Obsession with starvation mode...

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Replies

  • modernmom70
    modernmom70 Posts: 373 Member
    The more energy your body expends the more nutrients(calories) it needs! All of this though does not apply to extremely obese people though because they can eat at a large calorie deficet until they are out of the morbidly obese range.
  • Natx83
    Natx83 Posts: 1,298 Member
    The more energy your body expends the more nutrients(calories) it needs!

    This. Its is why your Macros changes when you have completed say 60 minutes of strength training. You required X amount of calories pre workout say 100gm of protein for example. Post workout after burning 300 calories you now require 130gm of protein and Y amount of calories.

    You are still in deficit if you eat back your exercise calories. So why deprive your body of the fuel it needs. LAME.

    If you want too lose all your muscle mass I suggest you keep on eating below and you can become a grumpy fat skinny person becasue your muscles are so deflated from basically under eating and deprivation from the required nutrients
  • LovelyLibra79
    LovelyLibra79 Posts: 569 Member
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10067655

    not very promising about physician nutritional knowledge. If a student gets a 63 on a test, that's a D, I don't want my advice coming from someone who only knows 63 % on the topic.

    Dietitians are required to pass a 4 year accredited college in dietary science or some related field. The are also required to keep their certification by taking continuing education in most states. Doctors receive minimal nutritional training in their premed years, but nothing after that. Some doctors do take more classes, but many don't.

    The topic is Starvation mode...Not nutritional deficits or disorders...So do you believe a physician has enough training/education to evaluate this??
  • beardmouse
    beardmouse Posts: 19
    There are so many threads across the boards that bring up this topic. It's making my head hurt.

    At the risk of being flamed to a crisp - could someone help me out? I'm not interested in dramatic weight loss, I don't have an unhealthy attitude to food (unless you count prolonged periods of utter laziness). And I want to fin a healthy way of eating that can be sustained after reaching GW.
    MFP set me at 1200 calories and like the lazy *kitten* I am I just got stuck in & followed it with no further research and lost 5lbs in a week and a half. This has alarmed me, I don't think I should be losing weight at that rate (I was only 137 to start with).

    Based on what some folk have been saying I checked my TDEE and BMR which were as follows:
    TDEE = 1856
    BMR = 1356 (although the MFP calc said 1225.8)

    Could someone just explain in simple terms how many calories I should be eating, in order to lose weight, on general day to day basis? And is the general consensus that any exercise calories should be eaten so that I'm not in defecit?

    I'm prepared for the flambé should it come so fire away...

    Cheers.
    x
  • monty619
    monty619 Posts: 1,308 Member
    if you cannot see your abdominal muscles... you are not in starvation mode.
  • LovelyLibra79
    LovelyLibra79 Posts: 569 Member
    if you cannot see your abdominal muscles... you are not in starvation mode.
    :flowerforyou: Well said...
  • Autry403
    Autry403 Posts: 82 Member
    I eat around 1200 -1400 calories a day & I never eat back my net calories . I always gain weight & I'm eating low fat , low carb organic diet . So I don't know how much more extreme I can get on this . I have only seen healthy 1-2lbs / week weight loss by not eating back my calories . Plus I just listen to my grandmother whom I live with . She just tells me to exercise 45 min . / day . Don't eat after 7pm & Eat 3 small meals / day . If I'm hungry I can have small snack in between . But when I switched my diet over to organic I haven't been eating as much because I get full faster . Reason why is there is no additives in these organic foods that make you over eat . When I ate unhealthy I could eat large portions and not be full . Besides the fact that my metabolism is high now , thanks to this supplement I take ( Cayenne Fruit ) . So I don't have to worry about slow progress either . So far I've lost 9lbs this past month slowly but surely . It's all a matter of what works for each individual person , everyone's body reacts differently to different things . Good luck with your weight loss though ! :flowerforyou:


    Wow. Just wow.


