"Starvation Mode" and How to Fix
Replies
-
singingflutelady wrote: »Sorry I only said that because in #3 it mentions advanced lifters
Ironically, as you pointed out the website is for the hardest of hardcore lifter and specifically addressed there. I would suspect all the supplements promoted can do some whack things to the body so I would be curious to see if it would apply to clean lifters as well. I just searched and did not see any studies though.
Cheers.
1 -
should be "used to re-feed"0
-
And don't reduce your calories below 75% of what you are eating. Not "by 75%". Sorry1
-
BarbaraJatmfp wrote: »"The Biology of Human Starvation" is a 1200-page book reporting a starvation study done back in 1940. They took 20+ college-age men of average weight and reduced their calories by 50%. This went on for weeks. The men lost weight - of course - and were reduced to walking skeletons. After the study ended, the men were gradually returned to their previous caloric intake levels. What they found was that the calories previously required to maintain a weight now caused those same people to gain weight.
This study was used to reefed the starving people after WW II: concentration camps, POW camps, and starving people in the countries affected by the war.
Call it what you want (starvation mode, or whatever), but they found that we should not reduce our calories by more than 75%.
Google it if you want: "Biology of Human Starvation".
Given that the men in the study lost weight, I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Do you understand how people inaccurately use "starvation mode" in the context of advising people who aren't losing weight?5 -
The point of my post is that after starving, the calories those people ate no longer maintained their weight. The same number of calories caused them to gain weight. Starvation mode is not a good place to go. You will pay for it later.2
-
BarbaraJatmfp wrote: »The point of my post is that after starving, the calories those people ate no longer maintained their weight. The same number of calories caused them to gain weight. Starvation mode is not a good place to go. You will pay for it later.
But that isn't how "starvation mode" is typically used in discussions of weight loss. A common situation would be someone reporting that they have been at x number of calories for a few weeks and haven't lost weight and they receive the advice that they may be in "starvation mode" and they should eat more so they can lose weight.
Can metabolic changes take place if one eats a VLCD for an extended period of time? I don't think anyone in this discussion is denying that.
5 -
BarbaraJatmfp wrote: »"The Biology of Human Starvation" is a 1200-page book reporting a starvation study done back in 1940. They took 20+ college-age men of average weight and reduced their calories by 50%. This went on for weeks. The men lost weight - of course - and were reduced to walking skeletons. After the study ended, the men were gradually returned to their previous caloric intake levels. What they found was that the calories previously required to maintain a weight now caused those same people to gain weight.
This study was used to reefed the starving people after WW II: concentration camps, POW camps, and starving people in the countries affected by the war.
Call it what you want (starvation mode, or whatever), but they found that we should not reduce our calories by more than 75%.
Google it if you want: "Biology of Human Starvation".
Drawing this conclusion (or rather, the conclusion to "not reduce calories below 75% of what you are eating" as you rephrased it later in the thread) from the study you describe is spurious reasoning. Where is the group on 50% calorie reduction for a shorter period of time (i.e., less total weight loss), to be able to distinguish the effects of the %calorie reduction from the effects of becoming walking skeletons? Where is the group on 10% calorie reduction for a longer period time, so that they attain the same total weight loss of 20 men you describe (not a satisfactorily large study, also)?
Also, how can you draw conclusions about the effect of eating at "below 75% of what you are eating" (74%, 70% , 60%) from a study of individuals on a 50% reduction?
Finally, if someone is overeating substantially on their current calories (say, gaining a pound a week--which, for someone who suddenly realizes they've gained 10 or 15 pounds in the last few months is not unrealistic), eating at 75% of their current calories could well leave them at maintenance or even still in a slight surplus, so it's far too vague to be useful as general advice.
1 -
I'm sorry, but one article on t-nation.com by someone with "Dr." before their name doesn't make something real.
Dr. Jade Teta is a naturapath who makes a living selling books, workout programs, and training through his weight loss company whose primary message is "fixing" metabolic problems. In other words, he is far from an unbiased author.
