The reason why starving yourself WILL NOT work.
flyingintheskyiamfly
Posts: 34
I didn't write this, but finally I believe 100% that it's true. Im sticking to over 1200 a day from now on!! This has opened my eyes.
source - http://stayfitspo.tumblr.com/
It’s hard to explain to someone who has nearly or fully starved themselves for a few days that what they’re doing isn’t effective. The proof is right there on the scale, right? Two pounds, five pounds, ten pounds flushed from their bodies like that, simply from not eating.
Wrong. Losing real weight from starving is physically impossible. Your body absolutely can not lose that much weight in a week. It’s not because you weren’t working hard enough, or didn’t starve for long enough. It’s because you can’t do it, just like you can’t grow gills and live underwater like a fish.
Here’s what happens when your body is starved of nutrients:
Your body realizes that it needs energy to continue to function, to blink and breathe and scratch your forehead. All of this requires power source, and it has to get it from somewhere. When you don’t give your body the energy it needs from food, it cannibalizes itself as an energy source. The prime directive of the body is that it must have energy at any cost.
The protein in your muscles is the only energy source a starving person has, and since you aren’t eating, it’s the only choice you are left with. Your body will begin to destroy muscle cells to release that protein so it can convert it into energy. Muscles are about 70% water, so when a muscle cell is destroyed, that water is released and eventually excreted. That’s your weight loss.
Your body didn’t convert any lumpy fat into lean muscle. It didn’t begin to use fat as an energy source. It didn’t just magically get rid of three or four pounds of pure fat. It’s going to keep you alive at any cost, and that means burning up the muscle and using that to power you. Guess what? You’ve just increased your body fat percentage. Fat weighs less than muscle and takes up more space, so you might even look bigger than before.
You’ve also lowered your metabolism. Muscle is metabolically active tissue, so the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate. The next bite of food you take, your body will use less efficiently and will hold on to much longer, converting it into fat and storing it for the long famine ahead.
Starving is not an effective weight loss tool. Not just because you shouldn’t starve yourself, not just because of the incredibly dangerous effects it has on your brain, not just because it can ruin your body forever. It really doesn’t work.
If you continue to starve yourself, your body will never get over that period of starvation. Your brain is programmed for survival, not for skinny, and you’ll become permanently hardwired to think that there is never enough, that you are constantly starving, even when you’re not.
source - http://stayfitspo.tumblr.com/
It’s hard to explain to someone who has nearly or fully starved themselves for a few days that what they’re doing isn’t effective. The proof is right there on the scale, right? Two pounds, five pounds, ten pounds flushed from their bodies like that, simply from not eating.
Wrong. Losing real weight from starving is physically impossible. Your body absolutely can not lose that much weight in a week. It’s not because you weren’t working hard enough, or didn’t starve for long enough. It’s because you can’t do it, just like you can’t grow gills and live underwater like a fish.
Here’s what happens when your body is starved of nutrients:
Your body realizes that it needs energy to continue to function, to blink and breathe and scratch your forehead. All of this requires power source, and it has to get it from somewhere. When you don’t give your body the energy it needs from food, it cannibalizes itself as an energy source. The prime directive of the body is that it must have energy at any cost.
The protein in your muscles is the only energy source a starving person has, and since you aren’t eating, it’s the only choice you are left with. Your body will begin to destroy muscle cells to release that protein so it can convert it into energy. Muscles are about 70% water, so when a muscle cell is destroyed, that water is released and eventually excreted. That’s your weight loss.
Your body didn’t convert any lumpy fat into lean muscle. It didn’t begin to use fat as an energy source. It didn’t just magically get rid of three or four pounds of pure fat. It’s going to keep you alive at any cost, and that means burning up the muscle and using that to power you. Guess what? You’ve just increased your body fat percentage. Fat weighs less than muscle and takes up more space, so you might even look bigger than before.
You’ve also lowered your metabolism. Muscle is metabolically active tissue, so the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate. The next bite of food you take, your body will use less efficiently and will hold on to much longer, converting it into fat and storing it for the long famine ahead.
Starving is not an effective weight loss tool. Not just because you shouldn’t starve yourself, not just because of the incredibly dangerous effects it has on your brain, not just because it can ruin your body forever. It really doesn’t work.
