Interesting article - Starvation Mode

nikkim19781
nikkim19781 Posts: 45 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I posted a couple days ago saying how hard I was finding it to eat 1200 calories a day as MFP suggests. I am averaging around 1100 calories a day and this is including snacks here and there and I feel fine. I'm not hungry during the day, I'm not depressed or moody...this seems to suit me just fine. I have been told I would go into "starvation mode" if I continue to eat less than 1200 calories a day and I wouldn't lose any weight. So I decided to some research on this "starvation mode" and came across this article. What do you guys think?

http://www.nowloss.com/starvation-mode-myth.htm

Replies

  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    The "article" at the end states that eating 1200 calories should not be used long term and then links to another "article". It says VLCD should be used as emergency diets only. I think any site that talks about "emergency dieting" is not a very good source of information.
  • aimeemanninghunter
    aimeemanninghunter Posts: 85 Member
    Everyone seems to assume that the less calories they eat the more they will lose. Your body doesn't do well with 1200 calories long term. I would suggest like many people here do that you find your TDEE and reduce by 20%. I've had much more steady weight loss with this than sticking around 1200 calories a day. It is hard to eat so much but it works! You have to tell your mind you need to eat to lose. Of course you won't be hungry if you are consistently eating only 1100 calories a day because the stomach is a muscle and it will shrink with decreased use just like any muscle. But the rest of your body doesn't care that you don't feel hungry.
  • nikkim19781
    nikkim19781 Posts: 45 Member
    I think everyone uses an "emergency diet" at some point or another. I used one about 8 years ago and kept ALL my weight off even though I started to eat normally and continued to exercise. It was not until I had my second child that I gained 30 lbs. Every body is different, emergency diets may cause others to lose quickly and gain all and more back at some point...just didn't happen with me. But the article was about the study done on the "starvation myth", not emergency diets.
  • kmills110
    kmills110 Posts: 16
    Everybody's body is different, if you feel fine at 1100 than stay there. If you are doing something harmful to your body it will let you know ie no weight loss, dizziness or fatigue. Are you getting your daily vitamin intake?



    43446610.png
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  • nikkim19781
    nikkim19781 Posts: 45 Member
    Everyone seems to assume that the less calories they eat the more they will lose. Your body doesn't do well with 1200 calories long term. I would suggest like many people here do that you find your TDEE and reduce by 20%. I've had much more steady weight loss with this than sticking around 1200 calories a day. It is hard to eat so much but it works! You have to tell your mind you need to eat to lose. Of course you won't be hungry if you are consistently eating only 1100 calories a day because the stomach is a muscle and it will shrink with decreased use just like any muscle. But the rest of your body doesn't care that you don't feel hungry.

    It's not so much about me thinking the less calories I eat, the more weight I will lose, I think its just a confortable number for me, I'm not hungry and I dont experience any of the side effects that most people talk about when eating 1200 calories or less. I am trying to start to eat more especially since I am about to start lifting weights and I'm really working on adding more of the dense bulky veggies and good stuff to my diet! Hopefully that will help!
  • nikkim19781
    nikkim19781 Posts: 45 Member
    Everybody's body is different, if you feel fine at 1100 than stay there. If you are doing something harmful to your body it will let you know ie no weight loss, dizziness or fatigue. Are you getting your daily vitamin intake?



    43446610.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Weight Loss Tools

    Yes, I take a multi vitamin everyday and also a fish oil supplement and I've never had any issues at this number. I am trying to increase this number because I am going to begin weight training soon and I know I may need to eat more for that.
  • Allup2Me78
    Allup2Me78 Posts: 589 Member
    I was at 1300 cal and just started the tdee-20% and eating above my BMR yest..Scared of the gain I may get etc at first but I want to do what is right for my body in the long run..Soooo here I go!! :)
    Everyone seems to assume that the less calories they eat the more they will lose. Your body doesn't do well with 1200 calories long term. I would suggest like many people here do that you find your TDEE and reduce by 20%. I've had much more steady weight loss with this than sticking around 1200 calories a day. It is hard to eat so much but it works! You have to tell your mind you need to eat to lose. Of course you won't be hungry if you are consistently eating only 1100 calories a day because the stomach is a muscle and it will shrink with decreased use just like any muscle. But the rest of your body doesn't care that you don't feel hungry.
  • aimeemanninghunter
    aimeemanninghunter Posts: 85 Member
    Everyone seems to assume that the less calories they eat the more they will lose. Your body doesn't do well with 1200 calories long term. I would suggest like many people here do that you find your TDEE and reduce by 20%. I've had much more steady weight loss with this than sticking around 1200 calories a day. It is hard to eat so much but it works! You have to tell your mind you need to eat to lose. Of course you won't be hungry if you are consistently eating only 1100 calories a day because the stomach is a muscle and it will shrink with decreased use just like any muscle. But the rest of your body doesn't care that you don't feel hungry.

