Starvation Mode Does Not Exist
The theory of “starvation mode” is something that fuels obsessive compulsive eating in North America and throughout the world.
To use a very basic definition, starvation mode is when your metabolism supposedly slows down when you don’t eat enough calories. More often than not this definition is used to support very complex diet programs.
These diets will tell you that not eating enough food will cause you to store more fat. Right after delivering this pseudo-science message of fear they then tell you the only solution is to keep eating, and here is the catch, you must eat the special foods they recommend.
This is just another example of fear mongering and confusion created by the food, diet and supplement industry that ultimately leads to obsessive compulsive eating.
They are actually trying to tell you that eating less food won’t help you lose weight, and in fact might actually cause you to gain weight – Fear mongering at its best.
The truth is a large body of scientific research shows you can eat very low calories for extended periods of time with no change in your metabolism and, no decrease in muscle mass, as long as you do some form of resistance training (I cover a large part of this research in Eat Stop Eat).
This is one of the major reasons why so many people are afraid that eating too much food or too little food will have a negative effect on their metabolism.
In my opinion the scientific research is clear: You can eat very low calorie for an extended period of time. As long as you do some weight training the only thing that is going to happen is an impressive amount of fat loss.
And if the existing body of research wasn’t enough to convince you, here is more proof that you can lose significant amounts of weight without losing muscle mass or damaging your metabolism as long as you are using resistance training as part of your weight loss plan.
In a study just published in the Journal of Obesity, researchers examined the effects of losing 25 pounds on 94 women who either
A) Followed a resistance training workout program
B) Followed an aerobic training program
C) Did not workout at all
These women were asked to follow a diet consisting of 800 Calories until they reduced their BMI down to less than 25 (The average 25 pounds of weight loss). The women continued this diet for as long as 5 months straight (not something I would personally recommend without being medically monitored).
The researchers found that the women who were following the resistance training workout program maintained their Fat Free Mass during the time they were on the diet. This means that even though they lost 25 pounds they were able to preserve their muscle mass. Therefore all 25 pounds that these women lost was fat!
They also found the group of women who were following the resistance training workout program preserved their metabolic rate. In other words, they did not see any metabolic “slow down” as a result of losing 25 pounds, or from being on a 800 Calorie per day diet for 5 months!
Interestingly, the researchers found decreases in Fat Free Mass in the women who did not workout AND in the women who performed aerobic training.
More evidence that resistance training while following a weight reducing diet program can preserve lean mass and metabolic rate.
This is yet another example of why the Eat Stop Eat combination of flexible intermittent fasting and resistance training can help you lose fat without losing muscle or lowering your metabolism.
*This has been a guest post by Brad Pilon, a nutrition professional with over eight years experience working in the nutritional supplement industry specializing in clinical research management and new product development. For more information on Eat Stop Eat, visit www.EatStopEat.com
Question For YOU!
Please answer one or more of these questions in the comments section below:
- Were you under the impression that caloric restriction would decrease your metabolism?
- Does these data make you rethink the number of calories you eat each day?
- Do you think you will try to restrict your caloric intake even further every day?
- Have you tried intermittent fasting?
- Are you interested in trying intermittent fasting and Eat Stop Eat?
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Great guest blog post.
I find when I miss meals, I just end up eating more at night which leads to weight gain.
Rick Kaselj of http://ExercisesForInjuries.com
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Hi Rick, that can happen! I find I get hungry and lose a little control around 4 pm every day whether I eat breakfast and lunch or not. I guess no matter what the diet “rules” are, you always have to figure out what works best for you. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
Hi Susan:
Well I am amazed, with the first impression, knowing that you are Masters in Exercise Physiology, and you have a great looking blog with elite information.
All the best
fran A
Thanks Fran, appreciate the kind words but it’s not all that impressive.
Many actually go for starvation mode just to maintain their figure. However, for some people this can’t really be effective most especially if they are doing so many activities. They might end up collapsing for the reason, lack of food intake.
I suppose if someone actually tried the caloric restriction example from the research above then yes, one might collapse when trying to do activity. But if you are doing intermittent fasting, you will get all the nutrients and energy your body needs to perform the tasks you challenge it with.
Thanks, Samantha.
Twitter: larryrivera
January 13, 2011 at 10:44 am
Hi Susan, as a martial artist I train pretty much 6 days a week. I have been told by my doctors that over training is bad.
The thing is I have been training like this for 6 years. Never had an injury and I always feel great. I agree with you, at the heart of it is money and greed.
Ultimately we are what we eat. I believe that nutrition, health and wellness has been kept in the dark. After all, the doctors and pharmacies would go broke if people where actually healthy. Thanks for sharing!
It’s all about money, Larry, that’s my personal opinion behind the fitness and diet lies that get spread around. But what do I know?