If you continue to starve yourself, your body will never get over that period of starvation. Your brain is programmed for survival, not for skinny, and you’ll become permanently hardwired to think that there is never enough, that you are constantly starving, even when you’re not.
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Replies
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Totally agree and very well put.
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I couldn't agree more.
I'm a firm believer in 5-6 small meals a day to keep your metabolism going. Skipping meals doesn't do your body any good.
Great post!
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Amen....great post!!!!!:bigsmile:0
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Your body will burn fat, but when it realizes that you aren't consuming food, it will start metabolizing muscle as well, but otherwise I agree. This should also be said for when you aren't consuming enough *cough* hcg *cough*.0
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Thanks for this. My good friend started starving herself back in February after a illness halted her appetite and she lost some weight over a few days. She decided to continue by eating one lettuce sandwich per day (2 slices of bread, iceburg lettuce, and mustard). Sometimes she would have two lettuce sandwiches. We could only eat out at sushi places.
However, the weight kept coming off. She's lost 30 pounds without doing a second of exercise or eating regular meals. I worry about her but of course she doesn't want to hear it....she's just happy with the loss.
I just don't see how she can expect to maintain this forever. Now she eats more regularly, but I still don't think she is being healthy.0 -
I was worried about you. I'm glad you have made this decision on your own now!0
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Why does the body go to the muscles instead of burning off the fat first?0
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Yes! Awesome post.0
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bump!0
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I wish my mother could understand that. She is 5'4, 315 lbs. She eats one, sometimes two meals a day.0
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Why does the body go to the muscles instead of burning off the fat first?
It needs fat to keep it insulated.
Muscle isn't as important.0 -
Thanks - great post0
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great post...but how do you know what the right amount of calories should be??? I have a lot of trouble with this....0
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I was worried about you. I'm glad you have made this decision on your own now!
Awww thank you (:
I'm glad I made the decision too. I most likely wouldn't have listened to anyone else xD haha0 -
great post...but how do you know what the right amount of calories should be??? I have a lot of trouble with this....
When you enter your details into MFP it will generate a rough estimate of what you need to lose, maintain, or gain weight. Once you stay within 100 to 200 cals of this you're safe enough, just don't eat under 1200!0 -
Several months ago I tried to lose weight, so I was eating at or below 1200 for about two months I gained a couple of pounds instead of losing weight so I quit. It was after I got on here that I heard about being in starvation mode.0
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For the same reason that high prtein food gives you more energy and satisfies more than a high fat food with no nutritional value.Why does the body go to the muscles instead of burning off the fat first?0 -
This is true. I know it all too well. :ohwell: Back in college, at my skinniest, I starved myself. Then when I started eating more, my body immediately put on weight (all I had lost PLUS more!) and I could tell that my body had more fat % on it than before! I ballooned up to 165-170 on my small 5'4 frame. I am losing again thanks to a balanced diet and exercise, but I'm pretty sure the damage I've done to my body is making my weight loss journey harder than it would have been had I never starved myself back then!0
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Why does the body go to the muscles instead of burning off the fat first?
It uses both, but here is a reasonable explanation of why:Another thing that happens when you try to starve off weight (or "diet"): you start losing muscle tissue.(9) You see, when in starvation mode, the body starts scavenging for the energy it needs for survival. If you need more than you are eating, the body will get the energy from somewhere. Unfortunately for you, the body will not be picky. Instead of just burning up all those nice pounds of fat you have just lying around, doing nothing, the body will also burn up the other available tissue it has for energy. Specifically, muscle tissue.
The body's metabolism is like a wildfire. It will burn anything it can in its quest to generate energy to survive. It can't burn bone, so forget that. It can't burn brain cells, so none there. It can't burn blood cells; they are too valuable. But, it sure can burn up muscle. An excellent protein source of energy - 4 calories per gram - just sitting there for the taking. And the body does just that. In fact it makes sense, at least to your genetic programming, to burn up muscle instead of fat. Why? Because muscle is very metabolically active. It requires a lot of energy just staying alive, even without being used. Simply lying in bed, completely relaxed, your muscle tissue burns about 30-50 calories per pound. If you have 75 pounds of muscle tissue in your body, that is 3000 calories or so per day, just to keep the tissue alive and doing nothing.
