starvation mode

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pleasepleaseno
pleasepleaseno Posts: 166 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Am i actually gonna go into starvation mode if i dont eat 1200 cals per day? And should I be going by food calories or net? Like if I eat 1200 calories but exercise off 400, will I go into starvation mode? What exactly does starvation mode do? I've looked it up, but i get differrent answers from different sites.

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  • marissa626
    marissa626 Posts: 8
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    i would love to hear the answer too!
  • Helice
    Helice Posts: 1,075 Member
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    After a long period of eating hardly anything you will eventually go into starvation mode.
    But even in starvation mode you will loose more weight than someone eating 300 or so more calories than you, etc..
  • luminescence
    luminescence Posts: 21 Member
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    Starvation mode is when your body starts storing fat, and could make you fat. Yes you should have NET 1200 calories. Eat your exercise calories. Starvation mode also makes it a lot easier to gain weight when you start eating more again because your body will still be storing fat and your metabolism will be slowed.
  • wearystar
    wearystar Posts: 72 Member
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    that was made on this site to prevent people from eating hardly anything... it is a real thing however you will not go into it by merely being 100-300 under your adjusted calorie goal for the day- even for a few days...
    you could actually go into starvation when you eat 500 (or numbers relatively around there) calories or less a day long term...
  • bhagavatilad1
    bhagavatilad1 Posts: 277
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    You shouldn't have to be in starvation mode you should be losing weight the healthy way that is without starving. I've found that if you are on a 1200 cal diet eat 1200 and if you exercise say 400 cal it gets added to the 1200 but on your home page it shows you net calories that's important you should be netting 500 or around there the more you eat that figure goes up and you can figure out how much you should be eating without being in starvation mode its usually a little more that 1200 but not the full exercise cals. Hope this helps.
  • lerachase
    lerachase Posts: 11
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    From how I understand it, failing to eat 1100-1200 cals once or twice won't put you in it, but doing it for a bit will. And my old family doctor said it was total, not net. But that was also a while ago. Anyone else got anything more recent?
  • Helice
    Helice Posts: 1,075 Member
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    Heres an article you will Really want to read! ->>..

    http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html
  • pleasepleaseno
    pleasepleaseno Posts: 166 Member
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    Best article ever. Thanks a lot for posting it :D
  • Russellb97
    Russellb97 Posts: 1,057 Member
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    This is the easiest I can make it.

    We store fat for survival reason, fat is our "battery back-up"
    When we begin to use our battery back-up, ie. a calorie deficit, we have a built in survival mechanism that prolongs the use of our fat stores by slowing down metabolism. (It's actually a hormone called leptin)
    Some people argue that it doesn't exist, but studies prove it does and I've lived it! So no one can tell me it's not real.
    It's not the same thing as people dying of hunger, but when our body is eating itself for energy it's starving.

    The more extreme your deficits, the quicker and more dramatic it slows down.

    For me the biggest issue of starvation mode is long-term weight loss. Sure you will lose more weight on a 500 calorie diet BUT when you begin to eat "normal" you will have a messed up metabolism and gain the weight back.

    What to do?
    A deficit is a deficit, so whether you are 500 calories under or 1,000 calories under, if you do this long enough your metabolism will slow down
    Also, I do not think you should eat back exercise calories, because in my opinion it's just a wash. I want to use exercise to drive me into that calorie deficit so my body will be forced to maximize fat burning through my metabolism, 6 days a week..

    My solution is the Spike Day, one day every week eat a small surplus of calories. That way you send an emphatic message to your brain that there is plenty of food and metabolism can spike back up to normal.

    6 days to maximize fat-loss and one day to enjoy food and maximize metabolism.
    This is what I've done to lose over 100lbs, 7 years ago.
    I still do it today and my metabolism is stronger than ever.
  • MJStory
    MJStory Posts: 42
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    One thing about "starvation mode" is that your metabolism slows. If your calorie consumption &/or carbohydrates are very low (below 1,000 calories or 40 grams of carbs. per day for over a week), your body will start consuming muscle for calories after consuming your fat. That means that you'll literally be skin & bones if you allow it to continue. Once you've gone into starvation mode, it's very difficult to rev up your metabolism, afterward. Your muscle is the furnace that normally burns calories, so to burn more calories, you need more activity & muscle mass. These 2 things are necessary for healthy weight loss, not starving yourself. I hope this helps!
  • beccau_20
    beccau_20 Posts: 191 Member
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    I'm gonna try that "spike day" this week!

    Thanks Russellb97 :o)
  • Russellb97
    Russellb97 Posts: 1,057 Member
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    I'm gonna try that "spike day" this week!

