Lions, Tigers and... Starvation Mode?

Well, I was recently asked about my eating habits. Truth be told, I at most only eat around 1300-1500 calories a day, and often enough I don't even make it there. At first, the reason for my eating this way was to severely restrict the amount and type of foods I was eating. I'm an impulsive, binge eater. Just to be honest with everyone, my capacity for eating is almost limitless. Before I started dieting and exercising (which I like to think of as more a lifestyle change nowadays) I was eating about 8,000-10,000 calories a day, easily. Probably two or more trips to a fast food restaurant, a two liter or more of Mountain Dew, large bag of chips, couple of candy bars, and then I would usually make myself some kind of gigantic dinner. I'm the guy that can eat two large pizzas without a second thought. I can eat two boxes of spaghetti with sauce and meat, or whatever else I could find to throw on. And I could do that after a whole day of eating. My "dinner meal" at McDonald's was 5 double cheeseburgers, 2 large fries, 2 ten piece chicken nuggets, and a large sprite. That's 4870 calories, for one meal. I'm not kidding folks, it's a miracle I only weighed 240 pounds when this started... my body is a very efficient machine, my metabolism is better than most. But the reason I restrict myself is because I don't have full control over my problem, and I fear for the worst.

So I was asked by both people on this blog and people I live with, are you trying to starve yourself? Aren't you afraid of starvation mode? Yeah, I'm afraid of it, especially since I work out 3 times a week and run the rest of the time. But, here are my conclusions about starvation, based on the research I have done myself, and taken from the benefit of others.


First of all, starvation mode is not a proven science... there is no absolute, direct correlation to the idea that eating 500 calories a day will make your body "completely shut down." Here is a commonly understood example based on the idea of starvation mode. If someone whose BMR is 2000 calories a day cuts 500 calories out of their diet, it will result in gradual 1-2 pound weight loss, but their metabolism will also slow down. The difference is, you aren't going to notice a 3-5% reduction in metabolism because its such a small number, only a difference of maybe 50-70 calories a day.

A comment made on a thread I was reading says it best:

"Simply put, if, under normal circumstances, your body needs 2000 calories a day, and you consume 1500, you will lose weight, due to the deficit of 500 calories. If you consume 500 calories, initially you may lose weight at three times the rate (1500 calories' deficit), but if keep this up for a while, you will not lose weight at the same rate, because your metabolism will go down (you'll need less than 2000). This is what "starvation mode" means. It does not mean you will stop losing weight with such a low intake. It means you will not get as much benefit (weight loss) for the calories you cut out of your "normal" diet. It is the natural reaction of the body, to resist the change that is being forced upon it." (Linden)


So what does this mean? It means that starvation mode is relative to the amount of calories being consumed. Instead of your body "burning more muscle" or "storing every last nutrient and calorie", it just means that your body begins to burn less calories a day in order to survive. Think about it this way: If your car was running out of gas, you wouldn't pour motor oil into the tank, you would slow your RPM and hope/pray for a gas station. Simply put, if your body is only getting 500 calories a day, then your bodies BMR is going to drop, probably by 500-700 calories easily.

Again, this is simply based on what I have read, and what I think I know. This is a great, high fire discussion on the topic, with several scientific articles:

http://caloriecount.about.com/starvation-mode-myth-thread-see-evidence-ft46163


I have to agree with the original poster, starvation mode seemes to be a phrase designed for fear-mongering. It seems the more reasonable or accurate definition would be " significant reduction in calories = significant reduction in BMR. I'm an English major specializing in Rhetoric, so from a semi-professional standpoint, I can say that starvation mode is definatly a rhetorical device, despite and regardless of its accuracy.


So, I guess to answer a lot of people questions.... do I eat too little? Probably. Do I need to eat more? I'd love to, eventually, I probably will." Am I going to feel terrible or stop losing weight because I eat too few calories or miss a meal every once in awhile? Maybe, but mathematics don't leave room for error. In this case, its mathematical.

But more importantly, how do I feel eating such controlled portions? Well, I feel great. I have tons of energy, and I can already see/feel the difference in my chest and arms. The muscle is growing, already I've had to increase the weights on almost all my workouts. As far as I'm concerned, the way I do things works, and the signs of it working are evident.

O.K. Well instead of running tonight I went to the gym and played 2 hours of pick up basketball. I thought I was going to die, it was MUCH more challenging than my run. I think if I can, I'll try to do that from now on, but if not I can always do my route outside. Aaand, I'm gonna try and stop counting calories, so I'll stop posting what I eat every day. Lets see how that goes.