have been anorexic/bulimic can and often do have severe muscular atrophy.
Third, most of the time people say you will gain on this site is when you're eating too few calories for a prolonged period of time. If you're eating way too little, but you're eating, your body is just naturally going to store everything because it needs it.
I do get your point though.0 -
I fast for religious reasons, so I know what you are saying. Recently, I've been fasting from certain foods instead of food all together. Right now I am fasting from soda and pop. I'm only drinking water and green tea. I am still getting the craving so I am still able to deny my carnal self (religious reason for fasting), but I am not starving myself. I am hoping that when I allow myself to break the fast the craving will have subsided and I won't drink pop all the time anymore. We shall see.0
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My problem is that I eat too much. So I've cut way back to about 1000-1200 calories per day. I'm hoping this approach works. My blog is declarewaronfood.wordpress.com in case you want more details.
Have you tried eating at your TDEE - a percentage? There are good threads around here that give advice on that, tons of people do it and it works for them.
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Hi. My name is Barb and I am new to the site. Im hoping you could explain something to me because Im quite confused. Why is it that once I record my exercise for the day it gets added to my daily calorie amount? I always thought in order to lose weight you have to burn more than you consume....right?0
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Hi. My name is Barb and I am new to the site. Im hoping you could explain something to me because Im quite confused. Why is it that once I record my exercise for the day it gets added to my daily calorie amount? I always thought in order to lose weight you have to burn more than you consume....right?
I can help, I hope. Basically, MFP has given you a number and set a deficit in for you already. Let's say you're set to eat 1700 calories a day. This is a deficit designed so that you lose weight without having to exercise. So, if you do exercise, you're supposed to eat those calories back so you NET 1700 calories, that way you don't end up with too large a deficit.0 -
The reason you gain weight from starving yourself is because your body goes into starvation mode. This makes it hold on to every ounce of fat in your body, making you gain weight. Your body instead uses the muscle in your body, which then makes you lighter since muscle weighs more than fat. It is a very unhealthy way to lose weight and no one should try it. I do understand when people fast for religious reasons though since it's, well, religious. It is only unhealthy to constantly starve yourself though. If you fast for one day and then stop fasting, then you'll just lose weight. It's very hard though, because there will be temptations to start eating sugar since your body needs to have energy (sugar is the quickest source of energy) so you may go on a rampage and eat everything in the house. Basically all I'm saying is, don't starve yourself.0
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If you disregard the water loss, if you return to a normal diet very slowly, couldn't you keep the weight loss?0
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The reason you gain weight from starving yourself is because your body goes into starvation mode. This makes it hold on to every ounce of fat in your body, making you gain weight. Your body instead uses the muscle in your body, which then makes you lighter since muscle weighs more than fat. It is a very unhealthy way to lose weight and no one should try it. I do understand when people fast for religious reasons though since it's, well, religious. It is only unhealthy to constantly starve yourself though. If you fast for one day and then stop fasting, then you'll just lose weight. It's very hard though, because there will be temptations to start eating sugar since your body needs to have energy (sugar is the quickest source of energy) so you may go on a rampage and eat everything in the house. Basically all I'm saying is, don't starve yourself.
When I fast from food I normally do it on Sunday and I spend the day in prayer and reading the Bible (as well as attending the church service). When I break it I try to eat light. I used to do 7 day fasts and I lead myself up to it and broke it gradually so my body got used to digesting food again. You should always prepare your body for a long fast and break it gradually. If you fast for an extended period of time your digestive system "goes to sleep" so you need to gradually wake it up. I agree you shouldn't fast to starve yourself, it's a religious practice to deny your body so you can hear God more clearly.0 -
Interesting post. I'm not sure how to define "starving" though. I guess it depends on person and activity level. This past week I consumed about 7,700 calories while burning 20,000. I'm a 206 lb man. Nutritional thermodynamics suggest that we cannot be in balance and lose weight. So I'm trying to run a steady deficit.
I've tried to keep my calories at or above 12,600 per week and increase my burn rate to 25,000 but that doesn't work. I get exhausted and weak and then resort to binge eating.
My problem is that I eat too much. So I've cut way back to about 1000-1200 calories per day. I'm hoping this approach works. My blog is declarewaronfood.wordpress.com in case you want more details.
