question about starvation mode - Weight Loss Message Board

lil'momma · 04-10-2004, 01:18 AM

Everyone says that if you start eating less than your metabolism will slow down and go into what they call "starvation mode". I was just wondering about something. Howcome everyone is not in starvation mode because everyone sleeps at night , about 8 hrs. average, so that is a long stretch without food. What is the difference? Also there are alot of models that really starve themselves to stay so thin, so when they quit doing that and actually eat their bodies hold on that weight. So if their bodies hold on to all the weight once they start eating again then that would mean they would keep starving everytime they gained weight and it would be a cycle being repeated over and over again, so howcome they aren't dead yet? What I mean is I know that you will probably eventually die sooner or later if you starve all the time, but I 'm wondering if this starvation mode is really just a bunch of bull. I think some people starve for a few days just to lose weight really fast but I just think that if it is really true that you just gain and hold on to it after you start eating again then alot of models would be dead because they would be in the cycle of repeating this over and over. Also there are alot of people out there who fasten sometimes for religious beliefs and it doesn't seem to affect them. Does this make any since? Anyone else feel the same about this?( it's kind of confusing)

davitude · 04-10-2004, 02:32 AM

You are essentially right, this starvation mode stuff is a bunch of BS...at least in the terms where you are hearing about it.

The only real definition of starvation mode that I've ever seen in a textbook is when your body busts up fat in a specific way to produce ketones and does this solely as a result of chronic undernutrition.

There's a reason why you are confused. When something makes no sense and people are spouting off buzzwords of hazy definition at best, it is very confusing indeed.

This issue doesn't warrant you spending your mental energy on it.

zip2play · 04-10-2004, 08:23 AM

lil'momma,

You've overlooked the fact that digestion takes a LONG time and people with a VERY QUICK food transit time take from 18-24 hours from IN to OUT. Even though food isn't being absorbed the WHOLE way (the lower colon is used primarily to resorb moisture), the trek through the small intestines takes an EASY 12 hours with nutritional removal all the time.
Another factor is the small amount of energy used while we sleep.
Nobody starves during 8 hours of sleep.

Eat too little food for days, weeks and months on end and THAT'S when the evolutionary response to starvation causes the body to preserve itself by burning as little of it's fat supply (survival source) as possible.

Logic dictates that if this regulating response (and it's opposite) weren't there many people would die quickly from food shortage and many would weigh THOUSANDS of pounds. Probably mankind would have long ago stopped existing without this response.

JAYFROMTHEHUB · 04-10-2004, 11:32 AM

I would agree. Essentially digestion can take a long time and we all have seen different weights showing up on our morning check of the scale even when we ate the same things. Our metabolism is definitely flexible and if you start starving yourself it will slow down. Haven't we all hit a plateau with weight loss? The key is that if you stick to it eventually you keep losing again, hit a plateau, etc.