Starvation Mode- How to know you're in it and how to get ou

You do not eat enough by any stretch of the imagination. Your body is already telling you that.

Without providing it ADEQUATE nutrition it will hold on to everything it can. If you truly want to continue on a healthy lifestyle you need to feed your body.

Please don't take this as anything less than supportive.... consider it permission to EAT MORE :flowerforyou:

I agree with the previous post, and I'd like to add it appears (according to your ticker) that you are 7 lbs away from your goal weight. once you reach your goal weight you should switch to maintaining your body weight. Try increasing your calorie intake a little bit each day or week. If you are truly struggling with eating more than a certain # of calories, please seek the advice/guidance of a nutrtionist. You can print out your food journal and they can give you ideas/suggestions on how to increase your daily calorie intake in a healthy way.

Good luck!

its a myth dear..do some research..not just people say here. its all bro science

Oh honey. I don't know how you function on so little. I can't imagine having any energy at all. Your diary to ME looks like the diary of someone with an ED. You will definitely see the scale go up at first because it will be THRILLED to have some fuel finally and it will wonder if you will continue to feed it and store it....at first. But then it WILL go back down, and you can start a healthy life. I eat over 2000 calories some days due to a lot of working out...since I've started doing that I've lost almost 4 inches off my waist. I could maybe seek health from a counselor and get support here too, of course. Good luck on your journey.

Thanks for your support. I know its so little, but I don't know how it got like that. I'm filled by what I eat. I don't think I'm quite at eating disorder yet, considering I do treat myself but, I really want to get back on track, and the information you and mostly everyone else has given is helping little by little. Its a big change but I'm willing to try it with support!

Everyone has said it - you are already starving. It is not about treating yourself here and there, but treating yourself well with healthy foods all the time. You need some well-rounded meals - colorful veggies, a whole grain like brown rice, a protein like beans. You may be full - I know, I can feel full on 1,000 calories, with my net being 700-800. But that still means my body needs at least 400-500 more calories just to fuel everything. I have been making an effort to eat more, but I choose healthy options. Knowing I am going to exercise, I have been trying to plan small snacks here and there that help meet my caloric and nutritional needs. Since you have been eating so little and feel full, you may need to start small. Add another snack to your day - a healthy one! Start making your breakfast higher in calories. Things like that to help you work towards 1000 calories, and then AT LEAST 1200 calories - and we're talking NET. I also agree that you should try and set up an appointment with a nutritionist or something like that to help you reach a healthy goal. Good luck!

If you are worried about sugar, find out from your doctor the sugar limit he recommends. You can keep under that sugar limit even if you eat 1200-1500 calories per day. It seems like you are not eating very often or very much. Try adding one or two items to each meal, plus one more meal per day.

Make your goal be to make your remaining amounts on your food diary zero every day. Find a fun or silly prize that you can award yourself every time you get all zeros in the remaining line. TRUST MFP's CALORIE RECOMMENDATION. Know that the rest of us are following the guidelines and still losing weight.

Where's that article about the doctor speaking of an overweight woman that starves herself? You guys know what I'm talking about? She's over weight because of her body's slow metabolism, and has to gain wait before she can start losing?

That would be appropriate here, but I don't even know where to begin searching for it.

Definitely need to eat more. I realized this when I was only getting my net calories to 1200, sometimes 1000. I am 5’10” and 190 lbs, so this, I realize looking back, was way too low for me. You don’t have to eat 1,000 more calories right now, but start by increasing by a couple hundred each day and see how it goes.

One thing I can recommend is to start adding small snacks throughout the day—things that are higher in calories but may not make you feel too full. Avocados really are a great food—good calories and fats. Nuts and seeds are also higher in calories but definitely good for you. Pita bread and hummus is one of my favorite snacks as well. Instead of thinking of fruits as my meals, they became my snacks, so I can focus on more filling meals that include whole grains, protein, and vegetables.

Your body is smart—if you start feeding it more, it will start to understand the times it needs to release the hormones that tell you that you are hungry. Evolution was wonderful to us in this way—if we starve ourselves, our bodies will protect us by storing anything it can get and not release those hormones. The more you eat and the more often you start eating, the more you will start to feel hungry during those times again. I would have never believed that I would feel hungry every 2 hours, but I do.

As for diabetes, most of those with Type II diabetes have it because of diet and lifestyle, not because of genetics. Children of parents with diabetes are usually more likely to have it because they are taught the same bad diet and lifestyle and habits. I obviously don’t know your family’s medical history or lifestyle, but if you’re going to the doctor regularly, I wouldn’t worry about it that much.

You need to eat more dear. I'm going to say you aren't in starvation mode, you ARE STARVING. You ate 600 calories yesterday and burned 400. That means you body only has 200 calories to live on. That's not healthy. If you can't recognize that, you do need to talk to a counselor. Start adding more. Stop with the diet foods. No more fat-free yogurt. Eat a sandwich for lunch, not sandwich meat on some lettuce. Put cheese on said sandwich. Maybe even some mayonnaise.

I have recognized it. That's why I posted this. I cant eat everything full fat and non diet though. I was advised to watch my sugar intake along with having a diabetic father at home and a history of diabetes in my family. Like I said above, it's something to work at. I just want some simple suggestions and facts on it. I'm worried, and it's why I'm asking.

I can relate about having diabetic family members, my mom's family also has a history of diabetes. Print out your food journal, write down your questions/concerns and speak to your dr & nutritionist about your concerns and what you are currently eating.

Keep in mind that in my situation my family members have been diagnosed w/ diabetes due to poor eating/no exercise/etc...but my dr has told me as long as I keep my weight in the "healthy" range and I'm not eating only ice cream all day long and i'm exercising regularly (and keeping my annual dr visits), I can avoid the healthy problems my other relatives suffer from.

In any event, there are plenty of options regarding meal ideas, etc.... feel free to add me if you'd like to review my food journal to get an idea of what types of food I eat on a regular basis.

Good luck to you!

Bump. There is great advice here and support!

I ended up in starvation mode gradually by cutting calories to lose weight......... and when i stopped losing i would cut more calories until i was down to less 600 calories a day. I am now up to 1800 calories a day and am losing weight a much more healthy way. I'm not going to lie to you..... when you increase your calories your body will store them because it is scared you will starve it again.,.,., however give it sometime and it ballences out and the weight will start coming off. I added the calories fairly fast..... but offset it by increasing my exersise( believe me you will actually have energy to do this ) good Luck!!

Hi. Don't want to gatecrash the thread but just wondering, is it possible to reverse the effects of starvation mode?


To the OP, you could try upping your portion sizes and maybe adding things to the foods youre already eating. Some salad dressing, honey in the yogurt, changing your fat free milk to 2% milk like someone already suggested. Little things like that start to add up. Good luck.

its a myth dear..do some research..not just people say here. its all bro science

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE PEOPLE, AT LEAST READ THE MINNESOTA STUDY, PLEASE!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

its a myth dear..do some research..not just people say here. its all bro science

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE PEOPLE, AT LEAST READ THE MINNESOTA STUDY, PLEASE!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

This is such a terrible research study. It contributed to further research on nutrition, for sure, but the population and methods are so wrong and unethical. And it does not prove that "starvation mode is a myth". You should go back and read the results section. Do some research.