    Seems like I'm always getting these reactions lately ... At least I have my husband for support , since I see not all of you are going to support my habits . Oh well , can 't please everybody ! :happy:

    you're 18 years old--probably still developing your reproductive system and even if you aren't--your metabolism SHOULD be rather high. you're eating the very minimum for a small, sedentary female and restricting 2 major food groups. it isn't sustainable in the slightest.

    Yeah well not so much . My metabolism is rather slow , and it hurts for me to walk somewhere . Meaning I have become over weight by sitting in my room being depressed that my husband is deployed this past year . He's been gone for over a year , and I had nothing better to do then Skype him & play video games . I usually ate around 2200 calories a day if I'm not mistaken , because I ate a large pizza for one meal almost everyday . So by cutting my calories down to 1200 with no exercise , I of course lost weight . Everyone says it 's water weight , but what water ? I have no water here in my house , well until last week ... I exercise around 30-45 min and eat from 1200-1400 cal / day . And my age has nothing to do with it hunn' , so stop being prejudice .
  • cfriend71
    cfriend71 Posts: 207 Member
    That makes perfect sense and I lose weight when I follow that rule. I gain weight when I eat my exercise calories.

    Thank you!

    Thank you. I was very confused about this because some people were saying to eat the exercise calories. I didn't understand this, because to me, it defeats the whole "purpose" of exercising in the first place. I may go over my BMR by 100 or 200 but if I do it's a peice of fruit or something light so that I can still have a little "treat" but save a lot of those calories I burned.

    I am really confused how people who eat all of their exercise calories are actually losing weight. Makes no sense to me.
  • sdavis448
    sdavis448 Posts: 193 Member
    I'm considered morbidly obese.. currently 267 pounds, my heighest was 297. I can eat at a very large calorie defecit because my body has tons of fat to fall back on.
    When I get closer to my goal weight, I'm going to start slowly adding more calories to my diet, so that when I get to my goal, I can eat normal sized meals.
  • Autry403
    Autry403 Posts: 82 Member
    I'm considered morbidly obese.. currently 267 pounds, my heighest was 297. I can eat at a very large calorie defecit because my body has tons of fat to fall back on.
    When I get closer to my goal weight, I'm going to start slowly adding more calories to my diet, so that when I get to my goal, I can eat normal sized meals.

    That's exactly what I am going to do . I'm eating like 1400 / day but when I get closer to my goal weight ... I'll start eating more calories .
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    That makes perfect sense and I lose weight when I follow that rule. I gain weight when I eat my exercise calories.

    Thank you!

    Thank you. I was very confused about this because some people were saying to eat the exercise calories. I didn't understand this, because to me, it defeats the whole "purpose" of exercising in the first place. I may go over my BMR by 100 or 200 but if I do it's a peice of fruit or something light so that I can still have a little "treat" but save a lot of those calories I burned.

    I am really confused how people who eat all of their exercise calories are actually losing weight. Makes no sense to me.

    Because there is already a deficit built into your target.

    Say my non-workout TDEE is 2000, and I want to lose a lb a week = 500 calorie deficit a day, then I eat 1500. If I exercise 500 worth and 'eat them back', my total TDEE is 2500 - I eat 2000 - still a 500 calorie deficit.

    Also, there are many other benefits to exercising than just weight loss.
  • iwantahealthierme13
    iwantahealthierme13 Posts: 337 Member
    My goal is 1620. If I eat under that as long as I eat over 1200 I don't get the starvation notice, even if I net 1200, I don't get it. The starvation notice is set at 1200 for EVERYONE which doesn't make sense.
  • rmac18
    rmac18 Posts: 185 Member
    That makes perfect sense and I lose weight when I follow that rule. I gain weight when I eat my exercise calories.

    Thank you!

    Thank you. I was very confused about this because some people were saying to eat the exercise calories. I didn't understand this, because to me, it defeats the whole "purpose" of exercising in the first place. I may go over my BMR by 100 or 200 but if I do it's a peice of fruit or something light so that I can still have a little "treat" but save a lot of those calories I burned.

    I am really confused how people who eat all of their exercise calories are actually losing weight. Makes no sense to me.