Adaptive thermogenesis is a real thing, but it's not something the average dieter needs to worry about. If you severely restrict calories over a very long period of time, your metabolism will slow down over time. But we are talking about a large deficit over a long period of time with no breaks. That's why if you have a lot of weight to lose that will take years to complete, it is recommended that you take a couple of weeks every 3 or 4 months and eat at maintenance. But even though it's a real thing, it won't stop you from losing weight, it just slows it down a little. Otherwise anorexics, people who go on hunger fasts, starving people in war-torn countries wouldn't get to the point where they were skin and bones, they would just get sluggish wouldn't they?8 -
BarbaraJatmfp wrote: »The point of my post is that after starving, the calories those people ate no longer maintained their weight. The same number of calories caused them to gain weight. Starvation mode is not a good place to go. You will pay for it later.
Do you mean that their previous amount of maintenance calories caused them to gain more than what they weighed before?1 -
BarbaraJatmfp wrote: »"The Biology of Human Starvation" is a 1200-page book reporting a starvation study done back in 1940. They took 20+ college-age men of average weight and reduced their calories by 50%. This went on for weeks. The men lost weight - of course - and were reduced to walking skeletons. After the study ended, the men were gradually returned to their previous caloric intake levels. What they found was that the calories previously required to maintain a weight now caused those same people to gain weight.
This study was used to reefed the starving people after WW II: concentration camps, POW camps, and starving people in the countries affected by the war.
Call it what you want (starvation mode, or whatever), but they found that we should not reduce our calories by more than 75%.
Google it if you want: "Biology of Human Starvation".
Of course they'd gain on the calories they used to maintain at. They're dozens of pounds lighter and lost a bunch of lean mass.14 -
stevencloser wrote: »BarbaraJatmfp wrote: »"The Biology of Human Starvation" is a 1200-page book reporting a starvation study done back in 1940. They took 20+ college-age men of average weight and reduced their calories by 50%. This went on for weeks. The men lost weight - of course - and were reduced to walking skeletons. After the study ended, the men were gradually returned to their previous caloric intake levels. What they found was that the calories previously required to maintain a weight now caused those same people to gain weight.
This study was used to reefed the starving people after WW II: concentration camps, POW camps, and starving people in the countries affected by the war.
Call it what you want (starvation mode, or whatever), but they found that we should not reduce our calories by more than 75%.
Google it if you want: "Biology of Human Starvation".
Of course they'd gain on the calories they used to maintain at. They're dozens of pounds lighter and lost a bunch of lean mass.
^^^This is what I was getting at, too.2 -
Least anyone is starving.
14 -
Well we are now!3
-
Annnnnd OP disappears...lol4
-
BarbaraJatmfp wrote: »The point of my post is that after starving, the calories those people ate no longer maintained their weight. The same number of calories caused them to gain weight. Starvation mode is not a good place to go. You will pay for it later.
Do you mean that their previous amount of maintenance calories caused them to gain more than what they weighed before?
this was my thought exactly... I mean, obviously!
If you have someone who maintains at 1500 calories and you reduce their intake to 700... say they lose 50 lbs and you start refeeding at 1500... the person will gain weight.2 -
beatyfamily1 wrote: »Apparently starvation mode is a real thing. It's just usually not referred to as "starvation mode". It offers ways on how to fix it. I thought this was an interesting and informative article by Dr. Jade Teta.
https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/truth-about-metabolic-damage?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article3624
I read it. Not convinced. Sorry
4 -
Though I am an oddity. During refeeding hospitalization the start you on 1500 calories and add 300 a week with the hopes of 1-2 kg gain. They do this until at least 2100, you gain more than 2kg or you hit your bmi 20. At that point they will keep you on that amount. I went to the highest available 3600 and never gained a kilogram a week. I was always between 0.6-0.8. we were pretty supervised so no real exercise but I am a fidgeter. I can't believe I didn't gain 2 kg a week on 3600. I don't have a fast metabolism (I obviously did during recovery) and my BMR is around 1300.0
-
There should be a Godwin's type law on these type of threads along with a cpmpetition to see how many posts it takes before someone is crass and inhumanly tasteless enough to bring up Holocaust survivors in their rush to pass judgement on people who have difficulty with their diets.
Trufax: not a single sane human being is going to go to the lengths of people who were put in death camps in order to lose weight. So stop it.2 -
-
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 901 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.2K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions