starvation mode

i think the general rule of thumb is that if you have to ask, then you should already know the answer

I don't eat anywhere near the amount of calories this thing says I'm sopposed to... but then again- I'm a rebel ;-) I want to lose more than it tells me I should in one week, so I just cut the calories it told me in half..... I know! I know! That's not healthy!.... I figure when I reach my goal weight I'll just start slowly adding in more calories.

i think the general rule of thumb is that if you have to ask, then you should already know the answer

i wish i had an option to click "like" on this

I don't eat anywhere near the amount of calories this thing says I'm sopposed to... but then again- I'm a rebel ;-) I want to lose more than it tells me I should in one week, so I just cut the calories it told me in half..... I know! I know! That's not healthy!.... I figure when I reach my goal weight I'll just start slowly adding in more calories.

Same here

no such thing as startvation mode.
Someone posted a study awhile back that had proof of this.
1,200 is just recomended to stay healthy

Wish I knew where that was I am sick of arguing with people about it!! It drives me nuts!

** LIKE **

:flowerforyou:

From my understanding, the REAL reason 1200 calories is recommended is because it can be difficult to get enough nutrients with less calories. That being said, I don't think chocolate has much nutritional value.
Do WHATEVER makes you feel comfortable.
I consume on average 900 calories per day. That is what I am comfortable with. If it worries you to dip below 1200 than don't. It doesn't matter what other's think.

One Fererro isn't going to hurt - as long as you can stop at one! I couldn't (unless I only had one available) so I don't have them around. Sugar is like crack fo rme - one hit and I'm back off the wagon!!
But hey, if you can have one and it fits in with your goals, I say go for it! Life is too short for total deprivation!
Just keep it as a treat and not a habit

Hi , my name is Shannon. A friend just told me about this website today. I had a baby a year ago and cannot shed the extra pounds. Im 5'4" and weigh about 152, i would like to weigh 125. It tells me how many calories to eat and how much to exercise but i have no idea what kind of food to eat. i have never been good at eating a helathy diet. Can you share some of your ideas?! I would really appreciate it

Hi , my name is Shannon. A friend just told me about this website today. I had a baby a year ago and cannot shed the extra pounds. Im 5'4" and weigh about 152, i would like to weigh 125. It tells me how many calories to eat and how much to exercise but i have no idea what kind of food to eat. i have never been good at eating a helathy diet. Can you share some of your ideas?! I would really appreciate it

If you want you can look at my food diary...Lot's of food in there but for the most part pretty balanced. My wife who is also on here east he exact same things and she is also losing weight at a nice steady clip. You will have to adjust your daily intake to accommodate your overall calorie goal. Good luck.

No its not silly. It is important to feed your body enough every day and if you have spare calories (if you are under 1200 food calories) and want chocolate then go for it.

I agree!

What bothers me is that when I exercise it gives me much more cals to consume, in which I am not hungry enough to eat this much. The healthy foods I eat are low in calories, can someone help me? I don't want to put myself in starvation mode. I have been circling around 170 to 186 for the last year. What do I do? Do I eat more nuts?

When I have a couple of hundred calories left at the end of the day do to exercise I eat a serving or wheat thins with laughing cow cheese, and sliced raw almonds sprinkled on top. An awesome three hundred calorie snack and definitely adds in the fat calories I am short on because of all the fruits and veggies throughout the day.

For those of you questioning the area of study...Read this blog please...It has every study from Ansel Key's University of Minnesota Study to Dulloo, Jaquet 1998. American journal of clinical nutrition...to Doucet, et al 2001. British journal of nutrition.

http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2007/11/is_starvation_mode_a_myth_no_i.php

It is better to be armed with knowledge.

Thanks you so much for sharing this link!!! People drive me crazy not eating enough!!! People dont seem to understand that sometimes the harm you are doing to your body doesnt show up until years down the road and by then the damage is already done and you cant do anything about it!!! When you dont eat enough you put all kind of EXTRA stress on your body organs and it WILL catch up with you!!!

Oh wow, I just did basically the same thing! I am finding it hard to eat 1200 calories, especially on a vegan diet. I am worried about starvation mode as well, but I wish I had read this before I ate two pieces of dark chocolate...especially since I am now over my sugar limit for the day! It would be really hard to eat enough vegetables to cover the 300 calories I am lacking, though.

Dark chocolate is actually good for you. it's milk chocolate that you kind of want to try to avoid. There's a number of health benefits to dark chocolate including being an antioxident. It also has iron, calcium & protein (more than you might think!) and some others. Tons of research has been done. Considering almost all foods have *some* sort of sugar value to them, I actually don't worry about that nearly as much as the benefits. Besides, I'd much rather deal in sugar than sweeteners. I mean really - what's better a piece of chocolate or a diet soda? The soda might have 0 cals but guess what? It has 0 everything except carcinogens. Don't get me wrong.. I drink soda and sometimes even diet - this isn't to bash it but to state the reality of if you're going to make smart choices, really do some comparing as to what your choices are.

I'm also in the camp of not believing in starvation mode in the sense of how it's panickingly referred to here. I'm not denying the existence but that 1200 is not a magic number of do or die. *shrugs* But that's another debate altogether and there are very very heated debates about it and "evidence" can be found to suit either side of the argument. Not one I'm really interested in getting in again - seems pointless, really (the debates - no one is going to change anyone's minds so...why bother?). What I say is do your own research and make up your own mind and listen to your own body and do what you truly think is right for your nutritional and optimal health needs.

Starvation mode is real...and you tend to gain weight.

This is exactly the amount of weight I am now trying to lose :sad: :sad:


But you won't get into starvation mode if you tend to deceed your caloric limitations on occasion!
You will get into starvation mode if you really hunger (und purpose or even unknowingly!).

For me it was unknowingly, because I cut back on food really too hard. Combined with working out too much (cycling, weight training, cardio-exercises, ...) and doint intermittent fasting (for me 2-3 days Eat-Stop-Eat each week) I was actively starving my body.
I really ate too little. Always wondered why everybody around myself seemed to be eating twice to thrice as much as me, but I was the only one struggling with my weight.

Every now and then I got a snack attack (really hard). What I know now this was a reaction from my body. A warning signal more precisely.
This obsessive eating every two weeks really let my weight explode...


I've done some calculations with the help of MFP. I regularly deceeded the 700kcal a day if I average my weeks intake!!! I was already on a diet and fasted two or three days a week. This led to the harmfully 700kcal. :frown:

This had bad influence on every part of my life.
I wasn't fit enough...always tired and dizzy. Every meal set me into a comatose state (food coma) and I barely slept well. If
I worked out most of the energy for the day was consumed.

Don't starve yourself!
And watch you calories with MFP
Try to log everything, including every exercise and try to hit you caloric goal. It is no problem if you deceed or exceed it on occasion...as long as you don't hunger

Thanks