Good luck with your journey. Tom
I like the fact that you are counting your calories in amounts per week more than calories/day. I definitely agree with you that weight gain, or a lack of weight loss is usually due to eating too much. However, seeing as you're 206lb and also exercising very much, I'm not sure that eating 1000-1200 calories really is the best way. By eating so little, your body will feel that it's not getting enough food and thus become more "efficient" in burning your calories for energy. That is, while you will most definitely lose weight, you may also be slowing down your metabolism more so that before, you may have been able to eat 2200 calories to maintain your weight, but now, after eating only 1000-1200 calories/day for several weeks, your body becomes more efficient and only requires 1800 calories to maintain your weight. This also equates to a slower rate of weight loss. You want to eat the maximum amount of calories to lose weight so that you avoid your metabolism from slowing down. Personally, I found this video to be extremely clear on this concept, so if you have 30 minutes to spare, take a look at it!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHzie6XRGk&list=FLAYVHDt_y8vARR5A-Iz87pw&index=3 0 -
These are great threads that explain your BMR, TDEE, what a good deficit is and why it works. Knowledge is power.
Here is good info:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937712-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-00 -
Uh, you have to already have a pretty unhealthy relationship with food to try to starve yourself in the first place.
Second, you might lose weight while you're starving yourself but 1. you'll probably gain at first and 2. the weight you lose is all water and muscle. That's why people that are/have been anorexic/bulimic can and often do have severe muscular atrophy.
Third, most of the time people say you will gain on this site is when you're eating too few calories for a prolonged period of time. If you're eating way too little, but you're eating, your body is just naturally going to store everything because it needs it.
I do get your point though.
Yes, I don't deny that I had a pretty unhealthy relationship with food. As for gaining weight from starving oneself (starving as in eating absolutely nothing), I can't say for 100% of cases, but I'm pretty much 95% sure that a person will not gain weight from not eating. Thermodynamically, it's just not possible. Yes, there may possibly be a sudden 0.2kg gain after a week of losing a 5kg. But overall, one will definitely keep losing when they deny themselves from food. However, I certainly am not condoning this method of losing weight because, as you said, as soon as we start eating normally (whether it's after complete starvation or an extremely low calorie diet), the body will naturally store everything as fat.0 -
I have to say that I agree with everything the OP says. I experienced it myself. I was on a 1 1/2 year plateau from a 1200 calorie diet and eventually gained 20 lb back due to lack of self control and not being honest with myself about portion size. I was never in "starvation mode". I was simply eating too much and not admitting it, and this was due to depriving myself for so long. I developed binge eating habits that I've never experienced in my life.0
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Hi. My name is Barb and I am new to the site. Im hoping you could explain something to me because Im quite confused. Why is it that once I record my exercise for the day it gets added to my daily calorie amount? I always thought in order to lose weight you have to burn more than you consume....right?
Yes, that's certainly correct...to an extent. To lose weight, you need to burn more than you consume...BUT (and here's the big but that many people don't know) you still need to eat enough so that your body realizes that you are not in danger of having very little or no food around. Once your body realizes that, it will gladly offer up its fat for you to burn. Now, one major thing is that this misconception often leads to yo-yo dieting. Yes, you lose weight burning more than you consume; yes, during the time period which you eat very little (less than you're supposed to) you will lose weight, BUT, it's not sustainable. Let me repeat that again, it IS NOT SUSTAINABLE!! Sooner or later, you (and everyone does) gives in because the body's psychology need for food wins out and you will either binge or at the very least return to your normal dietary habits. And that's when you end up gaining much faster than you lost because your metabolic rate went down. Thus, you must eat enough so that your body feels safe to lose weight. It's like a person with very little money in their bank aren't as willing to donate money/spend money carelessly as a person with a load of cash in their bank.
Anyways, someone above posted these two sites which are quite helpful in determining exactly how much you should eat to maintain the maximum metabolic rate and at the same time lose the maximum amount of weight:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937712-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm0 -
I have to say that I agree with everything the OP says. I experienced it myself. I was on a 1 1/2 year plateau from a 1200 calorie diet and eventually gained 20 lb back due to lack of self control and not being honest with myself about portion size. I was never in "starvation mode". I was simply eating too much and not admitting it, and this was due to depriving myself for so long. I developed binge eating habits that I've never experienced in my life.