    Thanks Russellb97 :o)

    You will love it Becca!
  • shadykins
    shadykins Posts: 48
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    Exactly what some of the others have said. You should NEVER eat less then 1200 calories a day to lose weight NEVER. Its not healthy for you and your body will start storing fat when it can. Your immune system is down and its so unhealthy. I read some of the food journals of my friends on MFP and have found a couple people who have had under 500 calories in a day and that is not going to do you any good. This is a lifestyle change. eat the things you like in moderation, keep logging your food and log in for support.
  • brucedelaney
    brucedelaney Posts: 433 Member
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    This is the easiest I can make it.

    We store fat for survival reason, fat is our "battery back-up"
    When we begin to use our battery back-up, ie. a calorie deficit, we have a built in survival mechanism that prolongs the use of our fat stores by slowing down metabolism. (It's actually a hormone called leptin)
    Some people argue that it doesn't exist, but studies prove it does and I've lived it! So no one can tell me it's not real.
    It's not the same thing as people dying of hunger, but when our body is eating itself for energy it's starving.

    The more extreme your deficits, the quicker and more dramatic it slows down.

    For me the biggest issue of starvation mode is long-term weight loss. Sure you will lose more weight on a 500 calorie diet BUT when you begin to eat "normal" you will have a messed up metabolism and gain the weight back.

    What to do?
    A deficit is a deficit, so whether you are 500 calories under or 1,000 calories under, if you do this long enough your metabolism will slow down
    Also, I do not think you should eat back exercise calories, because in my opinion it's just a wash. I want to use exercise to drive me into that calorie deficit so my body will be forced to maximize fat burning through my metabolism, 6 days a week..

    My solution is the Spike Day, one day every week eat a small surplus of calories. That way you send an emphatic message to your brain that there is plenty of food and metabolism can spike back up to normal.

    6 days to maximize fat-loss and one day to enjoy food and maximize metabolism.
    This is what I've done to lose over 100lbs, 7 years ago.
    I still do it today and my metabolism is stronger than ever.

    Surplus of your BMR Calories or a Surplus of your normal weight loss calories?

    My BMR is 2200ish my normal goal is 1600ish
  • Russellb97
    Russellb97 Posts: 1,057 Member
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    Use your current BMR.
    You can adjust it every month or so if you think you need to.

    This is the easiest I can make it.

    We store fat for survival reason, fat is our "battery back-up"
    When we begin to use our battery back-up, ie. a calorie deficit, we have a built in survival mechanism that prolongs the use of our fat stores by slowing down metabolism. (It's actually a hormone called leptin)
    Some people argue that it doesn't exist, but studies prove it does and I've lived it! So no one can tell me it's not real.
    It's not the same thing as people dying of hunger, but when our body is eating itself for energy it's starving.

    The more extreme your deficits, the quicker and more dramatic it slows down.

    For me the biggest issue of starvation mode is long-term weight loss. Sure you will lose more weight on a 500 calorie diet BUT when you begin to eat "normal" you will have a messed up metabolism and gain the weight back.

    What to do?
    A deficit is a deficit, so whether you are 500 calories under or 1,000 calories under, if you do this long enough your metabolism will slow down
    Also, I do not think you should eat back exercise calories, because in my opinion it's just a wash. I want to use exercise to drive me into that calorie deficit so my body will be forced to maximize fat burning through my metabolism, 6 days a week..

    My solution is the Spike Day, one day every week eat a small surplus of calories. That way you send an emphatic message to your brain that there is plenty of food and metabolism can spike back up to normal.

    6 days to maximize fat-loss and one day to enjoy food and maximize metabolism.
    This is what I've done to lose over 100lbs, 7 years ago.
    I still do it today and my metabolism is stronger than ever.

    Surplus of your BMR Calories or a Surplus of your normal weight loss calories?

    My BMR is 2200ish my normal goal is 1600ish
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    People think starvation mode = starving and it doesn't. It's commonly used to describe what your body does when it things it's about to starve. Your body was designed by hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. Never has a human WANTED to be skinny before recent times. Fat = live in times of famine. So your body will think famine is coming and adjust to what you are eating so it only burns what it gets and doesn't touch it's precious fat stores. It'll even burn muscles instead of fat. How little exactly can you eat before this happens? It varies for each person and could definitely happen for you at 1200.

    So my advice is to set your weekly goal at 1lbs per week (or 0.5lbs per week if you have less than 20lbs to lose) and eat what MFP tells you to including your exercise calories. This might produce slower weight loss than you desire but it'll be more sustainable, healthier, and easier.
  • routerguy666
    routerguy666 Posts: 188
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    Heres an article you will Really want to read! ->>..

    http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html

    Great article.

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