    It's not so much about me thinking the less calories I eat, the more weight I will lose, I think its just a confortable number for me, I'm not hungry and I dont experience any of the side effects that most people talk about when eating 1200 calories or less. I am trying to start to eat more especially since I am about to start lifting weights and I'm really working on adding more of the dense bulky veggies and good stuff to my diet! Hopefully that will help!

    I didn't feel any bad side effects either but I lost a bunch my first week (13 pounds) and then almost completely stalled. I, too, couldn't imagine eating more and it is especially hard when you are eating healthier foods. I went from 1200 calories to 2400 and I felt like I was stuffing myself all day long. I thought there was no way I could lose weight doing this. But each time I get on the scale I am pleasantly surprised. Now it is comfortable to eat consistently throughout the day.
  • nikkim19781
    nikkim19781 Posts: 45 Member
    I was at 1300 cal and just started the tdee-20% and eating above my BMR yest..Scared of the gain I may get etc at first but I want to do what is right for my body in the long run..Soooo here I go!! :)
    Everyone seems to assume that the less calories they eat the more they will lose. Your body doesn't do well with 1200 calories long term. I would suggest like many people here do that you find your TDEE and reduce by 20%. I've had much more steady weight loss with this than sticking around 1200 calories a day. It is hard to eat so much but it works! You have to tell your mind you need to eat to lose. Of course you won't be hungry if you are consistently eating only 1100 calories a day because the stomach is a muscle and it will shrink with decreased use just like any muscle. But the rest of your body doesn't care that you don't feel hungry.

    Good! I'm going to try that! LOL! I'm not scared of any gain that may come at first...I'm scared of eating all that food period! LOL I've always been a "bird eater" pick and nibble here and there when I'm hungry. It's worked for 34 years...except when I used the excuse that I was pregnant to constantly eat eat eat and that is where I have always gained my weight from. Let me know how the TDEE -20% works for you. I'm going to gradually start to increase my calories..wish me luck!
  • nikkim19781
    nikkim19781 Posts: 45 Member
    Everyone seems to assume that the less calories they eat the more they will lose. Your body doesn't do well with 1200 calories long term. I would suggest like many people here do that you find your TDEE and reduce by 20%. I've had much more steady weight loss with this than sticking around 1200 calories a day. It is hard to eat so much but it works! You have to tell your mind you need to eat to lose. Of course you won't be hungry if you are consistently eating only 1100 calories a day because the stomach is a muscle and it will shrink with decreased use just like any muscle. But the rest of your body doesn't care that you don't feel hungry.

    It's not so much about me thinking the less calories I eat, the more weight I will lose, I think its just a confortable number for me, I'm not hungry and I dont experience any of the side effects that most people talk about when eating 1200 calories or less. I am trying to start to eat more especially since I am about to start lifting weights and I'm really working on adding more of the dense bulky veggies and good stuff to my diet! Hopefully that will help!

    I didn't feel any bad side effects either but I lost a bunch my first week (13 pounds) and then almost completely stalled. I, too, couldn't imagine eating more and it is especially hard when you are eating healthier foods. I went from 1200 calories to 2400 and I felt like I was stuffing myself all day long. I thought there was no way I could lose weight doing this. But each time I get on the scale I am pleasantly surprised. Now it is comfortable to eat consistently throughout the day.

    I'm definitely going to give it a try and see how I feel! Thank you for the positive comments!
  • AlyssaJoJo
    AlyssaJoJo Posts: 449 Member
    Do you have a health issue? Were you way over weight when you did your emergency diet a few years ago?! There's a big difference on why some people can do an emergency diet! A doctor may give you the ok if you are way over weight or if you are having a health issue, but that's about it. In the end if you do less then 1200 calories a day for a long period of time your organs will start to fail and you will do some serious damage to your body. Get off the computer and talk to your doctor, that might shake some sense into you. You are clearly here to lose weight, so you clearly had no issue eating over 1200 calories before. I'm so tired of hearing people whine or defend them selfs saying that they struggle to hit 1200 calories because they eat, " healthy foods with lots of veggies." So do plenty of other people - not all healthy foods are low calories.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    "Starvation mode" is not a good term for what happens. Metabolic slowdown would be a better term. And, when you are trying to lose weight, slowing down your metabolism is not desirable.
  • Lmns218
    Lmns218 Posts: 155
    Yeah I do find it hard to eat so much at times....my TDEE is like 2800, but cut it 20% it is 2200 calories. I still don't that much but what I have been doing is starting to eat my calories back from exercise as instructed on this site. I will see how that works by the end of the week. I did lose 4.8lbs the first week, 1.6lbs the 2nd, and 1.4 lbs the 3rd....by the 4th week I barely lost a pound eating only 1400 or so calories a day and not eating back my calories. So I will see how the scale will do me. At the very least, hopefully I will have better workouts.
  • Lmns218
    Lmns218 Posts: 155
    Do you have a health issue? Were you way over weight when you did your emergency diet a few years ago?! There's a big difference on why some people can do an emergency diet! A doctor may give you the ok if you are way over weight or if you are having a health issue, but that's about it. In the end if you do less then 1200 calories a day for a long period of time your organs will start to fail and you will do some serious damage to your body. Get off the computer and talk to your doctor, that might shake some sense into you. You are clearly here to lose weight, so you clearly had no issue eating over 1200 calories before. I'm so tired of hearing people whine or defend them selfs saying that they struggle to hit 1200 calories because they eat, " healthy foods with lots of veggies." So do plenty of other people - not all healthy foods are low calories.
    I am realizing this very thing now and how to incorporate more calorie dense healthy foods like salmon, olive oil, peanut butter, butter, etc. and hope I can see better results in the long run because I think I was messing with my metabolism only eating 1400 calories and then burning 400 in return. So I am trying to eat more throughout the day so I won't feel hungry,,,matter of fact, I am about to eat a sweet potato with butter and cinammon!!!! Yummy :)
  • Mr_Bad_Example
    Mr_Bad_Example Posts: 2,403 Member
    I think everyone uses an "emergency diet" at some point or another.

    *looks around*... Um... yeah, I've never used an emergency diet. Ever.
  • nikkim19781
    nikkim19781 Posts: 45 Member
    Do you have a health issue? Were you way over weight when you did your emergency diet a few years ago?! There's a big difference on why some people can do an emergency diet! A doctor may give you the ok if you are way over weight or if you are having a health issue, but that's about it. In the end if you do less then 1200 calories a day for a long period of time your organs will start to fail and you will do some serious damage to your body. Get off the computer and talk to your doctor, that might shake some sense into you. You are clearly here to lose weight, so you clearly had no issue eating over 1200 calories before. I'm so tired of hearing people whine or defend them selfs saying that they struggle to hit 1200 calories because they eat, " healthy foods with lots of veggies." So do plenty of other people - not all healthy foods are low calories.

    If you will look at my food diary, most of my foods ARE NOT healthy foods, they are the food I like to eat. I'm not trying to defend myself because I CANT reach 1200 calories. I think you misread or misinterpreted my post,
  • nikkim19781
    nikkim19781 Posts: 45 Member
    Yeah I do find it hard to eat so much at times....my TDEE is like 2800, but cut it 20% it is 2200 calories. I still don't that much but what I have been doing is starting to eat my calories back from exercise as instructed on this site. I will see how that works by the end of the week. I did lose 4.8lbs the first week, 1.6lbs the 2nd, and 1.4 lbs the 3rd....by the 4th week I barely lost a pound eating only 1400 or so calories a day and not eating back my calories. So I will see how the scale will do me. At the very least, hopefully I will have better workouts.

    I've been losing kind of steadily about 1.5 pounds a week on my 1100 cals. I'm going to do TDEE and see how that works for me. How long have you been using the TDEE method?
  • nikkim19781
    nikkim19781 Posts: 45 Member
    I think everyone uses an "emergency diet" at some point or another.

    *looks around*... Um... yeah, I've never used an emergency diet. Ever.

    I should have said most women
  • ash8184
    ash8184 Posts: 701 Member
    I have been on 1200 cals for the last 3 years or so - has worked for me. I had WLS (lap band) which restricts my intake, but I could definitely eat more than 1200/day if I wanted to. I have a very slow metabolism though (according to the MedGem metabolic test), so maybe this is why it works for me. Listen to your body (one way or the other) and make sure and strength train to get your BMR up!
  • emmamc252
    emmamc252 Posts: 56 Member
    there's a really obvious point that totally disproves the whole "starvation mode' ideology.....
    IF the starvation mode really did exist, if it stopped you from losing weight then WHY would an "emergency" diet work? I;m not getting into a debate about wether its right or wrong to restrict calories to such a level, but scientifically it really is a myth.
    Morbidly obese people are put onto diets as low as 500kcal a day. surprisingly they LOOSE weight! this is a HUGE deficit compared to what most of us could possibly create on here! their bodies need huge amounts of calories just to maintain weight so dropping to this lets them loose weight FAST!!

    I think what starvation mode perhaps is, when people experience it, is when they aren't eating enough/particually enough GOOD food to get energy from, so they become more sedentiary therefor burning less calories in daily life.stop working out as hard etc.
    food is fuel and I can totally see it having an effect in this way, but the actual idea that by limiting calories your body will hold onto weight???
    I can get that when you start eating again the body will try to store fat but that's not the ide aof the starvation mode is it??

    personally I aim for 1000-1200 a day and eat 5 small meals to keep my metabolism working, I also try to exercise twice a day for the same reasons, keep my body firing!
  • nikkim19781
    nikkim19781 Posts: 45 Member
    there's a really obvious point that totally disproves the whole "starvation mode' ideology.....
    IF the starvation mode really did exist, if it stopped you from losing weight then WHY would an "emergency" diet work? I;m not getting into a debate about wether its right or wrong to restrict calories to such a level, but scientifically it really is a myth.
    Morbidly obese people are put onto diets as low as 500kcal a day. surprisingly they LOOSE weight! this is a HUGE deficit compared to what most of us could possibly create on here! their bodies need huge amounts of calories just to maintain weight so dropping to this lets them loose weight FAST!!

    I think what starvation mode perhaps is, when people experience it, is when they aren't eating enough/particually enough GOOD food to get energy from, so they become more sedentiary therefor burning less calories in daily life.stop working out as hard etc.
    food is fuel and I can totally see it having an effect in this way, but the actual idea that by limiting calories your body will hold onto weight???
    I can get that when you start eating again the body will try to store fat but that's not the ide aof the starvation mode is it??

    personally I aim for 1000-1200 a day and eat 5 small meals to keep my metabolism working, I also try to exercise twice a day for the same reasons, keep my body firing!

    And with 15lbs lost, I see it is working well for you! Just as it is for me. It just proves that every body is different, my caloric needs are not going to be the same as the next person or the next person or the next. If its broken, don't try to fix it. Thank you so much for this response!
  • amyx593
    amyx593 Posts: 211 Member
    Do what works for you. Diet and weight loss is a lot of trial and error, as every body reacts differently. The general consensus, however, is to not go below 1200 calories. If you're having a hard time reaching it, maybe try sneaking some calories in by using some extra olive oil in your cooking or something similar to where you can add those extra calories in a healthful way, without feeling too full.
  • csheltra26
    csheltra26 Posts: 272 Member
    "Starvation mode" is not a good term for what happens. Metabolic slowdown would be a better term. And, when you are trying to lose weight, slowing down your metabolism is not desirable.

    This. I posted something about this earlier in a starvation mode thread. happened to me, i was drastically undereating for my activity levels, lost a ton of weight and then gained weight eating at a deficit. Metabolic halt was more like it for me.
  • csheltra26
    csheltra26 Posts: 272 Member
    I have been on 1200 cals for the last 3 years or so - has worked for me. I had WLS (lap band) which restricts my intake, but I could definitely eat more than 1200/day if I wanted to. I have a very slow metabolism though (according to the MedGem metabolic test), so maybe this is why it works for me. Listen to your body (one way or the other) and make sure and strength train to get your BMR up!

    Did you have a slow metabolism before the WLS surgery?
  • Allup2Me78
    Allup2Me78 Posts: 589 Member
    Exactly what I am being told by LOTS of friends on my list!! Great info!
    "Starvation mode" is not a good term for what happens. Metabolic slowdown would be a better term. And, when you are trying to lose weight, slowing down your metabolism is not desirable.

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