"Starvation mode" fact or fiction?

B

BerryBerry

Silver Member
Hi all

I have been CC for a couple of months now. I have lost over 5kg but the loss has been slow and appears to have stalled a bit in recent weeks. I have been exercising every day but doing a variety of different things from running and circuits to strength training and yoga.

My daily calorie allowance is 1200 which I rarely reach in the week despite eating every few hours ( I eat a lot of berries and salad which doesn't add up to much). On the weekends I eat more perhaps 1500-1800 calories.

I understand the theory behind your body not getting enough nutrients to function and thus slowly down the weightloss process to conserve its energy supplies but is it really true? And how long can such a 'mode' exist, surely even if I am under, after a few months my body should adjust to the lower intake higher exercise regime.

Getting a bit annoyed by the whole thing as I want to be losing 1kg a week consistently.

Had anyone got any suggestions?
 
Hallelujah - not for the slow loss, but this exactly what's happening to me and I really don't 'get' the whole starvation mode thing! Hopefully someone could shed some light on it x
 
My opinion is you're eating too few calories for the amount of exercise you're doing. 1200 is the minimum a woman should eat daily to lose weight, and if you're exercising everyday at high intensity then it may be your body is burning more calories than its consuming therefore going into starvation mode.

Look at the stickies on these calorie counting boards, there's a Harris benedict equation to work out calories, and you may find you should be eating quite a bit more. Seems odd but sometimes the more you eat the more you lose!

All the best x

starting weight - 13st o goal weight - 10st
 
It just seems so counter intuative because if I wasn't using MFP and counting calories I would never think I wasn't eating enough as I eat healthily and regularly.

I drink GALLONS of water.

Even if I could sort of get my head around your body having the ability to burn MORE calories if you give it the energy to (metabolism shall we say) does the basic rule still not win - that if you are using more calories than you consume you will lose weight?
 
'starvation mode' is where the body thinks there is a famine, its survival so we dont die, it goes back to the start of time. think about cavemen, or hunters and gatherers, they lived off the land and sometimes food was scarce, in these times their calorie consumption would be very very low, in order for their bodies not to lose all its weight and make them seriously ill, the metabolism slows down and holds on to water and metabolises food at a much slower rate meaning that the body then doesnt lose weight as fast as it initially did. the way to combat this is to either drop cals further which you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT DO, increase exercise which i dont think thats needed or simply eat a few more cals a day, not above 1500 but just try having 200-300 more a day for 2 weeks, i know your probably scared that this means youll gain but trust me you wont, and youll kick start your metabolism again, the other thing ive heard of is to have 3 days a week of having 2000 cals a day and alternating with having 1200 the other days...this way your body doesnt think its in a famine and will keep burning cals at a higher rate...thats the theory anyway.
 
Thanks Lou. I do eat more on the weekends so I would have thought I have staved off going into the dreaded mode!!! I'm not sure whether it is perhaps a plateau. I will try and get closer to the 1200 calorie mark, and I suppose eat back more exercise calories and see how it goes. So frustrating.
 
BerryBerry said:
Thanks Lou. I do eat more on the weekends so I would have thought I have staved off going into the dreaded mode!!! I'm not sure whether it is perhaps a plateau. I will try and get closer to the 1200 calorie mark, and I suppose eat back more exercise calories and see how it goes. So frustrating.
Click to expand...

It is frustrating but just mix it up a bit. Do different exercise and eat different foods. It may trick
Your body into action xx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
Watch the sugar content in your fruit, you could be sensitive to it and plateau because of this( I'm not saying cut out fruit) but try for a week to get your main calories from veg/ protein and complex low gi carbs. Remember eat a rainbow of veg. Try it for a week.
 
Thanks vegetarian - its interesting to hear it from so many people who have first hand experience of it. I'm going to try upping a bit more weekdays to perhaps 1500 at first as I prob have around 1800 weekends anyway. Fingers crossed things speed up a bit!
 
Hello BerryBerry. As you know, the aim of diets based on caloric restriction is to withhold calories in an attempt to cause the body to feed on its own fat stores. This is starvation. It is also sort of ridiculous because it is one of the slowest and most painful ways to lose excess fat.

It is much easier, and much less distressing, to lose weight by simply eating healthy, nutrient-dense foods, consisting of unrefined vegetables and fruits. No need to risk putting the body into starvation mode.


If we include an appropriate source of protein, such as may be derived from organic meats, our bodies release hormones such as glucagon that allow us to burn fat efficiently while keeping hunger at bay. We can then eat full meals without skimping on portion size, and still lose excess weight.

At the moment, your reduced protein intake is probably resulting in lost muscle mass, in spite of your vigorous exercise regimen. This has led to a slowdown in your metabolism, which explains why your weight loss efforts have stalled lately.

I feel I should also point out that you may be putting yourself at grave risk.

When you exercise, you are breaking down muscle tissue and you require dietary protein in order to repair those muscles. Without it, your muscles may become bruised and tender. Worse still, small bits of muscle may break off and find their way into the blood stream, causing a serious heart event, or even a heart attack or stroke.

I would strongly advise you to reconsider you current approach to losing weight.
 
Thanks for your response Danthor.

