Starvation mode, how quickly does it start?

ziggygirl2003
ziggygirl2003 Posts: 33 Member
edited September 25 in Health and Weight Loss
I weight myself every morning and every night, I know most don't approve but the daily change in my weight doesn't bother me, weighting every day helps me stay on track. On Sunday I woke up at noon and had three scrambled eggs. After that I went out with my family and was digging with a shovel for about an hour and a half. When I got back home I didn't eat again until 6:30 that night, we were waiting on my sisters boyfried so we could eat, we ended up going without him. We got chinese which I know is not a healthy choice, but with the eggs and work I did I had about 1900 calories for the day and I was starving by the time I got my food and I ate way too much. I didn't enter what I ate, there were too many different things and I didn't feel like messing with it, but I'm pretty sure I didn't go over 1900 calories, but I may have gotten close. What I'm wondering is if that one day of waiting way to long to eat put my body into starvation mode. My weight that morning was on track with the previous week but I gained 5 pounds by that night, typically only a 2-3 pound difference from morning to night. The weight didn't drop off after a day or two either, I've been put back 2 weeks on my weight loss. Could this be an explaination for my weight gain, or is it not possible to go into starvation mode that quickly, I've been thinking my body stored everything because I waited too long.

Replies

  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    I really don't think it happens that quickly - more likely the sodium in the chinese food causing you to hang on to water.

    (Do you gain weight in starvation mode? I understood it was a slow-down or cessation of losing, not putting more weight on.)
  • kevbrinks
    kevbrinks Posts: 42 Member
    (Do you gain weight in starvation mode? I understood it was a slow-down or cessation of losing, not putting more weight on.)

    You understood it correctly
  • tashjs21
    tashjs21 Posts: 4,584 Member
    I do not think it happens that fast (mind you I am not an expert).

    There is a thread on here about a longtime MFP'r dealing with starvation mode. Check it out.

    1 day is not going to throw your body into it.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member

    (Do you gain weight in starvation mode? I understood it was a slow-down or cessation of losing, not putting more weight on.)

    You can put weight on if you have a few high calorie days your body may store the excess as fat as it does not know the next time it will be fed enough.
  • tashjs21
    tashjs21 Posts: 4,584 Member
    (Do you gain weight in starvation mode? I understood it was a slow-down or cessation of losing, not putting more weight on.)

    You understood it correctly


    Not necessarily true, you can gain after an extended period of time in Starvation mode. (not 1 day but a long period of time)
  • eellis2000
    eellis2000 Posts: 465 Member
    it was probably the sodium in the chinese food that makes me hold water.
  • tashjs21
    tashjs21 Posts: 4,584 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/174065-starvation-mode-is-real-and-ugly

    Check out this thread it has A LOT of good information on it.

    Keep in mind, this did not happen in 1 day or even over just a few weeks. It happens over an extended period of time.



    (and agreed, the sodium is probably the root of your problem. Chinese food is loaded with sodium)
  • pilotgirl2007
    pilotgirl2007 Posts: 368 Member
    Starvation mode doesn't come on that fast. It happens with a continued diet that is deficient in calories. The weight gain is probably the sodium. Chinese food is full of sodium.

    In starvation mode you do stop losing weight and when you start to introduce more calories into your diet your body will gain weight even if you are eating a healthy amount because it is trying to hold on to everything it can get. Eventually after a period of time where you are eating a healthy number of calories your metabolism will pick back up and you will start losing again.
  • rmhand
    rmhand Posts: 1,067 Member
    starvation mode takes more than one day of lack of calories, plus I believe MFP says starvation mode is if you eat less than 1200 calories in one day.
  • kevbrinks
    kevbrinks Posts: 42 Member
    The OP of that thread has hyperthyroidism, a disease that causes you to gain weight and retain water.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothyroidism

    It's hardly a good example of a healthy person experiencing weight gain from ingesting too few calories.
  • WildFlower7
    WildFlower7 Posts: 714 Member
    Sounds like just water weight, 5lbs in one day. . . you would literally had to of consumed near 17,500cal's, probably more because you burned calories shoveling snow that day, and I highly doubt you consumed that many calories. Do you drink all of your water daily? Is TOM approaching? Lot's of carbs possibly? That can all change your weight on a daily basis. But don't look to the scale for results of something till the following week, it doesn't show up till then. A gain like that in one day is probably just the result of water weight and is probably possible to do in one day, but highly unlikely from being hungry and chowing down more then you should have on some chinese.
  • pilotgirl2007
    pilotgirl2007 Posts: 368 Member
    The OP of that thread has hyperthyroidism, a disease that causes you to gain weight and retain water.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothyroidism

    It's hardly a good example of a healthy person experiencing weight gain from ingesting too few calories.

    Being in starvation mode can cause thyroid issues
  • bettertracie
    bettertracie Posts: 196 Member
    Ok, so it scares me a little bit that your main concern is only whether this event could put you into starvation mode! And I know we're all here with the same main goal in mind, but at the heartof that goal is being healthy, and that calorie 'saving' behavior is going to bite you in the rear one way or another...

    Before I just sound rude, let me tell you what happened to me one day: super busy day at work, got called in early, was short staffed and had huge to do lists for the day. Got my breakfast (muscle milk) then my apple around 11... then the day started flying! I knew I was hungry at 2 and at 3 and was really feeling the hunger pangs by 4. Ii finally made it home around 6, but there was nothing immediately to eat. So I made my dinner (good choices mind you), and was happy to eat my dinnerthat my tummy had been expecting several hours earlier. Within 30 minutes I was blacked out on the bathroom floor afraid that I couldn't get up or even make it to throw up.

    Yes, I stayed in my calories, and yes all the choices were good. But because. I've got my body trained to eat every 3 to 4 hours, when I didn't that day then tried to compensate, it spiked my blood sugar, causing me to blackout, throw up, and was sick for the next 24 hours trying to get my body to recover.

    MORALE OF THE STORY YOUR HEALTH IS #1! I now keep an assortment of healthy easy to grab on the fly stuff that will keep my body burning while I'm busy living!!
  • kevbrinks
    kevbrinks Posts: 42 Member
    The thread says that she is diagnosed with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's disease

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashimoto's_thyroiditis

    It's genetic. Hashimoto's causes hypothyroidism. It wasn't her starvation, it was most likely a result of losing the genetic lottery. That's all there is to it.
  • RMinVA
    RMinVA Posts: 1,085 Member
    It takes DAYS for true starvation mode to kick in AND you have to be consuming less than 50% of your BMR calories. It was one day and you had almost 2000 calories, so sodium is probably the culprit in this case.
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