I have been exactly the same, tried all the VLC diets going and always broke and ate my weight in brownies, and went "**** it, there is no point I can't stick to this", put back on all the weight I lost (if not more), got depressed and started starving again. Finding MFP and eating at a sensible, sustainable deficit has been life changing.0 -
If you disregard the water loss, if you return to a normal diet very slowly, couldn't you keep the weight loss?
As much as I don't want to admit to this, because I don't want to encourage people from doing this, yes, it's true. If you return to your normal diet very slowly (for example, adding 50-100 calories per week until you reach a normal amount of calories that people of your weight and height usually need to maintain), then technically they can keep the weight loss. I thought of doing this before, but then I thought, the time it takes you to finally return your metabolic rate to its normal rate would probably end up being the same as the time it takes for you to lose the same amount of weight without slowing down your metabolism to a crawl so why go the former route when you could take a slightly less painful and also MUCH MORE healthier one?0 -
interesting post, although the original poster made the rather obvious point that once someone has finished dieting they will go back to eating "normally" and will gain all the lost weight back again...now as I understand it, it was this eating "normally" that got them fat in the first place!! What they have to learn is how to eat "differently" so they maintain...and it is my personal belief that it dosnt matter how you lose the weight it will creep back on if you dont learn how to eat differently!!0
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You cannot gain weight from starving yourself, if you're actually not eating anything or eating VEW few calories you will lose weight a.k.a. anorexics.0
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I have to say that I agree with everything the OP says. I experienced it myself. I was on a 1 1/2 year plateau from a 1200 calorie diet and eventually gained 20 lb back due to lack of self control and not being honest with myself about portion size. I was never in "starvation mode". I was simply eating too much and not admitting it, and this was due to depriving myself for so long. I developed binge eating habits that I've never experienced in my life.
I have been exactly the same, tried all the VLC diets going and always broke and ate my weight in brownies, and went "**** it, there is no point I can't stick to this", put back on all the weight I lost (if not more), got depressed and started starving again. Finding MFP and eating at a sensible, sustainable deficit has been life changing.
You didn't gain weight from the VLC diet, you gained because you binged.0 -
Did you read the post, or just the title?You cannot gain weight from starving yourself, if you're actually not eating anything or eating VEW few calories you will lose weight a.k.a. anorexics.0 -
Um, I believe that's pretty much exacly what I said. And the binge behavior came from limiting myself to a VLCD.I have to say that I agree with everything the OP says. I experienced it myself. I was on a 1 1/2 year plateau from a 1200 calorie diet and eventually gained 20 lb back due to lack of self control and not being honest with myself about portion size. I was never in "starvation mode". I was simply eating too much and not admitting it, and this was due to depriving myself for so long. I developed binge eating habits that I've never experienced in my life.
I have been exactly the same, tried all the VLC diets going and always broke and ate my weight in brownies, and went "**** it, there is no point I can't stick to this", put back on all the weight I lost (if not more), got depressed and started starving again. Finding MFP and eating at a sensible, sustainable deficit has been life changing.
You didn't gain weight from the VLC diet, you gained because you binged.0 -
People think you get lean by starving... I knew someone that suffered scurvy in this day in age. Seriously? The United States throws away enough food to feed the entire world and people are giving themselves things like scurvy... like an orange a week would prevent that! People don't realize when you lose weight it's not all going to be fat. It's why people from starving countries don't look like sports models and have a bloated stomach even though they're starving. Their bodies don't have the muscle to sustain a 6 pack, which is what people assume they're going to have when they eat < 800 calories a day.
My ex said that maintaining flexibility was a bad sign from her doctor because it means over the years she's not only gained fat, but lost muscle mass. A lot of people are too focused on a weight number when they don't take in the entire picture. It's why every person is different. You can't compare your BMI / BF% / Metabolic Rate / Strength etc. to others.. you should only compare yourself to a version you've left behind in the past. If you are a better version of yourself whatever that may be tomorrow than you are today.. you've succeeded.
The companies are succeeding. They keep shoving the phrase "lose weight" when that's not at all what it's about. They'll start with "lose weight" then go into shenanigans like "build muscles, have lots of energy, lose fat, lose inches off your waist"... because they want to make customers think they CAN'T succeed without someone or someTHING that they don't already have. Every person has the ability to achieve, but sadly we have been given broken tools to do it.0 -
I think starving yourself is a poor way to achieve long term weight maintenance. It is far better to work with your body than against it. You can lose weight and indeed keep it off after starving but it is a lot more difficult.
