Starvation Mode

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StacySkinny
StacySkinny Posts: 984 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My boyfriend claims there is no such thing as "starvation mode". I told him today that I need to eat at least 1,200 calories everyday and he got mad at me about it. He thinks I'm being stupid. He's thin and has never had an issue with weight. He says "Some days I only eat a banana - YOU don't need to eat at least 1,200 calories".

I'm asking you guys because I know many of you are very knowledgeable when it comes to weight loss. Do I need to be eating at least 1,200 calories? If so is that before or after my exercise calories?

To make it easier on you guys to give me some advice I'll give you my stats:

I'm 32
I weigh 342 lbs (yes you read that right) - I've lost 43 pounds, down from 385.
I'm female
I'm 5'4"


HELP! I don't want to follow this site's recommendations because losing TWO pounds a week is just entirely to slow for someone who has as much to lose as I do. That would take me over two years to reach my goal weight at that rate. So yeah, if you guys could give me some advice on how many calories I should be eating, that would be great!

Is there such thing as starvation mode? Who's right? I will blissfully swallow humble pie if he is right. I just need to know!
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Replies

  • ruby_red_rose
    ruby_red_rose Posts: 321 Member
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    Yes, there is something called a starvation mode, and you do need to eat enough to make sure you do not enter that mode. I was eating 1100 calories, and not loosing any weight. I talked to a dietician, she recommended upping my calories to 1400, which helped me lose 33 lbs (half of what I need to lose). I am never eating 1100 calories again - it didn't fill me up, and it didn't help me lose weight. If you can, please get advice from a dietician.
    Best of luck!
  • SergeantSunshine_reused
    SergeantSunshine_reused Posts: 5,382 Member
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    He eats only a banana some days?

    There is a starvation mode... but honestly you would be okay eating on a VLCD. I would talk to your doctor about it tho. You have quite a bit to lose so you do not have to worry about it yet.
    Nothing wrong with slow weight loss though! 2 years for a whole body transformation is a great time frame. Will help prevent saggy skin too :flowerforyou:
  • Lekkie84
    Lekkie84 Posts: 17
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    I'm not an expert on how many calories you should be eating, but 1,200 is a general guide.

    To be honest, your bf is a idiot if he thinks that a person can survive on a banana alone. Starvation mode exists. It occurs when the body does not get the required nutrition to function.
  • CaptainGordo
    CaptainGordo Posts: 4,437 Member
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    It exists, but is often misunderstood.

    The basics...

    Who is at Risk?
    Most people with large amounts of fat stores are not at risk of starvation mode. This is usually women over 35% body fat and men over 25% body fat, but there is no exact point. They have sufficient energy stores to supplement the body’s needs for energy (however, they still have other needs that must be met, such as vitamins and minerals). The closer a person is to a healthy BMI, the higher risk and consequences of starvation mode.

    When Does it Happen?
    It doesn’t happen by skipping a meal or even a whole day or at 1200, 1000, or any other random cal number. Typically, metabolism will begin to decrease after about 72 hours of significantly inadequate intake. But this is dependent on the individual’s specific situation – what the energy requirements are, how much fat they have, and the exact level of intake. The loss of lean tissue begins sometime later. It could be days, weeks or months. It may be at 1200 for one person, and 2000 for another. Again, it depends on the individual and will be a different point for everyone.

    Check this out for more info: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390234-does-starvation-mode-exist-and-what-is-it
  • Jessb1985
    Jessb1985 Posts: 264 Member
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    This is just my opinion, as I'm sure other people will differ, but I would agree that you need to eat at least 1200 calories per day even just for the nutrients it provides. In saying that, if you burn off 600 calories of exercise you have a net of 600, but at least you've eaten 1200 to have the energy to burn. I say this because after going to my dietitian she told me it isn't necessary to eat back all of your exercise calories unless you are hungry and feel you need them

    My boyfriend is also the same as he can go a day without eating anything, but I also notice when he doesn't eat he has no energy and is in a bad mood so I put it down to that lol.

