Starvation mode

macenro
macenro Posts: 160
edited September 28 in Food and Nutrition
I have read on here a couple times that you must eat a certain amount of calories to avoid having your body go into starvation mode. I think it was 1400 calories

Anyways, I was wondering if that was net calories or just plain food calories? It makes a big different some days if I really workout hard.

Replies

  • chillijam1
    chillijam1 Posts: 62 Member
    i do just calories not the net because when i did net i ended up putting weight on :smile:
  • haeden
    haeden Posts: 183 Member
    i go with what they set for me on here. i get 1200 but i usually end up getting 1400 and im never hungry!
  • mynameisuntz
    mynameisuntz Posts: 582 Member
    Starvation mode in the most common sense is a myth. It would take extended periods of drastically low caloric intakes to see any serious effects on BMR.
  • sculptandtone
    sculptandtone Posts: 300 Member
    My partner is 6'1 and he's on MFP too. They've set his calories at 1700, so if you're a fair bit shorter than 6'1 it seems reasonable that your calorie count is 1400. Some people choose to eat their exercise calories, some choose not to. I know if i was eating mine (especially the inflated exercise cals burn i log on mfp or a machnine) , I would be probably eating about the same amount as i did when i gained the weight. So, i do not eat mine. I've been really hungry a couple times and eaten an extra 100 calories to take care of hunger, but that's it.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    as a male, you should never NET below 1500.
    I eat more than that and I'm a 5'2" 108 lb female....
    surely you can eat 1500 net and still lose weight if I can...

    make sure you are accurately logging your burns...
    use an HRM or a bodybugg or BodyMediaFit, not the display on the machines. If you have to use the machine's estimate, log HALF of it and eat those. This way you know you are getting most of the fuel your body needs and don't have to worry about overestimation.
  • meryllb
    meryllb Posts: 28
    i actually had to ask my doctor about this one, because i was confused about how mfp tells you to eat your exercise calories. my doctor told me that you can, but don't have to, eat your exercise calories back - as long as you are consuming more than half of what your caloric intake should be. eating less than half puts your body into a famine.
  • flimflamfloz
    flimflamfloz Posts: 1,980 Member
    Yep, starvation mode would not just happen overnight because you did not eat for a day, so you have to worry about it after extended periods of time.

    Apart from that, I believe starvation mode would happen with low plain calories (probably even less than 1200), as net calories are the result of an active body who receives sufficient fuel.
  • macenro
    macenro Posts: 160
    The thing that worries me is that I am actually doing all my cardio the old fashion way. I live 1.75 miles from a park with a track so I just walk there and back and run/jog a couple miles while there.

    I just kinda have to hope that the exercise estimate of calories burnt is correct on here. I live over an hour from the nearest gym and wouldn't have the money to join anyways.
  • jmula
    jmula Posts: 38
    If you exercises and list the program you did, the calorie intake is automatically offset. Just follow the daily allowable amount and your OK. If you look under the walking category you can list an average speed to come up with an aproximate calorie burn.
  • macenro
    macenro Posts: 160
    Yea, I know that it automatically inputs the exercise stuff in the calorie intake but it seems kinda foolhardy to think that it can tell me how many calories I actually burned by running a certain amount. I mean all it knows is my height and weight.
  • Dootzy1
    Dootzy1 Posts: 2,357 Member
    I appreciate the fact that people like to trust the "tools of technology", but there's always a margin of error on any of them. Many successful people love their heart rate monitors and data pertaining to calories expended on the machines; however, if you're getting it done, feeling like you've sweated and pushed yourself, and are fueling yourself in a reasonable manner, the weight should come off. Sometimes more slowly, sometimes more rapidly. Many successful people have done exactly what you're doing with great success. You are to be commended for taking hold of this at this age and stage.
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