Is starvation mode BS?

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lelyke
lelyke Posts: 47
in Health and Weight Loss
Before MFP I was starving myself, working out and getting good results. I lost about 7 pounds in two weeks. I started with MFP last week and I read alot of threads about how starving yourself can make you gain weight. So I doubled my workout and started eating normally but I just weighed in now and I only lost 2 pounds this week. And now I think I prefer the former starving method. Has anyone ever experienced this so called "starvation mode" weight gain or is it just BS people with no experience whatsoever reiterate?

Replies

  • prism1968
    prism1968 Posts: 121 Member
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    The first two weeks of weight loss are usually much greater than the following weeks, with the same efforts.
    In the past, it was normal for me to lose 5-8 lbs the first week, but then 1-2 lbs the following weeks. However, those 1-2 lbs add up before you know it and beats the alternative (of doing nothing or gaining). I know when I tried to go crazy at the gym and under-eat, I didn't lose weight for 2 weeks, so there IS something to the idea of your metabolism freaking out if you aren't eating enough. Good luck to you!
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    There's a slight mode.

    But let's face it, if you don't eat it's not like you will live forever.

    What catches people out is that they give up and binge so it looks like starvation mode wins. If they just held out, they would waste away. Take any person in a famine or any person on chemo (some chemo excepted as they make you fat, most chemo makes you vomit and **** your way to malnutrition) or take any throat cancer patient who can't actually swallow food.
  • AdaVanderlyle
    AdaVanderlyle Posts: 113 Member
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    You can not gain weight from starving yourself.
  • whitney8654
    whitney8654 Posts: 13
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    Dude... I wonder the same thing!

    But it doesn't seem as fun, healthy, or easy to starve yourself. Eventually you're going to get super hungry and eat everything you see. Plus be a grouch and have headaches and feel lousy.

    But I do feel like you're not going to gain weight from not eating. But I'm not a nutritionist or a doctor. Idk. I for real think it's one of those "diet myths". But no one wants to admit that because everyone likes to eat lol
  • elsinora
    elsinora Posts: 398 Member
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    Short end of it is:

    1. This type of thread pops up regularly but is no less valid to ask if you missed it!
    2. Depends if you want to go into the actual science of it, but yes it is BS unless you consistently undercut calories for a prolonged length of time, and are underweight
    3. The reasons for why this BS myth is persistently peddled is up for discussion. My opinion (which is not indicative of others) is that it kind of stops people from being stupid or falling into a ED slide of satisfaction that if you do axe the intake vs outake you will lose weight (which is dangerous) Also I think a lot of people seem to use it as an excuse from themselves.
  • Charloo1990
    Charloo1990 Posts: 619 Member
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    To be honest, yes it works. I lost 4st in 6 months starving myself on around 200-700cals a day and ended up with a full blown ED but I tell you what, every bit of it has gone back on cause I deprived myself that much that I ended up binging like crazy and now my metabolism is paying for it.
  • harveyhenry
    harveyhenry Posts: 1
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    Of course starving yourself and exercising will result in weight loss but you can't keep that up long term or as a lifestyle. Dependant on what you do actually eat your body wont get the right nutrients that it needs to give you energy to function (brain and physicality) let alone continue with exercise. The body is very adept at changing and metabolism will slow. The danger then comes when you can't continue on this path of starvation/exercise any longer.. as you begin to eat more calories that body will grab on. Try some websites like www.bodybuilding.com it has tonnes of great information on nutrition (don't get caught up in the supplement ads) and ways to transform quickly and safely. You tube documentaries on diet and nutrition are also very informative.
  • lemonsnowdrop
    lemonsnowdrop Posts: 1,298 Member
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    Losing more than two pounds a week is unhealthy and unsustainable. Don't say you "only lost two pounds last week."
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
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    How it's portrayed here, where the laws of physics are reversed once you go below 1200 calories, yes it is BS.

    But, adapative thermogenesis, and energy deficits being made up from muscle, bone etc. once you exceed your body's ability to metabolise fat are real consequences to very low calorie diets.
  • limnological
    limnological Posts: 18 Member
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    When you starve yourself, you tend to lose muscle rather than fat. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so your metabolism slows when you lose muscle. As other people have pointed out, starving yourself is unsustainable long term if you'd like to ... be alive in the long term. Eventually you'll have to increase your calories. If you've lost a significant amount of muscle in the mean time, you'll gain more weight when you increase your calories than you would have if you'd just eaten properly in the first place.

    As for the idea that you'll gain weight while you're starving yourself (over a long period of time, not over several days)... yeah, not sure I buy that either. But you still shouldn't. Because you'll gain more weight in the long run and it's terrible for you in general. Because, you know, starving.
  • fatcity66
    fatcity66 Posts: 1,544 Member
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    How it's portrayed here, where the laws of physics are reversed once you go below 1200 calories, yes it is BS.

    But, adapative thermogenesis, and energy deficits being made up from muscle, bone etc. once you exceed your body's ability to metabolise fat are real consequences to very low calorie diets.

    ^^EXACTLY THIS!
  • littlekitty3
    littlekitty3 Posts: 265 Member
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    I personally think its bullsh!t. I would call it "more metabolically efficient" because you are burning less calories doing the same activities.
    It's like a car that runs 40miles/gallon and one that runs 26 miles/gallon. The 40 mile/gallon is going to be more efficient at going the same distance using less gas/calories with the same effort.
  • SymphonynSonata
    SymphonynSonata Posts: 533 Member
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    I starved myself down to 106lbs in 3 months (from 132lbs) on a VLCD. Oddly, I kept up that VLCD for nearly a year after I lost the original weight and never went down past 106. It also seemed like it was pointless when I'd exercise - I was getting no results at all. Now, at 120 (and losing the weight by more healthy means) my exercise is beginning to show. I guess my point is, I'm not really sure why I stopped losing weight at 106; maybe I started eating more than I thought I was, or like that guy said about my body eating muscle and bones or whatever?

    Edit: Oh, btw, it seems like all people who starve or have an ED gain the weight back and it is a vicious cycle. It takes much longer to do it the way you're supposed to, but at least it'll last (or so I've been told :P )
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    Losing more than two pounds a week is unhealthy and unsustainable. Don't say you "only lost two pounds last week."
    Depends on where you started, doesn't it?
  • wolfluna15
    wolfluna15 Posts: 1
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    I must think of the word diet as what I am putting in my body not weight loss. My diet before mfp was empty calories more crap than good food. Stress eating. It's taken me a month to lose 5 lbs. However my goal is 20 so I am a quarter of the way there I want it to stay off so 1200 calories some days I don't hit but always 1000 at least of good food, protein, healthy carbs, good balance. I get fuller faster so no, I don't believe I am starving myself even if mfp says I am when under the 1200 because I am eating and losing slowly. Lifestyle changes which will last is what I hope to accomplish.
  • elsinora
    elsinora Posts: 398 Member
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    Losing more than two pounds a week is unhealthy and unsustainable. Don't say you "only lost two pounds last week."

    This is also BS. Depends on your activity and what you started out as.
  • Snow3y
    Snow3y Posts: 1,412 Member
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    It's a just a word people use to describe metabolic damage, which noobs don't know how to explain properly, and other noobs don't believe in.

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