Now, what about fat tissue? Well, fat tissue is a very sluggish, metabolically "quiet" tissue. It only needs 3-5 calories per pound of fat per day to keep itself alive. It requires very little blood flow and does not generate any heat. So, if you were a highly trained, genetically engineered metabolic machine - the best machine ever created - and you were trying to last through starvation, ask your self which tissue would you most want to get rid of:
a tissue that "cost" you 30-50 calories per pound per day to stay alive (more if you are trying to hunt for food), or
a tissue that needed only 3-5 calories per pound per day to stay alive, regardless of what you do?
The most efficient machinery ever created, survivor of feasts and famines for thousands of years, makes a very reasonable choice. It burns up muscle tissue. True, it does burn fat also which, after all, is stored in the body for just this sort of "emergency." But, for someone who is voluntarily starving (or dieting), this is not a good thing. Why? For the same reasons we just mentioned. Muscle tissue is one of the most metabolically active tissue. It contributes a lion's share to what is called your basal metabolic rate, or BMR. Your BMR is the amount of calories your body burns up doing nothing. It is the calories burned up totally at rest and inactive. It is the energy used for such unconscious activities as breathing, maintaining body temperature at 98.6 degrees, breathing, replacing dying and dead cells throughout the body, etc
From: http://www.docofdiets.com/exercise-2.htm0 -
Thanks for sharing 0
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great post...but how do you know what the right amount of calories should be??? I have a lot of trouble with this....
When you enter your details into MFP it will generate a rough estimate of what you need to lose, maintain, or gain weight. Once you stay within 100 to 200 cals of this you're safe enough, just don't eat under 1200!
Ok, thanks...MFP has me at 1200/day.....I am only 5'1" and weigh 149 right now. I am trying to get down to around 125. I wasnt sure if 1200/day was right for me, I seemed to have stopped losing the weight. I do eat right up to my 1200, sometimes over if I worked out that day. I never feel starving or anything, just wanted to know if I was doing the right thing...0 -
bump and thanks for sharing:) I burn quite a few calories but always try to net at least 1200 calories. Eating good healthy foods to nourish our bodies is so important especially when trying to lose weight!! It might be slower than we like but it's the healthy way to do it:)0
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The number of meals don't matter, it's the number of calories that matters. If you need to eat 2,000 calories a day, and you decide to eat it all in one meal, that's just fine. A lot of people have lifestyles where they eat all their calories with a 4 or 6 hour window.I wish my mother could understand that. She is 5'4, 315 lbs. She eats one, sometimes two meals a day.0 -
Thank you for posting this!! I've been struggling with convincing myself that eating 1200 calories a day would work. I guess after starving myself for so long, it's going to take my body awhile to get out of the starvation phase.0
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This is truly eye opening. It's just the push I need because I too fall into this category. I don't feel like I'm starved, but my calories show it sometimes! Not only can you lose muscle, but also my hair has thinned and nails yellowed and cracked. I'm working on getting up to 1,000 to start with because it's difficult to add so many extra calories you're not used to a day, but once I get to 1,000, I'm going to keep working towards 1,200 and feel good about it. Thank you for posting!0
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Well I must be the only one that thinks this is BS. For one, anyone that says fat weighs less than muscle AND takes up more space needs to be questioned. The body will burn muscle but only if you are just laying around not doing anything, if you exercise the body will burn fat long before it burns your muscle up for fuel. There are many GOOD reasons not to starve yourself, this is not one of them.0
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I'm guessing the protein in your muscles is easier, and takes less effort to convert to energy?0
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I'm guessing the protein in your muscles is easier, and takes less effort to convert to energy?
Nope0 -
Bump!0
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Well I must be the only one that thinks this is BS. For one, anyone that says fat weighs less than muscle AND takes up more space needs to be questioned. The body will burn muscle but only if you are just laying around not doing anything, if you exercise the body will burn fat long before it burns your muscle up for fuel. There are many GOOD reasons not to starve yourself, this is not one of them.
Not true at all. Your body absolutely burns muscle while you are active. Your body burns carbs first, then a combination of fat and protein. Since it's impossible for your body to store protein, it breaks down muscle to burn.0
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