Now, don't get me wrong, I don't deny that "starvation mode" is a real physiological phenomena. Wikipedia, always 100% trustworthy, say it:
"is a state in which the body is responding to prolonged periods of low caloric intake levels. During short periods of caloric abstinence, the human body will burn primarily free fatty acids from body fat stores. After prolonged periods of starvation the body has depleted its body fat and begins to burn lean tissue and muscle as a fuel source."
Aha, so it's true, prolonged low calorie diets cause starvation mode! But wait:
"Ordinarily, the body responds to reduced caloric intake by burning fat reserves first, and only consumes muscle and other tissues when those reserves are exhausted. Specifically, the body burns fat after first exhausting the contents of the digestive tract along with glycogen reserves stored in muscle and liver cells. After prolonged periods of starvation, the body will utilize the proteins within muscle tissue as a fuel source. People who practice fasting on a regular basis, such as those adhering to caloric restricted diets, can prime their bodies to abstain from food without burning lean tissue. Resistance training (such as weight lifting) can also prevent the loss of muscle mass while a person is caloric restricted."
So the truth, as always, is somewhere in between. Absolutely cutting your diet down to a very low calorie intake may eventually lead to the body counterproductively burning muscle/lean tissue, but this may not happen until after the fat stores are burned up. Rather than continuing down this path, let me point to this great blog post on the matter.
To sum up my feelings on "starvation mode," I think the "you need 1200 calories or you'll go into starvation mode and not lose any weight" meme is BS. The human body is well evolved. In our evolutionary past (like, 10 minutes ago in evolutionary time) food supplies fluctuated with the season and the game we hunted. Like every other species on this Earth, we store fat to get through periods of little/no food. Yes, in periods of little/no food your metabolism may slow some, but the body needs to use a certain amount of calories, and THAT'S WHY WE STORE FAT.
Still, it's not my intent for this diet to be some sort of crash course starvation diet. I want to make worthwhile, lasting dietary changes. I also want to get more active. So that's what I've been doing. I've exercised virtually every single day I've been on this diet, in fact, I believe it's actually been every day. I've varied the exercises though, so as to not overstress myself in any one area. I've rowed twice so far. I've gone for some long walks. I go jogging.
Food-wise, I'm eating three meals a day, and nothing tiny. I just don't really care about hitting some arbitrary 1200 number, and I normally don't.
Breakfast consists of one or two (usually two) bananas. Each banana is 100-120 calories. Two bananas is certainly not a bad breakfast.
The cornerstone of lunch is Campbell's Chunky Soup. This isn't diet food, but rather "soup that eats like a meal." It fills me up at lunch. I am especially partial to Grilled Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. One can of that is 280 calories. The Chunky Soups range from 220ish to 360ish.
Dinner is more varied. Often I'll grill myself a few pieces of chicken, and make a whole bag of steamed vegetables to go with it. Often I eat a Weight Watchers Smart One's meal. Pretty much every night I also have a "dessert" of a bag of popcorn, or a bowl of Jello. Dinner normally ends up being 400 calories, give or take.
Doing the math: 200 for breakfast + 300 for lunch + 400 for dinner = 900 calories.
But I'm not starving myself. I am hungry when it reaches meal time, but I am full once I'm done with the meal. I chew gum throughout the day to help break the chewing fixation.
Fie to you "Starvation Mode" Fie.
To sum up my feelings on "starvation mode," I think the "you need 1200 calories or you'll go into starvation mode and not lose any weight" meme is BS. The human body is well evolved. In our evolutionary past (like, 10 minutes ago in evolutionary time) food supplies fluctuated with the season and the game we hunted. Like every other species on this Earth, we store fat to get through periods of little/no food. Yes, in periods of little/no food your metabolism may slow some, but the body needs to use a certain amount of calories, and THAT'S WHY WE STORE FAT.
Still, it's not my intent for this diet to be some sort of crash course starvation diet. I want to make worthwhile, lasting dietary changes. I also want to get more active. So that's what I've been doing. I've exercised virtually every single day I've been on this diet, in fact, I believe it's actually been every day. I've varied the exercises though, so as to not overstress myself in any one area. I've rowed twice so far. I've gone for some long walks. I go jogging.
Food-wise, I'm eating three meals a day, and nothing tiny. I just don't really care about hitting some arbitrary 1200 number, and I normally don't.
Breakfast consists of one or two (usually two) bananas. Each banana is 100-120 calories. Two bananas is certainly not a bad breakfast.
The cornerstone of lunch is Campbell's Chunky Soup. This isn't diet food, but rather "soup that eats like a meal." It fills me up at lunch. I am especially partial to Grilled Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. One can of that is 280 calories. The Chunky Soups range from 220ish to 360ish.
Dinner is more varied. Often I'll grill myself a few pieces of chicken, and make a whole bag of steamed vegetables to go with it. Often I eat a Weight Watchers Smart One's meal. Pretty much every night I also have a "dessert" of a bag of popcorn, or a bowl of Jello. Dinner normally ends up being 400 calories, give or take.
Doing the math: 200 for breakfast + 300 for lunch + 400 for dinner = 900 calories.
But I'm not starving myself. I am hungry when it reaches meal time, but I am full once I'm done with the meal. I chew gum throughout the day to help break the chewing fixation.
Fie to you "Starvation Mode" Fie.
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