Starvation Mode

Crystal0827
Crystal0827 Posts: 244 Member
edited November 10 in Health and Weight Loss
How long does it take your body to go into starvation mode? And then how long does it take for your body to recover?

Replies

  • As long as a piece of string... No hard and fast rule... everyone is different.

    Biology and the human body isn't generally as simple as a mathematic equation
  • 714rah714
    714rah714 Posts: 759 Member
    My guess is after all the fat is gone.
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    As long as a piece of string... No hard and fast rule... everyone is different.

    Biology and the human body isn't generally as simple as a mathematic equation

    Absolutely this ^^

    Some people will never see a "stavation mode" during their weight loss, others will plateau out many times. The body is an amazingly complex individual thing.
  • Crystal0827
    Crystal0827 Posts: 244 Member
    I am just worried because the past 4-5 days I have consumed under 1200 calories (not purposely) but my friend expressed great concern that my body will go into starvation mode and start storing everything I consume, I am making sure to eat something every 2 hours today but I hope the damage isn't done. ;(
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
    My guess is after all the fat is gone.

    This. An overweight/obese person will not go into starvation mode.
  • mintberry
    mintberry Posts: 9 Member
    This is the nutrition diva's thoughts on starvation mode! According to her it takes several days of fasting, not just a few hours like most people think:

    http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/metabolism-myths.aspx
  • It takes a while for your body to go into starvation. For you to only have a couple days of eating over 1,000 calories. You'll be fine. Just try to focus on eating more throughout the day.
  • Crystal0827
    Crystal0827 Posts: 244 Member
    I am aiming for every 2 hours. Usually this is not a problem for me but I have been so busy at work I havent thought about it.
  • You'll be perfectly fine then. You have nothing to worry about. :)
  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
    My guess is after all the fat is gone.

    This. An overweight/obese person will not go into starvation mode.

    exactly.
    until you're approaching 10% bodyfat.. you dont even have to worry about it.

    are you tired? out of energy? unable to function normally? moody?
    no?
    maybe you just found your new calorie intake level..... people that are not doing a ton of cardio, not doing alot of movement at work, and have a fairly sedentary lifestyle, can cut more calories faster, because they dont need calories at a rate higher then the body can release from fat.
  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
    I am aiming for every 2 hours. Usually this is not a problem for me but I have been so busy at work I havent thought about it.

    you dont have to eat every 2 hours unless you feel like it.
  • Crystal0827
    Crystal0827 Posts: 244 Member
    I am eating small. For instance I had a hard boiled egg at 8am, then at 10am I had a greek yogurt. At 12 I will eat my lunch and then depending if I am hungry eat at 2 or 3 Then dinner at 6ish.
  • BandForAlyAnne
    BandForAlyAnne Posts: 321 Member
    My guess is after all the fat is gone.

    This. An overweight/obese person will not go into starvation mode.

    exactly.
    until you're approaching 10% bodyfat.. you dont even have to worry about it.

    are you tired? out of energy? unable to function normally? moody?
    no?
    maybe you just found your new calorie intake level..... people that are not doing a ton of cardio, not doing alot of movement at work, and have a fairly sedentary lifestyle, can cut more calories faster, because they dont need calories at a rate higher then the body can release from fat.

    thats not always true. ive heard of lap banders going into a severve platue (spelling) easily when still overweight. i think a lot of people wrongly call this the starvation mode, but its still a big problem. im a little worried about it myself. i got the lap band done 4 weeks ago and you just have to slowly build up your cal intake. im at 1200cals right now. im sure there are varing levels of "starvation mode" though. i figure if you start platueing (spelling) for a week or more you should maybe try an "off" day. try to stay healthy but consume more cals than your used to. sometimes this can kind of "jump start" peoples weight loss again.
  • I just went through this :( after a month of losing 8lbs, 2 weeks with no results.. today 3rd week since 8lb loss I have finally moved scale again, I think just eat healthy, if your hungry have something healthy and make sure you continue to excercise, it's not a simple thing to figure out! Some people on here are giving mixed information, some say eat your calories back and some say don't eat your calories back... I am just going to do my figuring out myself, no 2 bodies are alike.. good luck!! :)
  • DoingItNow2012
    DoingItNow2012 Posts: 424 Member
    Make sure you are not actually eating more (taking in more calories) than you think.

    I found this very informative website over the weekend. On it, it says:

    "NOTE: If you are having trouble losing weight, it is wishful thinking to believe that eating more calories will help. Do not use the BMR calculation as a reason to increase your caloric intake. Even if you were taking in far too few calories, you would still lose lots of weight, but part of it would be muscle. So if you're losing neither fat weight nor scale weight, most probably you're eating too many calories that you aren't counting. (I write this because the research on this point is clear). You have to run a caloric deficit when you total it up over the full week, counting any free day. Sadly, some people use the BMR calculation and their free day to justify overeating. This is unfortunate. The only way to lose fat is to create a persistent, daily, sustained caloric deficit. Eating more frequent and smaller meals can help, but it is superstition that simply eating more will help you to lose fat. Good Luck! And let me know how you do! John"

    Here’s the link to the website.
    http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TFCalories.html

    Here’s the link to the thread I wrote about it on.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/487839-bmr-and-how-calories-work
  • Crystal0827
    Crystal0827 Posts: 244 Member
    Thank you for all the information...even though I am hearing mixed things I think there are valid points in everything everyone is listing. I am sure just in "weight loss" alone there are alot of opinions or beliefs. I just dont want cause harm to my body, after all I am trying to be healthy. I have plenty of weight to loose. I do beleive in releax or cheat days. I think as longs I am not going crazy it is ok. I feel I have less cravings during the week. I am just struggling with the sodium content in some of this so called "diet" food. Anyway, I am going to try to eat smaller meals more frequently and see what the scale says to me at the end of the week. I can say I feel so much better now that I have started my healthy lifestyle.
  • DoingItNow2012
    DoingItNow2012 Posts: 424 Member
    Thank you for all the information...even though I am hearing mixed things I think there are valid points in everything everyone is listing. I am sure just in "weight loss" alone there are alot of opinions or beliefs. I just dont want cause harm to my body, after all I am trying to be healthy. I have plenty of weight to loose. I do beleive in releax or cheat days. I think as longs I am not going crazy it is ok. I feel I have less cravings during the week. I am just struggling with the sodium content in some of this so called "diet" food. Anyway, I am going to try to eat smaller meals more frequently and see what the scale says to me at the end of the week. I can say I feel so much better now that I have started my healthy lifestyle.

    You have a great attitude. And I think you are right. Try different things to see what works for your body, as long as it's healthy, and research for yourself. Good Luck to you.
This discussion has been closed.