    Good luck with your weight loss, I know only 2 pounds per week doesn't sound like much but if you try to starve yourself you may loose it quick but most likely you will snap and eat everything and gain it all back even faster.
  • CaptainGordo
    CaptainGordo Posts: 4,437 Member
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    HELP! I don't want to follow this site's recommendations because losing TWO pounds a week is just entirely to slow for someone who has as much to lose as I do. That would take me over two years to reach my goal weight at that rate.
    This is not "The Biggest Loser", where people drop 10 pounds a "week" -- or whatever the producers like to call a week. Two pounds a week is the max you can lose safely, with the odds of keeping it off for good. There are no shortcuts that will make you healthier.
  • RonSwanson66
    RonSwanson66 Posts: 1,150 Member
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    Starvation mode is real, but you won't get there from a single day of eating under 1200 calories. It takes weeks of eating well below your BMR to kick in.

    Google the Minnesota Starvation Study. The participants ate 1/2 of their maintenance calories for 6 months, and didn't stop losing weight and fat until near the end of the study (by then they had very low body fat percentage). Their metabolic rates did drop, but the vast majority of this was simply due to their weight loss (smaller bodies burn fewer calories)

    I'm not recommending you do something that extreme, but at your size you can handle a larger deficit and more rapid weight loss than 2lbs / week.
  • Puffins1958
    Puffins1958 Posts: 614 Member
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    I agree with the above advise. I had gone to see a nutritionalist, she recommended this site. I input the information needed to lose 2 lbs. A week. MFP recommended that I eat 1200 calories per day. My exercise calories are added to that total. I hardly ever eat ALL of my exercise calories, but to me....that's ok. I wish you all the BEST here..... :)
  • Bencribb
    Bencribb Posts: 21 Member
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    http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/loseweight.htm

    "This doesn't mean crash diet (anything less than 1500 calories), which usually ends up with you either getting weaker or giving up in desperation. Quick-fix diets can lead to a yo-yoing effect of drastic weight loss followed by weight gain, resulting in a vicious cycle."

    Your body is used to eating a certain amount per day, if you eat significantly less than that, you will be extremely hungry the next day, and feel sluggish. The figures MFP gives you protect you from these negative effects. You should not eat 1200 calories per day. You should eat the recommended amount, and you should make up at least 50% of calories burned off through exercise as part of normal recovery. It is well known that there are health risks for losing weight too quickly.

    Your boyfriend's body might be used to surviving in a malnourished state, that doesn't mean it's fine for you.

    I am overweight. I've lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks following the recommendations. I am physically active and I record all my fitness and recover the majority of the calories burned in workouts. For fat people, the 2 pounds a week is a very conservative estimate for what they are likely to lose by making serious changes to their lifestyle. Even for fat people, there are serious risks associated with attempting to lose weight too rapidly, especially while not medically supervised.

    http://www.caloriesperhour.com/news_060614.php
  • anyonebutmehaha
    anyonebutmehaha Posts: 174
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    i'll let the people more knowledgeable than i comment about starvation mode stuff i just wanted to put this thought in your head:

    "HELP! I don't want to follow this site's recommendations because losing TWO pounds a week is just entirely to slow for someone who has as much to lose as I do. That would take me over two years to reach my goal weight at that rate."