Twitter: sweetsfoods
January 13, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Hi Brad and Susan,
Excellent guest post. I’m a sportsman who trains aerobic sports like running, bike, swimming, triathlon-style and I can guarantee you that you can eat a lot and don’t increase weight.
A diet of 800 calories is insane and doesn’t lead nowhere because after ending, you’ll have a yo-yo effect of needing food desperately, with the bad-weight corresponding effects. Starvation mode doesn’t help at all in health and weight loss.
Cheers,
Gera
Hey Gera, the diet of 800 calories that was done in the study Brad mentioned was to demonstrate the fact that your body does not go in to starvation mode just because of chronic caloric restriction. Brad is NOT suggesting one eat that way. He suggests intermittent fasting, which allows you to eat normally most days of the week and fast for 24 hour periods to get the many benefits of fasting and to reduce calories.
Thanks so much for your comment!
Twitter: sweetsfoods
January 14, 2011 at 9:27 am
Susan I know it was a scientific study and that Brad didn’t suggested ….but, I have some friends who have done diets of 1000 / 1200 cals….and of course didn’t work
Cheers,
Gera
Yeah, it is easier to restrict calories every few days then it is on a daily basis!
Twitter: thompsonland
January 13, 2011 at 2:31 pm
Brad (and Susan),
I had a doctor once tell me [the secret] to weight loss in simple English: if you don’t do anything, the human body burns 2000 calories a day. If you eat more than 2000 calories in a day, you’ll gain weight. If you eat less, you’ll lose it.
Now, this was VERY simplified, but I never forgot it. I could be so picky about having to eat “diet” food (often with far more unhealthy ingredients like Aspartame), but I couldn’t run from the fact that if my caloric intake was less than my calories burned (and particularly if I worked out), I would have a better chance of losing weight.
Now, I went on to learn that there are some foods that still make me feel awful, and foods (berries, nuts, and veggies) that make me feel awesome! I try to stick with those. No need to make it so complicated.
I tried to starve myself once. Lasted through lunch.
Hey Bryan!
Yes, that is very simplistic! We all are different (gender, height, weight, activity level, age) so you can’t really put one number on our BMR like that doctor did. But I wonder how close he was to an average BMR? Interesting.
And I love when people figure out what foods actually make them feel awesome and which ones slow them down and make them feel like crap! Awesome work! And no need to starve yourself, per say.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us!
Interesting post. Might I ask why you say “not something I would personally recommend without being medically monitored.”? If it’s regarded as “healthy” then what are the dangers?
I’m at a BMI of about 25 right now, so if it took someone 5 months of 800 calorie eating and strength training to get down to 25, they must have been obese, correct? This seems a lot different than it would be for someone who’s at a BMI to 25 start an 800 calorie diet, simply because they wouldn’t have comparable fat stores to make up the deficiency. Perhaps the body doesn’t enter starvation mode until the body has minimal fat stores?
Are there any reports of what happened to the test subjects when they resumed their “normal” caloric intake? I think that this would be a much better indication of what the effects are of this type of a diet. I’ve always associated starvation diets with “yo-yo” type diets that cause significant weight gain once you begin eating “normal”.
Sorry for so many questions…I guess it proves you intrigued me.
Take Care,
-Matt
Hey Matt, good question regarding the medically monitored comment. While Brad is showing you that research has been done using a low calorie diet at 800 cals per day for 5 months without slowing your metabolism or losing lean mass, he isn’t recommending caloric restriction in this manor if weight loss is your goal. At 800 cals per day for 5 months it isn’t so much a question of your metabolism slowing down as it is you may not be getting all the nourishment you need. And if you are a woman then this might really screw up your girlie processes.
The study was meant to demonstrate Brads point, albeit extreme. Brad’s caloric restriction method of choice is not chronic restriction but intermittent fasting.
Regarding your question on fat stores and starvation mode: That could be viable, not sure if there is any research like this in lean people. We know that obese people actually have higher metabolisms then lean people and that as they lose weight their metabolism naturally slow down. Hopefully Brad will stop by and shed some light on this and the Yo Yo issue you bring up…..
Great questions, Matt, thanks for the awesome comments!
Twitter: thatfigureswf
January 13, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Very interesting information. The only thing I know is that for me personally, extreme calorie limiting doesn’t work because I just cannot function. I get weak, achy, dizzy, and feel cold after only about a day and a half. But that’s just me…..
Hey Deb, your caloric restriction might be a little too extreme if that happens. Even 1200-1400 calories per day (which is low for women but I am not sure what you weigh or how tall you are) is considered caloric restriction and will help reduce weight. Hopefully, you wouldn’t feel dizzy or cold with that # of calories. But more importantly, if you simply do something like intermittent fasting (as Brad describes in his East Stop Eat program, you spend most days per week eating normally (minus the crap) and 1-2 days per week fasting. Easy peasy.
