Starvation mode?

fininski
fininski Posts: 32
edited October 5 in Food and Nutrition
Last night i noticed that MFP food diary displayed a note saying i could be putting myself into starvation mode with my food intake!
I was technically under for the day due to exercise.

So, im female, 5ft1 and my job is largely sedentary, im at a desk 7:45 - 5pm and i run and 30DS in my evenings.
because of my height and desk job i never saw myself as needing a large number of calories so put my daily target at about 1200 (its my BMR too)
I dont cut out carbs although i do try to keep them under control during my weekdays (its harder on weekends as i stay with my bf although i dont go crazy) and i try to keep things nice and balanced, fruit and veg, meats, as little as possible on chocolate etc.

Truth be told i am finding it hard to lose my last half stone as so many people do and im wondering if this might be part of the problem, could i be in starvation mode? Do i risk piling on pounds quickly if i eat even a few hundred more calories?!

Help :(

Replies

  • unmitigatedbadassery
    unmitigatedbadassery Posts: 653 Member
    Short answer: I doubt it.

    Long answer: In my opinion, starvation mode is a bit like Santa and the Easter Bunny. It's a good concept but fails in practical life. While it does exist it's not easy to achieve it. You would have to be significantly under on calories over the course of time and have a very low body fat percentage - less than 8% or so.

    The best way to know is to base it on how you feel. If you don't feel like you're getting enough energy then you probably should eat a little more. However adding another couple hundred calories isn't going to be the end either.

    IT IS POSSIBLE THAT EATING MORE WILL PUSH THE WEIGHT LOSS AND HELP YOU DROP THE LAST FEW. LOOK AT WHAT YOU ARE EATING AS MUCH AS HOW MUCH YOU ARE EATING.
  • Naomi_84
    Naomi_84 Posts: 197 Member
    Some posts which might interest you:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/208407-how-to-repair-a-damaged-metabolism-stavation-mode

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

    I don't think your body will be in starvation mode but I do know (as silly as it sounds) that the closer you get to your goal the more calories you need. Your body may be holding onto your last few pounds as a defence because you are losing weight and not quite eating enough and its your bodies way of ensuring we stay healthy and don't starve. If you increase your calories the scale may temporarily go up but your body will adjust and when it realises it is safe to do so, you will continue losing weight. I'd change my diet settings f I were you to lose the minimum amount of 0.5lbs a week and eat all of you calories ensuring you net at lease 1200 every day. Give it a week and hopefully you'll start to lose again. The last couple of pounds are always the hardest so it may take a while but you'll get there!

    Good luck!
  • MercenaryNoetic26
    MercenaryNoetic26 Posts: 2,747 Member
    I'm 5'1" and have a sedentary job also. I pack a big bkfst and lunch and eat at least 4x's while at work. This prevents ME from going into the so called "starvation mode" where your body's metabolism slows down since you're eating infrequently or inconsistently. If you snack at work, you should be okay. I'm in my 30's now, so along with age I know my job is a culprit and hindering my progress. I try my best to work around that.
  • julie204
    julie204 Posts: 130
    TRY EATING MORE FRUIT AND VEGATABLES AND PERHAPS A YOGHURT YOU MAY NOT BE EATING ENOUGH THATS WHY THE LAST BIT IS NOT COMING OFF AND ALSO CAUSE YOUR EXERCISING AS WELL YOUR BODY IS HOLDING ON TO IT I WOULD UP YOUR EATING A BIT HEALTHY THINGS AND IT WILL COME OFF:smile:
  • CouchSpud
    CouchSpud Posts: 557 Member
    By constantly eating under the amount of calories that your body needs for running daily (there is a difference between your basic intake and the amount of caloies that you are allowed to have when you exercise - however, when regularly exercising your basic need will slightly raise) you are seriously messing up your metabolism and it can have an affect on your later life. See how it will affect you if you eat a bit more.
  • kenyonsmom10
    kenyonsmom10 Posts: 97 Member
    starvation mode is real. I dealt with it. eat a few more hundred calories but only in healthy foods such as salads and such. I also focus on eating the carbs only towards my morning meals and not later in the day. My later meals usually consist of vegetables and lots of them. I eat 6 times a day and my calorie goal is 1800. I do INSANITY for my work out and this is the guideline Shaun T provides. My BMR is only 1430, but when I stay at that I gain weight/maintain weight. When I started eating the 1800 calories I dropped three pounds in a week 1/2 ......
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,260 Member
    I doubt it, true starvation mode is when someones body fat is pretty much gone and that doesn't put 99% on this site in that category. You may have experienced some metabolic adaption due to your eating habit that have slowed your metabolism, but it's more than likely the accuracy of what your eating and how your formulating your calorie burn rate has been overestimated. Change something up, eat less, eat more, exercise more, stop exercising etc, give it a few weeks and see what happens. If your BMR is 1200 and your eating 1200 calories your then your net calories are far below your BMR, which is not advisable and probably why you've experiencing problems. Stuff shuts down and fat lose is greatly impeded.
  • mmocarr
    mmocarr Posts: 108 Member
    I think there is a difference between starvation mode and your body running efficiently. I found that I lost weight a little quicker when I bumped my calories from 1250 to 1400. I think that is because my body is running more efficiently not because I was in 'starvation mode'. I too am on the shorter side and don't have that high of a bmr. I have read that starvation mode is a syndrome associated with severe lack of calories and a very low body fat percentage. I believe I was in starvation mode about 8 years ago. I was showing signs of disordered eating, was very underweight, and had lost my menstrual cycle. When I began to eat more normally Doctors said that I was probably in starvation mode previously and that it would take some time for my metabolism to normalize.