    do you think you will be 'fat' until the day 2 year from now when you're at your goal weight? that one day you are "fat" and then scale says~ tada! goal weight reached! and bam! suddenly you are skinny? nah, you'll be seeing and feeling changes every step of this journey and there will be all sorts of good, no great, things happening loooooong before you reach that magic goal weight number on scale.
    remember you didn't get here in a day, it is gonna take time to get to where you dream of being, but it is the journey that will keep the weight off you forever.
    2 pounds a week IS a lot of weight and there are many reasons that it is pretty universally recommended not to go faster than that. want a real good easy reason? your skin needs that time to 'keep up' w/ the weight lose and not end up w/ a bunch of loose hanging skin on a thin frame like what happens to a lot of the people that choose bypass surgery and drop a ton of weight very quickly.
    how about thinking of it like your body is going to get a college education? if it got it in a few months, well it might have the degree but it wouldn't know what to do with it. while in 2 years you can have a smart educated healthy body- that's not a long time really. (and who knows you might want to go on and get your body a PhD after that and run circles around your banana -a-day BF, lol).
    good luck!
  • ccmccoy09
    ccmccoy09 Posts: 284 Member
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    Here's the thing: "starvation mode" as fact or fiction, your body needs a certain amount of fuel every day to function. If you don't get that fuel, your body can't just take it from what's already inside your body, not all of it. So no, you won't starve to death if you tried to eat like your [insensitive and misinformed!] boyfriend and just had a banana a day, but you will be cranky, tired, weak, and deficient in calcium, iron, protein and a slew of other important vitamins and minerals. 1200 calories is the generally recognized minimum to provide your body with enough fuel to perform. Check out this calculator to get an idea of your basic caloric needs: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

    Based on your current weight, I would even venture to say that 1200 is far, far too few calories for you. Take the advice of others here and talk to a dietitian or a nurse who specializes in nutrition. You only need a deficit of 7000 calories a week to lose 2 pounds a week; if you're currently eating 3000 cal a day (and not gaining weight), you could cut that back to 2000 calories a day and STILL LOSE 2 POUNDS A WEEK.

    2 pounds a week is plenty darling. You say it would take you 2 years to get to your goal weight at that rate, so I'm guessing you have about 100 pounds to lose. That's no small feat... think of it this way: can you lift 100 pounds in weights? What's the max you can lift? You have to work up to lifting that 100 pounds. Maybe that will help put your goal into perspective. 2 years is completely reasonable, and completely doable. Besides, if you do it right it will come off faster at the beginning. ;) Good luck!
  • StacySkinny
    StacySkinny Posts: 984 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the great advice. Though there seems to be some disagreement, the over all consensus seems to be that there IS such thing as eating too few calories, though I'm still not sure how many to eat. Different calorie calculators give me vastly different numbers.

    I'm too broke to see a specialist or dietitian. lol And different sites tell me different things. Even different articles written by different doctors vary vastly in their recommendations. I guess when it comes to weight lose there really is more theory than fact. I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and stay above 1,200. I'm glad about that, I hate feeling tired and cranky. I'm also glad that most of you agree that my boyfriend is WRONG (though I won't tell him that... I'd rather avoid a fight lol).

    I think I learned, though, that if he doesn't keep is mouth shut I'm going to have to ask him to mind his own business and let me deal with my own health and weight loss on my own. It's funny... he never seem to have an issue with my weight until I actively started trying to lose weight.
  • LuciaLongIsland
    LuciaLongIsland Posts: 815 Member
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    It exists, but is often misunderstood.

    The basics...

    Who is at Risk?
    Most people with large amounts of fat stores are not at risk of starvation mode. This is usually women over 35% body fat and men over 25% body fat, but there is no exact point. They have sufficient energy stores to supplement the body’s needs for energy (however, they still have other needs that must be met, such as vitamins and minerals). The closer a person is to a healthy BMI, the higher risk and consequences of starvation mode.

    When Does it Happen?
    It doesn’t happen by skipping a meal or even a whole day or at 1200, 1000, or any other random cal number. Typically, metabolism will begin to decrease after about 72 hours of significantly inadequate intake. But this is dependent on the individual’s specific situation – what the energy requirements are, how much fat they have, and the exact level of intake. The loss of lean tissue begins sometime later. It could be days, weeks or months. It may be at 1200 for one person, and 2000 for another. Again, it depends on the individual and will be a different point for everyone.

    Check this out for more info: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390234-does-starvation-mode-exist-and-what-is-it
  • LuciaLongIsland
    LuciaLongIsland Posts: 815 Member
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    I cannot thank you enough for posting that link. I am eating between a 1000 calories and 12oo calories and need to lose 40 pounds at minimum, doctors orders, btw/ I get SO MUCH GRIEF, regarding this. I wish people would educate themselves.not criticize me. This article proves my point. Personally, I believe it is for those who choose NOT to stop eating so much. I see diaries, cookies, ice cream, McDonalds, pizza. Hello, we are supposed to be on our way to becoming healthy. I don't understand these food choices with an excuse once a week. Perhaps once a month. I have not had any of this for over 80 days. My indulgence was champagne on Thanksgiving.