You could also use a smaller daily eating window several days per week as your fasting routine. Either way, most days of the week you eat normally so you don’t actually feel like you are depriving yourself.
Thanks so much for adding to the conversation!
Twitter: phitzone
January 13, 2011 at 5:46 pm
Interesting post. In my experience, what will happen after long periods of extremely reduced calories is that the metabolism resets and goes haywire. Then you have to go through the whole process of resetting it. I disagree that the idea of “starvation mode” is from the crazy fad diets. I’ve heard this used for many, many years, by dieticians and clinical nutritionists who were not trying to sell products or fad diets.
Hey Todd, what do you define as long periods of reduced calories? I’m personally not convinced we even can alter our metabolisms all that much, except through exercise (and that’s temporary) and gaining and losing weight (and it’s not all that much).
I hope all the dietitians and physicians out there don’t shoot me when they read this, but they are NOT the epitome of sound nutrition education. I read somewhere that 16% of doctors to be actually take any nutrition courses at all. Am I going to rely on my GP for diet advice? Hell no – he’s spewing the same garbage as the media and everyone else who buys into it. As for Nutritionists, they tell us what the governments wants us to know. I would bet that the food and drug companies actually create the curriculum for them and the government is in on it. Everything comes down to money.
And I really am frightened by the comment you made about how you have heard it for many years so it has to be true. How long have we heard that fat is bad for you? How long have we heard that milk does a body good? Or that you can only get your calcium from milk? Or that margarine is better then butter? Or that we need to eat many small meals throughout the day to lose weight? Or that eating dietary cholesterol will directly increase your blood cholesterol levels.
My point is, we shouldn’t accept conventional wisdom just because it is conventional. Look at the research. Question everything.
Sorry if that was a little rant like. Thank you, as always for adding to the conversation!
Hi Susan, I am with you all the way about the myth of starvation. Unfortunately, some people get too desperate to slim down immediately forgetting the fact that they accumulated their size over years. I got a friend who’s exactly like I described. But if we understand our body and we listen to what our body signals say then we would end up far healthier.
I used to have a problem with weight as well. But I found that there are foods that make me feel bloated so I took note of them and tried to avoid them.
I will mark your site and share it with my friend. I’m sure she will be happy to read it especially because she’s into fasting as well.
Thanks Anne, there definitely are foods that make you feel better and less bloated then others. We know what those foods are but in the end it is probably specific to that person. I lay off as much refined carbs as I can and I generally don’t have a problem. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.
Twitter: skywardjason
January 14, 2011 at 10:29 am
Brad,
Honestly Brad,
Even though I’ve been through a massive lifestyle change over the past 14 months where I’ve began exercising and eating better, I haven’t really thought much about how my diet affects my metabolism….so needless to say, this was very informative.
I’m very interested in learning more about your eat stop eat, methodology.
I heard a study a few years ago that stated that there were three habits that most influenced long term weight loss:
1. eating breakfast every morning
2. weighing yourself daily
3. and exercising at home
I applied these three and have lost over 60 lbs over the past year. I feel fit and trim now, but am definitely ready to take things to the next level….that’s why I’m really coming to love Susan’s site. Thanks so much for this great post Brad!
Hey Jason! Glad you are enjoying my site! Those 3 things you mentioned above is great advice…..but we know that everyone is not the same and what works for one person won’t necessarily work for others. Additionally, it has been hypothesized that the concept of eating breakfast because it is the most important meal of the day is really just a myth put forth by the breakfast cereal industry to try to get you to eat more of their products. At the end of the day, you have to find what works best for you. Congratulations on finding it and having great results!
Twitter: projectswole
January 14, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Although I’m not sure about the theory of starvation mode, I do agree that Intermittent Fasting is the way to go. I’m about to embark on at least 5 days a week of IF, eating at noon, then 3 meals targeted around my workout, and finally at 8pm I will eat my last snack or meal and call it quits. The goal of course will be fat loss, with strength gains ideally. Still not sure about fasted training to gain muscle, which Martin of Leangains promotes, but hell if it works I don’t mind trying it! Thanks for the great post.
Hey Steve, thanks for the comment. The theory behind fasting to gain muscle is that growth hormone, our major anabolic hormone to stimulate muscle growth) is more readily secreted in the absence of circulating insulin in the blood stream. The longer periods of time in a fasted state, the more growth hormone you will secrete. So, it is plausible and some people have gotten great results. Again, we are all different so we really just have to find the one program that works for us to meet our goals.
People should never starve themselves, why would you want to do such a thing?
Work out in a natural way, eat healthy and eventually good things will follow…
Right on, Roshan!
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