Starvation mode... a myth?

Strictly speaking from experience, I was not losing weight on a low calorie diet and doing lots of cardio. It worked for me in the past, but maybe my body is rebelling from years of dieting. I was running, biking, and also did some short but intense workouts such as HIIT with bodyweight. I was eating anywhere from 1000-1400 most days, depending on how many calories I burned. I am only 4'11 and myfitnesspal recommends 1200 for me. Well the weight was not budging and I only had about 5 lbs I wanted to lose. The smaller you are, the harder it is to lose and that weight was hanging on for dear life! Undereating and over-exercising was obviously not working for me so I took a different approach. I now eat 1500-1800 calories a day (depending on activity level), sometimes higher on weekends. I now only focus on HIIT workouts, supersets, and only go on long walks if I want to get some low impact exercise. I only walk because this does not raise cortisol and actually lowers it. I believe undereating and over-exercising was messing with my hormones because as soon as I stopped doing that, I have lost about 3 lbs, which is a good improvement for my small frame. I also think adding weights to my workout routine has helped me build muscle, which burns more calories at rest. I don't know if my body was in starvation mode or whatever you want to call it, but this is my experience. I am done listening to the "move more, eat less" advice because that did not work for me and thank god it didn't because I was not happy eating 1000-1400 calories a day. Imaging eating 1400 calories/day after running 7 miles...

fleur23xx wrote: »

Strictly speaking from experience, I was not losing weight on a low calorie diet and doing lots of cardio. It worked for me in the past, but maybe my body is rebelling from years of dieting. I was running, biking, and also did some short but intense workouts such as HIIT with bodyweight. I was eating anywhere from 1000-1400 most days, depending on how many calories I burned. I am only 4'11 and myfitnesspal recommends 1200 for me. Well the weight was not budging and I only had about 5 lbs I wanted to lose. The smaller you are, the harder it is to lose and that weight was hanging on for dear life! Undereating and over-exercising was obviously not working for me so I took a different approach. I now eat 1500-1800 calories a day (depending on activity level), sometimes higher on weekends. I now only focus on HIIT workouts, supersets, and only go on long walks if I want to get some low impact exercise. I only walk because this does not raise cortisol and actually lowers it. I believe undereating and over-exercising was messing with my hormones because as soon as I stopped doing that, I have lost about 3 lbs, which is a good improvement for my small frame. I also think adding weights to my workout routine has helped me build muscle, which burns more calories at rest. I don't know if my body was in starvation mode or whatever you want to call it, but this is my experience. I am done listening to the "move more, eat less" advice because that did not work for me and thank god it didn't because I was not happy eating 1000-1400 calories a day. Imaging eating 1400 calories/day after running 7 miles...

How accurate is your calorie counting? Do you use a food scale to weigh everything?

I, too, was very close to my goal weight and for years could not lose my excess weight. Thought I was doomed to live at the upper end of the BMi chart. The good people of MFP got me on the straight and narrow with the help of a food scale and have never looked back.

Jaidann1962 wrote: »

Funny thing is, MFP's very own blog had an article a few days ago by someone talking about "starvation mode". It's no wonder there is confusion and misunderstandings.

MFP doesn't personally write those blogs..... They have 'bloggers' and sometimes they do push out some rather questionable content. I see it in FB all the time. Some articles are down right ridiculous.

@queenliz99 My calorie counting is pretty accurate. I measure out everything and usually weigh things, but not always and sometimes rely on eyeballing. But I only eyeball things that are easy, like a pound of meat divided into 4 quarters which will be 4 oz. For things like sweet potato, I weigh it. But to get to the point, nothing has changed with how I log my calories. I actually don't even obsess about how much I eat anymore. If I want something, I eat it. If I'm hungry, I eat. I mainly log just to see where I'm at now. I am always at least 200-300 calories over what MFP recommends, lol. I should be gaining. But as I mentioned in my post, I have been lifting weights and could be burning more at rest, but not sure.

YOLOboi19 wrote: »

Hello all!

I realize many people have some strong opinions about whether or not one should eat the lowest amount of calories they can to lose fat the fastest but I'd like to know if anyone has any solid evidence as to the fact that if you go too low your body will enter into "starvation mode"-- retain more calories than it should.

I'm not necessarily talking about ketosis or anything like that, just curious if one's goal is to lose fat and retain muscle, couldn't one just go on a protein fast (eating their 1g/lb. of body weight requirement in protein and no carbs or fat) to maximize their fat loss and minimize muscle loss?

Again, I'd really prefer some solid evidence in the form of scientific articles/journals or from a reputable source.

Thanks y'all!!

The issue is not just some magical starvation mode, but that your body can only oxidize a certain amount of fat per day, any deficit above that will result in weight loss, but it will be from lean tissues rather than fat. Add to that the fact that such an approach does nothing to either teach or help adapt to a proper amount of calories meaning a higher likelihood of putting the weight back on where the likelihood is quite high already.

Packages can be up to 20% off so you have no idea who much it weighs to begin with.

I don't obsessively count but I'm also not claiming that I am a special snowflake and that my body doesn't obey the laws of thermodynamics (hint it doesn't). Something was off with your calculations if you weren't losing.

Starvation is lack of or very few calories.