Starvation Mode

If starvation mode truly existed then how do you explain long time anorexics being so skinny?

A few years ago I was out for a run and a moron in a truck swerved off the road and hit me. Amongst other injuries, the impact shattered most of the bones in my face. It broke my jaw in two different places (upper and lower). I had to have my jaw wired for 8 weeks for it to heal, so no solid foods. Not that I was real hungry. I was in so much pain and pretty well drugged up so had no appetite. I couldn't finish a Starbucks Grande mocha, and I love those things! I lost 20+lbs in less than 2 months. I was lucky to get 1,000 calories in a day. I continued to loose weight quickly for the month after my jaw was unwired (very frustrating to learn that my jaw was still very sore and immobile even after being unwired). Once I could eat regular food again, my weight loss slowed down but continued. Between the dramatic weight loss and severe injury I had nasty side effects like hair & muscle loss. It was a pretty nasty way to loose weight, I don't suggest it. I lost steadily for 6 or so months post accident. By 4 months out I was back to gentle exercise (and much healthier eating). I'm just a glutton for punishment that way. Then I got a major shocker...pregnant with baby #5. I lost weight the first few months I was pregnant (morning sickness...ugh). I did gain about 30 pounds extra by the time my daughter was born (at a nice healthy 10 lbs 6oz, our bodies are damned amazing) but I always gain when I'm pregnant, and more when I'm nursing. Hence the reason I've been fighting the 'baby' weight over and over.

So umm, yeah. The starvation mode as most people toss it around here is crap. If you eat at a severe deficit you'll keep loosing weight. And muscle. And hair. But you will get lighter. If you eat at a less severe deficit you will also loose weight, but with fewer negative side effects. If you don't eat at a proper deficit, you're not going to loose weight. There's no magic to this. My Aunt had gastric bypass and lost weight horribly fast and suffered nasty side effects. But she lost and lost and lost on a severely restricted number of calories. She didn't have any regains until her new stomach pouch stretched enough for her to eat a decent sized meal (well over a year post surgery).

Eating disorders and medical conditions aside that can truly mess up a metabolism, most people here aren't going to encounter anything like true starvation. Certainly not after a month or two of restricting calories. I suspect the majority of people who are "only eating 1,000 calories and not loosing" are in fact eating a lot more than they realize and are not in the deficit they think they are in. They aren't in starvation mode, they're in denial. I'm sure someone will come along with a plausible exception. There's always one. But there are a lot more *rules* than exceptions to them.