Starvation mode

LegacyUser

I'm just wondering if anyone knows, if you eat stuff that might not be calorie-high, but where a person isn't starving because of a new healthy diet, could the body go into 'starvation mode'?

I have recently started eating very healthily, with no junk food/ many processed foods etc. I'm a vegetarian and I really love fruit/veg/salads/chickpeas/porridge... food like that. I heard that it is very bad to go below 1200 calories for a female and that it might be damaging, or one might go into 'starvation mode' (and if they eat in starvation mode, the body will automatically try and store it as fat).

I genuinely am not hungry or anything.I just don't think the food I'm eating adds up enough to clock up the daily recommended calorie intake. I'm a normal weight (and although I'd be quite happy to go down a dress size, I'm just trying to be healthy. If weight loss happens, then great, if not, at least I won't be consuming lots of rubbish). Thanks in advance. I just don't want to damage my health long term if I don't eat the recommended calorie intake, so it's good to ask about this early on.

Splendour

newhealtyeater wrote: »

I'm just wondering if anyone knows, if you eat stuff that might not be calorie-high, but where a person isn't starving because of a new healthy diet, could the body go into 'starvation mode'?

I have recently started eating very healthily, with no junk food/ many processed foods etc. I'm a vegetarian and I really love fruit/veg/salads/chickpeas/porridge... food like that. I heard that it is very bad to go below 1200 calories for a female and that it might be damaging, or one might go into 'starvation mode' (and if they eat in starvation mode, the body will automatically try and store it as fat).

I genuinely am not hungry or anything.I just don't think the food I'm eating adds up enough to clock up the daily recommended calorie intake. I'm a normal weight (and although I'd be quite happy to go down a dress size, I'm just trying to be healthy. If weight loss happens, then great, if not, at least I won't be consuming lots of rubbish). Thanks in advance. I just don't want to damage my health long term if I don't eat the recommended calorie intake, so it's good to ask about this early on.

If I were you, I'd be more concerned about the type of food you're consuming rather than the amount of calories. Sounds like you could do with more protein and fats in your diet. You will most certainly damage your health if you don't eat the necessary food your body requires.

jmauel

chickpeas do contain protein you know. Your diet seems fine to me but you could maybe add some oily fish to it. and vary the vegs and salads

Zippie84

you might get a higher response rate in the nutrition and diet forum?

Macha

jmauel wrote: »

chickpeas do contain protein you know. Your diet seems fine to me but you could maybe add some oily fish to it. and vary the vegs and salads

S/he said they're vegetarian..therefore no fish.

newhealtyeater wrote: »

I'm just wondering if anyone knows, if you eat stuff that might not be calorie-high, but where a person isn't starving because of a new healthy diet, could the body go into 'starvation mode'?

Don't worry you can't "break" your metabolism by eating small amounts of calories. However, you're right in thinking that a sharp reduction in calories can cause your body to "fight" to hold onto fat stores.

Really, the best weight-loss is slow and steady. More a lifestyle change and something you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life, not a 2-week "detox" plan where you lose 10 lbs but just put it all back on as soon as you go back to eating normally.

newhealtyeater wrote: »

I genuinely am not hungry or anything.I just don't think the food I'm eating adds up enough to clock up the daily recommended calorie intake. I'm a normal weight (and although I'd be quite happy to go down a dress size, I'm just trying to be healthy. If weight loss happens, then great, if not, at least I won't be consuming lots of rubbish). Thanks in advance. I just don't want to damage my health long term if I don't eat the recommended calorie intake, so it's good to ask about this early on.

If you put your weight and height, it might be easier to see what your daily calorie intake should be but 1200 is definitely on the low end of the scale and will almost definitely result in weight loss.

If you're looking to raise your calorie intake but remain healthy, I would recommend you include some healthy, but calorie-dense foods into your diet. ie good fats. So avocado, nuts, peanut butter (the 100% peanut kind) seeds, oils in salad dressings etc.

af_thefragile

Yes, its kinda true. Though it depends on person and the situation and there is nothing as a black and white "starvation mode" but when you're not eating enough, your body will slow down its metabolism to compensate for the lack of food. Due to this slowed metabolism your body will burn your food more slowly and it'll start to convert most of it to fat for storage in tough times. You will also start to feel tired and lazy.

