Starvation mode?

This is the one I go with, it is good that I watch my food consumption and exercise, my life is already changing just in over a month! But, it is WHAT I eat that seems to be the most important thing. I eat from the 5 basic food groups, Dairy, meats, vegies, fruits and whole grains. I drink more water(never liked drinking water. I use a tsp of sugar in my coffee, only 2 cups per day by the way, and keep my fat intake at 20-25. I also have 30 or 35 on some foods. I walk every day usually but have started taking a day off. But my workouts are not hard on my body and they are truly enjoyment, can't really call them "workouts". I do believe in weight-training and plan to start the bowflex on the 20th.

Our bodies have been made to work, fuel, rest, work fuel, rest. That's how I see it and that is what is working for me:) It truly is a lifestyle or forming good habits to replace bad ones, imho. Walking each day is becoming like brushing my teeth, I wouldn't go without brushing my teeth. For me, I don't by junk so I rarely eat it. Junk for me is potato chips and a bag of candy. Now a treat for me is still a night out at Abbys pizza, or, the church potluck with a sample of a little bit of all the goodies:)

Im with you on your post:) On the starvation mode, I would say that begins to happen if we aren't putting enough "fuel" in our bods. Say under that 1200 or so. Your body can be in bed all day and still burn 1100 some calories I understand?? If we don't feed it then what else is there to fuel it except whats there and also, it doesn't go for the fat first I hear, it goes for our lean muscle mass. People are dying all over America from lack of knowledge about how are bodies work. Again Im grateful to this site and it's members!! God bless all!! denise in Sams Valley OR

A lot of people I know don't read anything about what they eat. Its not so much of how much you eat but what you eat as well. You can eat 1200 calories worth of cookies and enter into some type of starvation mode because you're not getting what you body needs, like vitamins and other nurients. However, eating nothing buy celery sticks will also have the same effect.

You have to eat everything in moderation. I'm sure everyone has heard this before. 1200 to 1600 is good goal range for calories if you're eating the right types of food. You shouldn't enter into starvation mode if you eat the right type of food.

Im beginning to think that less food is NEVER the answer, type of food yes, and according to what we are burning each day exercise or not:)

And to the points about people only calling out "starvation mode" when someone claims to be eating just 1200-1500 calories a day, it's seemed more often to me... It's seemed like whenever someone hits a plateau, at least one person suggests "you might be in starvation mode," rather than the more intuitive but less welcome answer "maybe you need to adjust your calories downward again." And I've usually held my tongue, but since someone started a whole post on the topic, I couldn't resist posting.

and i still stand by the fact for some, adding calories is the answer. It worked for me-it's worked for others on here. Sometimes eating less is not the answer.

And to the points about people only calling out "starvation mode" when someone claims to be eating just 1200-1500 calories a day, it's seemed more often to me... It's seemed like whenever someone hits a plateau, at least one person suggests "you might be in starvation mode," rather than the more intuitive but less welcome answer "maybe you need to adjust your calories downward again." And I've usually held my tongue, but since someone started a whole post on the topic, I couldn't resist posting.

and i still stand by the fact for some, adding calories is the answer. It worked for me-it's worked for others on here. Sometimes eating less is not the answer.

If an overweight individual is already eating between 1200-1500 calories and not losing weight, eating LESS is not the answer. They are already at quite a large deficit (500+ calories depending on their weight) most of us are or began as overweight or obese and these numbers, simply put, are very low. As ffor someone at a healthy weight just looking to trim down and drop a few lbs? That has to be done very slowly over time, so for them their calories would be just a few hundred less than maintenance, certainly not less than 1200. Like I said, If someone suggests that another is potentially iin "starvation mode" (which to most of us means that your body is really holding onto all of your calories in fear of starvation) it's usually as valid an answer as suggesting patience or increasing exercise.

I agree that if one is eating 1200-1500 calories a day, then lowering their calorie intake when they hit a plateau is not the best move. But, Yellow Pepper did make a good point-Hasn't it been said that once you lose a significant amount of weight you need to look at your calorie goals/needs and adjust them accordingly? So when does that come in to play?

But another argument going against that is the idea that if I want to weigh (I'll just use myself for an example) 135, then I need to eat like a 135 pound person. So I enter 135 as my weight to find out my BMR, and if I just eat those calories, whatever they may be, I never have to decrease my calories because I'm eating like I'm already at my goal weight.

And just a side question-Is eating your goal weight calories a good idea??

it is a good idea if you are just a few lbs from your goal. A few have mentioned that in other threads. If you have a ways to go though, it can just make the losses slower.

If an overweight individual is already eating between 1200-1500 calories and not losing weight, eating LESS is not the answer. They are already at quite a large deficit (500+ calories depending on their weight) most of us are or began as overweight or obese and these numbers, simply put, are very low. As ffor someone at a healthy weight just looking to trim down and drop a few lbs? That has to be done very slowly over time, so for them their calories would be just a few hundred less than maintenance, certainly not less than 1200. Like I said, If someone suggests that another is potentially iin "starvation mode" (which to most of us means that your body is really holding onto all of your calories in fear of starvation) it's usually as valid an answer as suggesting patience or increasing exercise.

If an overweight person is eating 1200-1500 calories per day CONSISTENTLY FOR AT LEAST 2 WEEKS and hasn't lost a single pound, then she should see a doctor. If nothing else changes, she's not going to magically lose more weight by eating 1800 than she would at 1500. If she starts to lose weight the next week at 1800 calories per day - then she would have lost at least as much at 1500 if she did everything else the same (same amount of physical activity).

Your body can't just "hold onto all of your calories" - it doesn't have a will. It needs to burn calories to survive, and it will get them from your food or from your body (i.e. weight loss). If you eat more, it will use more calories from your food and less from your body. That means less weight loss UNLESS something else changes.

As people keep pointing out, your body burns a certain number of calories just lying in bed all day. Let's say that number's 1100 for me. If I only eat 1100 calories and I lie in bed all day, I stay at the same weight. If I eat 1500 calories, and I lie in bed all day, I'll gain weight. But if I eat 1500 calories, I'll probably get out of bed and burn more than 400 calories from being out of bed, so I'll end up losing weight. If I eat 1800 calories, however, I need to burn at least 700 calories out of bed to lose weight, and that's a taller order. I'd need to take a run or something.

So my theory is that when people lose (more) weight at higher calories, it's because they are burning more calories, too. Not only because they're eating more.

Nope... I think it's closer to religion than logic. More comforting - hey, it justifies eating more! - than rational. This will be my last post on the matter.

2 points from the article:

1) She's only going to start losing weight when she is no longer 100% sedentary AND she eats like a normal person instead of this bizarre 6 day fast, 1 day binge pattern she's in.

2) When she starts eating normally (and the doctor recommends around 1200-1500 calories/day), she gains 5 pounds before she starts losing again. And yes, that was her body's way of resetting her metabolism, a good thing for her, but notice: she GAINED weight when she started eating more. It's only when she starts exercising and changing her metabolism that she'll start to lose weight.

The article never tells us whether she actually gets under 185 lbs after she starts eating healthily. My guess is that she will - but only when she also starts burning more calories, too.

Again, I was never arguing that when you're at 1200 calories/day and not seeing the scale budge, less food is the answer. I said that patience AND ACTIVITY were the answer. This woman ate very badly - but if she were not so sedentary, she would have lost weight - albeit unhealthily - at 700 calories, too. The problem is that at 700 calories/day, she can hardly get up and move around. 1200 enables her to be active so she can start losing weight.

Eat more --> Exercise a lot more --> Lose weight. For a sedentary person, any exercise is exercising a lot more. This has been my point all along.