    Please stop bugging me!!!
  • LuciaLongIsland
    LuciaLongIsland Posts: 815 Member
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    My Doctor told me to eat 1000 calories. even with exercise. !200 was too much.

    I need to lose 40 pounds. When I eat 1200 with exercise, I gain.

    Everyone is different
  • BeeElMarvin
    BeeElMarvin Posts: 2,086 Member
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    Thank you EEG!
    It exists, but is often misunderstood.

    The basics...

    Who is at Risk?
    Most people with large amounts of fat stores are not at risk of starvation mode. This is usually women over 35% body fat and men over 25% body fat, but there is no exact point. They have sufficient energy stores to supplement the body’s needs for energy (however, they still have other needs that must be met, such as vitamins and minerals). The closer a person is to a healthy BMI, the higher risk and consequences of starvation mode.

    When Does it Happen?
    It doesn’t happen by skipping a meal or even a whole day or at 1200, 1000, or any other random cal number. Typically, metabolism will begin to decrease after about 72 hours of significantly inadequate intake. But this is dependent on the individual’s specific situation – what the energy requirements are, how much fat they have, and the exact level of intake. The loss of lean tissue begins sometime later. It could be days, weeks or months. It may be at 1200 for one person, and 2000 for another. Again, it depends on the individual and will be a different point for everyone.

    Check this out for more info: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/390234-does-starvation-mode-exist-and-what-is-it
  • Zee48
    Zee48 Posts: 789 Member
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    My suggestion is definitely see your family doctor or have a well woman check up with your GYN and discuss this. Another option is call your insurance company if you have medical insurance. I say if because I no longer have medical insurance and it hurts. Anyway most insurance company have nurse hotlines that will discuss, knowledgeably, these things with you.

    There is no cookie cutter answer for all of us. Some will lose on 1000 while others will lose on 1400. Eat healthy, no junk foods on regular basis, no sodas, lots of protein, fruits & veggies, plenty of WATER, good oils daily and exercise 3 or more times per week. You don't have to pump iron to exercise either - there are plenty of exercises that can be done right there in your home or office without making a big deal out of it.

    Best wishes for a slow, continued weight loss. Slow losses seem to last longer because we have a chance to totally change our eating habits and our outlook on food. Less flab that way too.
  • LuciaLongIsland
    LuciaLongIsland Posts: 815 Member
    Options
    My suggestion is definitely see your family doctor or have a well woman check up with your GYN and discuss this. Another option is call your insurance company if you have medical insurance. I say if because I no longer have medical insurance and it hurts. Anyway most insurance company have nurse hotlines that will discuss, knowledgeably, these things with you.

    There is no cookie cutter answer for all of us. Some will lose on 1000 while others will lose on 1400. Eat healthy, no junk foods on regular basis, no sodas, lots of protein, fruits & veggies, plenty of WATER, good oils daily and exercise 3 or more times per week. You don't have to pump iron to exercise either - there are plenty of exercises that can be done right there in your home or office without making a big deal out of it.

    Best wishes for a slow, continued weight loss. Slow losses seem to last longer because we have a chance to totally change our eating habits and our outlook on food. Less flab that way too.

    Nicely put. I guess I am angry due to all the "know it all " people who are not doctors. Three of my doctors have recommended 1000 calories for me.
  • melsie20
    melsie20 Posts: 6
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    I think the thing you need to lose is your boyfriend. It sounds like he doesn't treat you with respect... telling you things that could harm your body (only eating a banana a day) and not supporting a healthy eating style. Just sayin.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    I think the thing you need to lose is your boyfriend. It sounds like he doesn't treat you with respect... telling you things that could harm your body (only eating a banana a day) and not supporting a healthy eating style. Just sayin.

    That might be the best "diet" of all: lose 180 lbs of useless weight overnight!!

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