This is what happens when most people try to lose weight through diet alone. They cut down their food intake to levels below their normal intake and so due to the lack of food their body slows down its metabolism and starts converting their food to fats for storage. They will then lose like 10-20lbs and when they give up the diet and start eating normally again, they'll end up gaining more weight than they lost cuz their bodies have now become efficient at converting their food to fat stores and with the lowered metabolism they don't even require that much energy to move, hence most of the food they eat will become fat and they'll end up fatter than what they started off with.

Your diet seems fine. Chickpeas and porridge contain a good amount of protein but you've gotta make sure you eat loads of it as their protein content is much lesser than meat. Fish is a really good food to make up for your lack of protein and important omega3 fatty acids found in the fish. But if you're the vegan kind, then just eat loads of chickpeas and porridge.

The vegs and salads are good for other vitamins and minerals but you've gotta make sure you've got all the colors in there. As in you've got everything from lettuce (which has very little nutritional value) to carrots (rich in vit A) to loads of spinach (rich in vit K and Iron) to tomatos, oranges (vit c), apples, the whole lot!
Orrrr... as an easier way out of the modern day, take a tablet of multivitamins like centrum everyday (actually its good to take one anyway).

You might still find yourself lacking in certain key vitamins like vit. D and minerals like Calcium and Iron. But centrum might make up for vit. D and Iron, it doesn't have enough calcium in it and your body needs a lot of calcium (its around 1g/day). So drink milk. Atleast a glass of it everyday.

And now all those foods have easily gone past 4000 calories atleast. What are you gonna do with the surplus of food from stopping it making you fat? Yup, this is the hardest bit. You've gotta burn it off or store it as protein (instead of fat) by exercising!!
Exercising will increase your metabolism (as opposed to diet which decreases it) so your body now becomes efficient at burning your food straight through carbohydrates without converting them into fats and also starts converting the excess food into proteins instead of fats (cuz your body has now become energy demanding and fats are too slow to give their energy). Your body will start to burn fat even when you're just sitting. And there are a million more health benefits of exercising from healthy heart to stronger bones and joints which can spare you from heart diseases (which are the most common cause of deaths around the world) and arthritis.

This is how you'll stay healthy and not gain weight.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Eat plenty eggs and drink some soya milk. And request this gets moved to the nutrition forum

jellie

what ive been told is that you shouldnt be more than 4hrs between eating in order to keep your metabolism going. "starvation mode" will happen because your body has been so long without food that it stores the fat in case it wont get any more for another long time.

the reason for eating breakfast is similar, to start your metabolism in the morning.

this info was from a fairly reliable source so i think its right, but dont attack me if im wrong!

abi2007

fruit juices, nuts, potatoes, some soups, cheese and milk.

LegacyUser

Just to say thanks very much for the replies. At_the_fragile- that make a lot of sense!. And Sar84- I've been trying to do that, so hopefully I'm on the right track!. I've only been eating 'healthily' (with lots of raw types of food / unprocessed etc) this past week and I feel really amazing from it already. It's incredible how eating junk food before affected my mood. So hopefully no starvation mode then . Thanks again.

MelonieHead

newhealtyeater wrote: »

I heard that it is very bad to go below 1200 calories for a female and that it might be damaging, or one might go into 'starvation mode' (and if they eat in starvation mode, the body will automatically try and store it as fat).

Just to clarify, it's not 1200, it's 800.

af_thefragile

MelonieHead wrote: »

Just to clarify, it's not 1200, it's 800.

A lot of diet/health websites/sources actually state 1200. Anyway, anything below your guided daily caloric intake in not healthy imo.

MelonieHead

No, I'm sorry but when I know facts I don't budge. It's 800.

Zaph

I honestly think that this one would get a lot of better advice in the Nutrition & Diet forum, as the guys over there really know their stuff.

OP, as you won't be able to post unregged over there, I suggest creating a new account called newhealtyeater just for this thread.

Moved from PI.

FruitLover

MelonieHead wrote: »

Just to clarify, it's not 1200, it's 800.

If you think taking in fewer than 1200 calories a day is not unhealthy, you're having a laugh.

taram

MelonieHead wrote: »

No, I'm sorry but when I know facts I don't budge. It's 800.

But that doesn't take into account the person's weight at all, a 12 stone woman and a 32 stone would go into starvation mode with different levels of calories due to the needs their bodies have just to stay warm.