Is starvation mode real?

"Starvation mode" is real but when your body reaches that point depends on how much fat you have. If you are obese and have 100+ lbs. of fat on your body you will burn a great deal of that fat before your body gets worried. However, if you're only trying to lose 20 or 30 lbs. your body will slow down your BMR much sooner since there is less fat.

That's not to say that you'll completely stop losing weight all together. It will slow down but there are three things you can do to help the weight come off again:

1.) You can lower calories (which is not recommended at this point)
2.) Include more exercise (which only burns more calories and again, NOT what you want at this point)
3.) EAT!

If you feel that your weight loss has stalled after weeks or months of dieting, I suggest you start implementing cheat meals. Not cheat days... cheat MEALS. Giving yourself a cheat meal once every other week will essentially tell your body that food is abundant again and to keep burning calories as normal. You can eat light all day long and then save the majority of your calories for a heavy dinner. Even better would be to go over your daily calorie total by just a few hundred calories. That few hundred calories won't matter in the long run since weight loss is all about long term, not one single day.

I know cheat meals seem wrong when you're dieting but our bodies need food to lose weight. Eating too little will cause you to lose weight, but it will be harder to keep that weight off. Eating too little will not give you adequate energy for good workouts and that again, will hurt you long term as far as keeping the weight off.

If you eat very low calories for a prolonged period of time you body will lower your BMR (basal metabolic rate) to compensate. This would mean that you have to eat less to create a calorie deficit. And this is what is often referred to as 'starvation mode' and why your weight loss might stall unless you cut calories even further.

But, as long as you have a defict, you should lose fat.

That is not starvation mode. That is metabolic adaptation.

It take a long time for "starvation mode" to actually kick in. Your body fat has to be so low that your body is cannibalizing muscle for fuel. Think concentration camp survivors.

Actual starvation is not what is generally meant by the term "starvation mode".

If you eat very low calories for a prolonged period of time you body will lower your BMR (basal metabolic rate) to compensate. This would mean that you have to eat less to create a calorie deficit. And this is what is often referred to as 'starvation mode' and why your weight loss might stall unless you cut calories even further.

But, as long as you have a defict, you should lose fat.

That is not starvation mode. That is metabolic adaptation.

It take a long time for "starvation mode" to actually kick in. Your body fat has to be so low that your body is cannibalizing muscle for fuel. Think concentration camp survivors.

Actual starvation is not what is generally meant by the term "starvation mode".

Yes, starvation mode is where the body has eaten all of its available fat sources and has gone to cannibilizing the muscle.

What you described is metabolic adaptation. Which is NOT starvation mode.

Starvation mode is not real unless you look like those men in the photos.

The Minnesota Project (the first picture) was done to demonstrate this very thing.

If you eat very low calories for a prolonged period of time you body will lower your BMR (basal metabolic rate) to compensate. This would mean that you have to eat less to create a calorie deficit. And this is what is often referred to as 'starvation mode' and why your weight loss might stall unless you cut calories even further.

But, as long as you have a defict, you should lose fat.

That is not starvation mode. That is metabolic adaptation.

It take a long time for "starvation mode" to actually kick in. Your body fat has to be so low that your body is cannibalizing muscle for fuel. Think concentration camp survivors.

Actual starvation is not what is generally meant by the term "starvation mode".

Yes, starvation mode is where the body has eaten all of its available fat sources and has gone to cannibilizing the muscle.

What you described is metabolic adaptation. Which is NOT starvation mode.

Starvation mode is not real unless you look like those men in the photos.

The Minnesota Project (the first picture) was done to demonstrate this very thing.

Well, arguing semantics over a term that has no universally defined meaning is silly, but slowing of the metabolism due to prolonged low calorie intake is what most people mean they say "starvation mode".

If I eat 1199 calories and MFP tells me I'm in danger of starvation mode, they are not suggesting that I have no fat left. They are suggesting I'm in danger of lowering my BMR.

It's a real thing, but the phrase means different things to different people.

If we are talking about adaptive thermogenesis, that's when you've eaten little or nothing for at least 3 days and your BMR slows down slightly to help preserve energy. I don't know exactly when it would kick in for higher body fat percentages or when just eating low calories as opposed to nothing.

Starvation response is, well, when you are legitimately starving.

Then, there is just loss of lean mass due to dieting, which lowers your metabolism as well. This, I feel, is the biggest culprit whenever someone mentions "metabolic damage."

Note that in any of these different interpretations, you will not stop losing energy containing weight as long as there is a deficit. The big myth is that weight loss stops altogether. The energy must come from somewhere!