    So to answer your question I do think you may benefit from bumping your calories up a little but I dont think that means you were in starvation mode. 1200 calories has been defined as the cutoff between starving and not, this logic is obviously flawed. The amount of calories it would take for my body to be starving is clearly not the same as a 6 ft. tall make, you know what I mean. Ultimately, I found that I felt better when I was eating more than 1200 but I think it comes down to listening to your body and trial and error.

    good luck!
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    Eating more a less frequently has nothing to do with "Starvation Mode." It is about being in a long term, large calorie deficit. Where you eat all your calories in one sitting of 9 or anything in between makes no difference to metabolism.

    As for the warning, it is meant to keep people from going into that long term large calorie deficit that will eventually result in a metabolism slowdown. One day or even two or three days will not do it. For that matter for the first 72 hours or so of eating nothing at all, zero calories, a persons metabolism will increase which makes sense from a survival perspective since if you have no food you need to be active and alert to hunt down food.

    The number of reasons you could be finding the last of the fat difficult to come off are legion, and would require a lot of information. I have not checked if your diary is open or not. I would suggest at the very least eat at your BMR if you are close to your goal. Eat your exercise calories, and be patient. It will likely be slow. Look at the type of exercise you are doing. If it is all cardio, and it is the same cardio you have been doing all along, change to something different as you body has likely adapted to it and you are not challenging it sufficiently nor are you burning the calories you might expect since as your body adapts to an exercise it gets more efficient at doing it.

    If you are close to your goal you will likely have to eat more. Here is a helpful post on calorie deficits in terms of their relation to BMI http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits
  • Mimzy_me
    Mimzy_me Posts: 10 Member
    I've been in starvation mode - which is a poor choice of wording, sorta like global warming rather than climate change. The cycle that I've been on for over the last 9 years has robbed me of energy, health and fitness. I used to walk 5 + miles a couple times a week. But due to a knee injury my old doctor told me to stop walking. Bad idea. That was the majority of my exercise out the window. He never signed me up for aquatic therapy which would have assisted in keeping my weight down, helped out my lower back and treated my knee injury all in one lump. But I was left to just deal with the problem, he didn't even get me a brace & I had to buy my own cane.
    My cardio is so bad now that I'm needing my inhaler more often than before. I've often eaten less than a full meal in 24 hours. My body adapted to the lower food amount by saving every bit I ate. My gastrointestinal system suffered, my immune system suffered and I was not healthy by a long shot. I work at a computer for hours and build websites, write and blog, research information & try to find answers to issues I'm dealing with.

    But due to my knee and other injuries, I didn't work out. I tried to swim, but the above ground pool was difficult to get into, was far too small to do lapse - I tried to keep flexible and it did help a lot for my mobility, but it didn't last. This last summer we didn't set it up do to damage to the liner over the winter in storage. So a few months ago I got a new doctor and I'm trying to get some information from him as well as get him on board to help me get healthy again. I'm still working on reaching him...
    I'll be going to the medical offices on the 29th so I plan on getting answers before I leave.

    I've eaten as little as 340 calories and as much as 1900 calories, but it hasn't been consistent or regular. That is why I've not lost the weight, my body won't let go. In fact, I didn't even feel hungry. I had trained my body to deal with a small amount and keep going. A glass of cider, a slice of toast and I went all day and most of the night. I didn't feel hunger pains or growling for a long time. But that's finally changed!

    I've been cataloging my food for about 2weeks now, to make sure I'm getting at least 1200 calories and as close to the 2100 I'm supposed to be getting. I've broke 1600 calories this last week and even though I've not reached my 2000 goal I'm noticing some changes. Like the fact my stomach is starting to growl now, especially when I've not eaten for over 4-5 hours. My meals aren't a lot each, so I've used breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack to cover the times that I eat. I've also become addicted to pickles for some odd reason. I realize that I've got to heal my body and slowly begin to get back into more physical activities. I'm letting my body give me an idea of how far I can go...too much pain is a bad thing.

    I'm working on eating more, watching what sort of foods I eat and making some small changes. Changes that won't be hard to keep up as I continue on this journey. I finally have some hope that I can get back to where I used to be, the same way I got to where I am today...one step at a time.
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