Having said that, the problem with these types of discussions is they routinely equate starving solely with restriction of energy (ie overall calories.) There is rarely discussion of starving as a restriction of nutrients - the need to nourish the body.
This is completely the wrong way round - the far more problematic issue is lack of nutrients, both macro and micros. If you have covered off your nutritional bases then lack of total energy intake becomes far less of an issue (although it still remains so.) Macros and micros are far more important than TDEE in my opinion (unless you are obese and then the trade off becomes more in favour of overall calories)
The problem with VLCDs is that when most people slash calories they also slash nutrients (although the two things are not necessarily synonymous - you can reduce calories sometimes significantly but keep nutrient levels high.) If you are attempting a VLCD you must, must, must ensure that your diet is watertight to ensure meaningful long term success.0 -
Also you could totally screw up your metabolism. I practically feel like I'm a poster child for that without meaning to.
I started gaining weight a few years ago due to health issues - I never really had a problem with food. I was active all growing up, then for a couple years I was practically bed ridden, where the max I could do was my laundry & cook myself dinner. I lived alone, couldn't go to school or work & didn't even really walk outside my home.
Went from around 110 to155 in a couple years (I'm only 5'2" and 100-115 pretty much all my life.) Doctor kept telling me to eat less & less & when they eventually told me to eat 800 cals, that was one of the signs I had to stop listening to them. I was only getting around 1,000 a day & the food I ate was healthy to begin with.
Now that I'm able to be active again & start losing weight, it's hard as hell to do it on 1200-1400 cals. But since I can be active again I'm focusing on that (along with eating well of course) and going with the idea that once my body starts getting on track more, it'll adjust to be more normal with the right nutrients & exercise for loss.
In conclusion, don't fvck your ish up.
(Disclaimer: fasting or cleansing is fine IMO for the right reasons & done in a stable manner; just don't starve yourself or think eating 800 cals of fast food a day is the thing to do. It's not.)0 -
Thank you. That's one of the smartest things I've read on here all year.Macros and micros are far more important than TDEE in my opinion0 -
Thank you. That's one of the smartest things I've read on here all year.Macros and micros are far more important than TDEE in my opinion
Ditto. But not even going to get into it! :P0 -
I'm with OP on this one, and i too have learnt it from experience. I used to starve myself, and it was great, i would lose pounds and pounds in a matter of days and it would be great! Then, something unexpected would happen, like i would go out to a resturant for a proper meal with some friends, and think, 'sure, i'll just have a plate of steak, i deserve it, and i'll just starve more tomorrow!' However, once i started eating, i couldn't stop, and that one naughty plate of steak would turn into a three day binge, in which time i would put all the weight back on and feel like a failure.
It's taken me a very long time to accept that actually, to lose weight you need to eat food. There are still times when the thought of eating 1200 calories a day terrifies me, and i think there is no way i'm going to lose weight eating that many calories. Sometimes that voice can cause me to go back to my old ways and start trying to starve myself again, and it is a real mental effort to push past this, to tell myself that i will only lose the weight and keep it off if i eat at least 1200 a day.
In short, yes starving works, and the process is logical, but it most definitely is not the way to go.
Also, let's all remind ourselves of the other downsides of starving yourself; constant fatigue, loss of enthusiasm for everything, cramps and physical pain, crippling hunger, uncontrollable and emotional mood swings...it's no sort of way to live. Stay healhy people!0 -
Thank you. That's one of the smartest things I've read on here all year.Macros and micros are far more important than TDEE in my opinion
Ditto. But not even going to get into it! :P
I agree that you will need to get in the right amount of nutrients and eat right for health benefits. But to lose weight, it is still necessary that the calories added up from those macros and micros sum up to be a deficit from TDEE. A person can eat a 100% clean diet but if it isn't at a deficit, I'm fairly certain that there will be no weightloss. Of course, I agree that people then take this to an extreme and feel that to lose weight they'll need a huge amount of deficit but actually this ends up completely impeding weight loss because then it's depriving the body and leading it to believe that it's a famine.0
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