    If you set your goal to lose 2 lbs per week then the result is a daily goal that will lead to that. In my case my daily goal is 1370 calories and let's say I eat 1770 calories per day and exercise to burn off 400 calories per day then after one week I'd lose 2 lbs in theory and in my case that's actually worked pretty well. If my net goes below that then I might lose a little more weight per week. However my experience is that if you go too far below it for too long then you may stop losing weight, which is what happened to me. When I upped my calories I started losing weight again. Seems crazy to eat more to weigh less but i am finding there is a balance over time and you want to stay in a zone with regard to diet and exercise that will help you accomplish your goals.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    I'm considered morbidly obese.. currently 267 pounds, my heighest was 297. I can eat at a very large calorie defecit because my body has tons of fat to fall back on.
    When I get closer to my goal weight, I'm going to start slowly adding more calories to my diet, so that when I get to my goal, I can eat normal sized meals.

    That's exactly what I am going to do . I'm eating like 1400 / day but when I get closer to my goal weight ... I'll start eating more calories .

    Sooooo your indignation on this subject is the result of 1 day's worth of logging calories?

    mmmKay.
  • Susabelle64
    Susabelle64 Posts: 207 Member
    Ya know this is getting rather heated and also rather confusing. The body adapts, if you are always pulling from your fat reserves isnt the body going to get a little worried and perhaps slow down a few functions to ensure survival? I think "starvation" mode is just a bad term. The reality is the body's thermostat is going to turn itself down regardless if you are obese or not if it starts realizing all of the calories to get up and move (anything above BMR) are coming from stores.......This is what makes sense to me. To me it just makes sense that if all of the energy required to do anything other than lay around all day (BMR) is depleting your store and you are not replacing any of it........at some point you are going to do your body some damage. Lack of energy, slowing of weight loss, up to and including critical functions shutting down.
  • queenie09
    queenie09 Posts: 25
    I have been thinking this for a long while. I never eat back my exercise calories. But I
    do eat at my BMR..

    Thanks :smile:
  • naomi8888
    naomi8888 Posts: 519 Member
    you're 18 years old--probably still developing your reproductive system and even if you aren't--your metabolism SHOULD be rather high. you're eating the very minimum for a small, sedentary female and restricting 2 major food groups. it isn't sustainable in the slightest.

    Yeah well not so much . My metabolism is rather slow , and it hurts for me to walk somewhere . Meaning I have become over weight by sitting in my room being depressed that my husband is deployed this past year . He's been gone for over a year , and I had nothing better to do then Skype him & play video games . I usually ate around 2200 calories a day if I'm not mistaken , because I ate a large pizza for one meal almost everyday . So by cutting my calories down to 1200 with no exercise , I of course lost weight . Everyone says it 's water weight , but what water ? I have no water here in my house , well until last week ... I exercise around 30-45 min and eat from 1200-1400 cal / day . And my age has nothing to do with it hunn' , so stop being prejudice .
    [/quote]
    You should have a higher metabolism at 18 and your body should be forgiving so hopefully your skin won't be too stretched, etc. Are you trying to get back to a normal weight for when your hubby gets home?
  • ChristaFall
    ChristaFall Posts: 62 Member
    http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35501
    http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html
    http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/starvation-mode-why-you-probably-never-need-to-worry-about-it/
    http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/weight-loss/truth-starvation-mode
    http://www.adonisindex.com/how-to-get-into-starvation-mode/

    Maybe people should do some looking and get the facts on how the whole "starvation mode" myth started. Unless you have less than 6% body fat and work out most of your waking hours you will NEVER experience this.

    Thank you!
  • MrsChasteen
    MrsChasteen Posts: 48 Member
    I try not to eat my exercise calories. Usually I am not hungry anyhow. I comply agree with this post and yes people do go psycho over starvation mood.
  • sdavis448
    sdavis448 Posts: 193 Member
    I'm considered morbidly obese.. currently 267 pounds, my heighest was 297. I can eat at a very large calorie defecit because my body has tons of fat to fall back on.
    When I get closer to my goal weight, I'm going to start slowly adding more calories to my diet, so that when I get to my goal, I can eat normal sized meals.

