Hello everyone,

I have been on Atkins for some time now and have been trying to figure out a few things about starvation mode.

How long would you need to eat low amount of calories to get into starvation mode?

A day, two days more. What if you eat low one day and high next day and then repeat, would that put you in starvation mode?

What if you just do a low calorie day once a week and mix up the day, one week Friday, one week Wednesday.

Would that place you in starvation mode?


What if you exercise a lot and normal, but with the high exercise you might not realize that you are actually too low in calories for your activity level (but above 1500 a day), would that place you in starvation mode?

I have not been able to even find an average time a body would place itself in starvation mode, 3 days? A week?

Anyone has any iformation or experiences to share?

Thank you very much for your responses in advance.
If I posted this in a wrong forum, I appologize.
I might also post this in general low carb forum, if it is ok to do it two places.

I am really interested in this since I have heard of clinics that do extreme low calorie diets for the extremly obese and they lose weight! There are 800 calorie diets out there that people are doing and they still lose weight. So it seems to me that if you stay low calorie, eventually you will get out of the starvation mode and continue to lose weight. But how long does that take?

I am not interested in doing an extreme low calorie diet but I see the term "starvation mode" thrown around this forum like a ping-pong with no information about it.

For me, I try to stay between 900 and 1600 calories a day. I know that is a wide range. I usually do day 1=1400, day 2=1200, day 3=1200, day 4=900, day 5=1600, day 6=1200, day 7=1200. Not always in that order but close to it. Some days I am hungry and others I am not. In the past I have found that this works well for me. While doing it this way I have never had a "stall" in weight loss.

And exactly what constitutes a "stall"? How long do you have to not lose weight before it's considered a "stall"?

I am greatful for any information that can be given on these questions!!

A stall is generally considered to be:

-6 weeks when you are sticking with your program (not cheating or sort of doing it)
-and no losses in pounds OR inches.

This is just MY idea of what 'Starvation Mode' means.

If you don't eat enough calories, your body is not going to go into 'Starvation Mode' and completely stop losing weight. That's impossible. Your body has to get it's fuel from somewhere and if you aren't eating enough it's going to take your fat.

HOWEVER, when you do eat extra calories, your body with say YAY FOOD!!! and instantly store that as fat. Essentially, it's just slowing your metabolism down... not stopping it.

Just my $.02

Linnea

I havent read about it in regards to this plan but in weight watchers they talk about it a lot.
I looked through the book several times and Dr A doesnt talk starvation mode at all. He doesnt get into how little calories you can eat until he talks about the fat fast and metabolic resistance.. The fat fast has you at 1000 calories for 4 days and then 1200 for over a week so that tells me there that those numbers are not too low. Also, if you look at the weight loss studies he cites you will find that 1000 calories is the average limit they put on even obese people to conduct weight loss studies.
I think 1000 is probably the limit. But a few years ago I dropped weight really fast doing 900 calories a day and 60 min. of running a day without a problem.
And I am not a little lady !
First check out how many calories you really need to stay alive. Do the math from there-this is a good calculator:
http://www.jimkaras.net/loss_math01.cfm
I think mainly anorexics have the starvation mode issue. A lot of folks wouldnt stay with this plan if they felt limited-felt being the operative word.
Better not to feel limited but end up limited anyway by the natural order of the plan-induction does not allow for a large amount of calories as those foods are limited-cream to 3 T a day and cheese to a max of 3 oz. Both of those products are insignificant in regards to carbs- mozzerella cheese has so little carbs and the benefits of calcium are greater than the benefits of veggies but he limits you. Then he says unlimited muscle meats-then goes on to say that protein is self limiting-how many people get fat by eating only lamb chops? So there are many ways that calories are limited in this plan, but not obvious at first.

I'm no expert either, and I don't know how long it takes to go into "Starvation Mode". But I do know that when you are on extremely low calorie diets, you can lose weight, but you will be losing MUSCLE as well as fat, because your body will literally begin to eat itself, including muscle and fat and eventually organ tissue.

Also, since your body perceives it is starving, it slows your metabolism down as far as possible, as it is desperately trying to hold on to as much fat, muscle and organ tissue as possible so it will survive as long as this "starvation" is happening to it.

Yes, people lose weight, but they rarely keep it off for long, because once they stop eating the super low calorie diet, and begin to eat more regularly, their metabolism has slowed down so much that they gain weight rapidly on fewer calories than before. The body is now trying to "store up" as much fat as possible so that it will be ready for the next starvation. It doesn't know another one might not be coming!

That is why people who get gastric bypass surgery must take volumes of supplements for life. Also why some seem to lose just so much weight, then stop even though they eat so very little. And even why some gain weight after having lost it after surgery.

Not to mention: loss of hair, and many other deleterious effects starvation has on the body, some of them irreversable, makes starvation diets a bad idea, IMO.

I have researched all kinds of diets and have considered the surgery myself in my many attempts to lose weight, and this is just some of the information I found. Hope it helps.

Thank you all for responding. I know that this post was created by 222*2, but I was thinking it. Actually I went to post the question and saw that someone had beat me to it!! I am one of those that likes to know all the details. I would never do an extreme low calorie diet. I couldn't do it. The food cravings are enough to make you go mad!

If anyone knows of some studies out there that I could read on-line or in a book, please let me know!

Pugzilla: one of my co-workers has done the surgery. Guess what diet the Doctor put her on after the surgery?? ATKINS! oh the irony....