Just a few points: I wouldn't say I have a reduced protein intake, my opening post might have been misleading - in no way am I only eating salad and berries, I have yogurt or porridge in the mornings and always have tuna or chicken with veg as my lunch and some form of protein at dinner, I wouldn't say I was skimping on portion size either. I snack on fruit and veg and have also been eating biltong which provides a good whack of protein as snack in the afternoon. My diet is mostly made up from "healthy, nutrient-dense foods, consisting of unrefined vegetables and fruits" as you rightly say is the best way to go about it.

In actual fact my diet has remained pretty similar to before I started logging in My Fitness Pal and I have always been moderately active. I have just been exercising more than usual and cutting out alcohol and rubbish snacks in the week.

Thank you for your concern but I feel I have to point out the above as I personally don't think I am being irresponsible in my approach to losing a small amount of weight. In that respect, I don't think it particularly helpful to quote very serious medical side effects without being a professional and certainly without knowing the full story of someones day to day life style.
 
Danthor said:
Hello BerryBerry. As you know, the aim of diets based on caloric restriction is to withhold calories in an attempt to cause the body to feed on its own fat stores. This is starvation. It is also sort of ridiculous because it is one of the slowest and most painful ways to lose excess fat.

It is much easier, and much less distressing, to lose weight by simply eating healthy, nutrient-dense foods, consisting of unrefined vegetables and fruits. No need to risk putting the body into starvation mode.

If we include an appropriate source of protein, such as may be derived from organic meats, our bodies release hormones such as glucagon that allow us to burn fat efficiently while keeping hunger at bay. We can then eat full meals without skimping on portion size, and still lose excess weight.

At the moment, your reduced protein intake is probably resulting in lost muscle mass, in spite of your vigorous exercise regimen. This has led to a slowdown in your metabolism, which explains why your weight loss efforts have stalled lately.

I feel I should also point out that you may be putting yourself at grave risk.

When you exercise, you are breaking down muscle tissue and you require dietary protein in order to repair those muscles. Without it, your muscles may become bruised and tender. Worse still, small bits of muscle may break off and find their way into the blood stream, causing a serious heart event, or even a heart attack or stroke.

I would strongly advise you to reconsider you current approach to losing weight.
Click to expand...

Are you serious?? Working out can cause muscle to break off leading to heart events??? Lol I've googled this and There is NOTHING on this and in actual fact the thing that causes heart attacks is plaque that breaks off and clogs arteries, plaque is caused by too much cholesterol. And another FACT for you reduction in calories is the way EVERY diet works, it's just dressed up and packaged different. Calorie counting is the basic way of doing it but Sw, ww, slimfast, dukan, Cambridge etc ALL work on the same principle..... Reducing calorie intake. The body loses weight when the output is more than the input. It's as simple as that. Not sure where your getting your info from but you are very wrong

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
conlou1 said:
Are you serious?? Working out can cause muscle to break off leading to heart events??? Lol I've googled this and There is NOTHING on this and in actual fact the thing that causes heart attacks is plaque that breaks off and clogs arteries, plaque is caused by too much cholesterol. And another FACT for you reduction in calories is the way EVERY diet works, it's just dressed up and packaged different. Calorie counting is the basic way of doing it but Sw, ww, slimfast, dukan, Cambridge etc ALL work on the same principle..... Reducing calorie intake. The body loses weight when the output is more than the input. It's as simple as that. Not sure where your getting your info from but you are very wrong

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
Click to expand...


For the most part exercise is safe and a very good way to burn calories- the body is designed to exercise.

In some very extreme cases of over-exertion a thing called 'Rhabdomyolysis' can occur where the muscles do break-down, releasing toxins and putting a strain on the kidneys which can lead to kidney failure and can be fatal. It is very very uncommon

xx
 
Amelie24 said:
For the most part exercise is safe and a very good way to burn calories- the body is designed to exercise.

In some very extreme cases of over-exertion a thing called 'Rhabdomyolysis' can occur where the muscles do break-down, releasing toxins and putting a strain on the kidneys which can lead to kidney failure and can be fatal. It is very very uncommon

xx
Click to expand...

Yes but bits of muscle don't break off and cause heart problems as previous poster said. Lol

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
If bits of muscle do fall off , how are they going to fight their way into the arteries in the first place to block them? Unless they wrap themselves around the outside in a stranglehold cutting off circulation! Lol fantastic thought :)

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
I believe Danthor was referring to an illness called Rhabdomyolysis, which is caused by various traumatic conditions usually but also (in rare cases) by severe overexertion.

@toofatkat
The bits of muscle are of course broken down before they find their way into the bloodstream, you can't really picture bits of tissue "fighting" their way in. ;)
 
I'm an emergency nurse and formally a critical care nurse ... I have to but in here after looking after lots of patients with rhabdomyolysis ....
It's where following crush injuries and rarely strenuous exercise the muscles tear and the muscle fibres release a protein that can damage kidneys ..! Renal failure is the problem that occurs with this ...
I will post a link when I have one ... I liked after a young chap not long ago who ran a marathon and had it he was ok tho thankfully ... It's rare it happens with sport ... It's usually a result of trauma

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins
 
Thank you for the extra info, I'm not afraid to admit that my knowledge on the subject is limited to hearsay and what google spits out. ;)
 
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