    That's exactly what I am going to do . I'm eating like 1400 / day but when I get closer to my goal weight ... I'll start eating more calories .

    You don't need to lose anywhere near as much as I do, so it's probably not a good idea to do too large of a defecit.
  • ShellBell4281
    ShellBell4281 Posts: 127 Member
    http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35501
    http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html
    http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/starvation-mode-why-you-probably-never-need-to-worry-about-it/
    http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/weight-loss/truth-starvation-mode
    http://www.adonisindex.com/how-to-get-into-starvation-mode/

    Maybe people should do some looking and get the facts on how the whole "starvation mode" myth started. Unless you have less than 6% body fat and work out most of your waking hours you will NEVER experience this.

    Thank you! I'm tired of everyone screaming STARVATION MODE!
  • DeanneLea
    DeanneLea Posts: 261


    We all got overweight by eating too much. It makes me laugh so much when people are now saying they are struggling to eat their calories due to exercise etc We didn't have a problem eating them not so long ago but now we have a problem reaching them?

    No one is saying to overeat. Eating above your BMR and below maintenance is still a deficit.

    You come off as pretty rude by the way, and you have no scientific peer reviewed studies here to back up what you're saying. There are hundreds of studies in medical journals, however, that do support eating at least your BMR.

    But you go ahead and eat your 1200 calories.

    I will eat my 1600 and be much happier. As you can see I have lost almost 20 lbs....but I guess it's not working.

    This! This should be a lifestyle change...not a diet. I eat my daily target, weekly bonus cals I have worked into my weekly total AND most exercise calories. I actually enjoy life and I'm keeping it that way.
  • Casey45
    Casey45 Posts: 160 Member
    http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35501
    http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html
    http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/starvation-mode-why-you-probably-never-need-to-worry-about-it/
    http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/weight-loss/truth-starvation-mode
    http://www.adonisindex.com/how-to-get-into-starvation-mode/

    Maybe people should do some looking and get the facts on how the whole "starvation mode" myth started. Unless you have less than 6% body fat and work out most of your waking hours you will NEVER experience this.

    Thank you!

    Hmmm will read these, then comment, if I remember and have time.
  • striveforhealthy
    striveforhealthy Posts: 137 Member
    I haven't read half of what has been said on here but...

    I eat back my calories from working out. I wasn't eating them back and plateaued for over two months. I've obviously found success and what works for me.
    Everyone is different. Everyone's body is different.
    You do what you need to do for you and I'll do what I need to do for me. :drinker:
  • angel79202
    angel79202 Posts: 1,012 Member
    ding ding ding..another argument on starvation mode :)
  • Chipmaniac
    Chipmaniac Posts: 642 Member
    There are hundreds of studies in medical journals, however, that do support eating at least your BMR.
    That's exactly what the OP suggested.
  • lisakyle_11
    lisakyle_11 Posts: 420 Member
    ...although many may disagree with me, i actually agree *with* you on this...

    *runs for cover*
  • clobercow
    clobercow Posts: 337 Member
    This idiocy again. OP. Stop spouting bull****. Thanks.
  • Gladiolus
    Gladiolus Posts: 20
    When I think of "starvation mode" I see people of skin and bones in poverty and pain, not an overweight American who missed a few thousand calories this month.

    People who actually starve to death don't have any fat on their body at the end. Just sayin'.
  • Brechin89
    Brechin89 Posts: 92
    I'm 5'4" 160lbs my bmr is 1623 according to this site...

    I've been eating around 1000-1300 calories a day. I don't eat veggies at all except corn... I eat fruits, meats, and some starches time to time.

    I burn about 200 calories at the gym on average.

    That puts me between 800-1100 calories a day.

    I'm not starving, I'm not hungry, the only thing I suffer from is some energy loss... Its not that bad either...

    Starvation mode = bull****
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