If you’ve spent any time on beachbody message boards, facebook P90X message boards, or on my teamRIPPED forum, you’ve come accross the topic of “Starvation Mode”. Is it for real? Will your body really go into starvation mode if you don’t eat enough? The debate makes it hard to know if you are helping yourself or hurting yourself by running a calorie deficit. I’m not an expert on physiology, but let’s consider a couple things relating to Starvation Mode that will help us make a wise decision for maximizing our own transformations.
First, what really happens when we eat less than our body expends in a day? Will we lose weight or gain weight? Clearly the answer is that we will LOSE weight. And the opposite is equally true. If we take in more calories than we burn in a day, we will GAIN weight. So if it’s that simple, where does this notion of “starvation mode” come in?
I believe it all comes down to METABOLISM. When we eat less than our body needs to maintain it’s weight, we will lose weight. However, our metabolism will also slow down. And when we eat more than our body needs, our metabolism will speed up. So the change in our metabolism is what is really at play here.
In other words, if we want to lose weight and drop the calories, it will work for a little while, but then our metabolism will slow down a bit, and the weight won’t continue to come off (or at least not like it did initially). To jump start the weight loss, we either need to drop the calories more, or increase our metabolism to break the “plateau” we are in.
I’ve seen research studies showing that when a group of people were put on a calorie-deficit, their metabolism remained at pre-diet levels for about 3-4 weeks, then the metabolism slowed by about 25%. So the dieters who were at a bigger deficit than 25% still lost weight (no “starvation mode”) but that the weight didn’t continue to come off as fast as it did initially. Those who were at a smaller deficit (less than the 25%) found that the metabolism equalled out their calorie deficit and the weight loss stopped altogether.
So, in conclusion, if you run a calorie deficit, will you actually go into “starvation mode” and see your body “hold on to the fat to protect you”? I think the answer is NO! You will still lose body fat if you are taking in less calories than your metabolic daily burn. If not eating enough food led to retained body fat, why are people who are actually malnourished so thin? Because that’s what we would expect! And why are Americans who stuff their face with junkfood so fat? Because that makes sense! If “starvation mode” were true, we should see a bunch of skinny Americans because all the junkfood we eat should trigger our body to dump fat in response to the excess calories (we could call it “gluttony mode” LOL!). But it doesn’t work that way.
If all this talk about starvation mode really boils down to metabolism and how it changes with our eating patterns, how can we keep the metabolism high (which is what we want), even at a calorie deficit?
First, be sure you are exercising! That’s easy if you are on a Beachbody workout program!
Second, eat often. You don’t have to eat a ton of calories. You can still be at a deficit. But your metabolism won’t slow to a crawl if you are refueling your system every 2.5-3 hours.
Third, eat the right kinds of foods. Good long sources of energy are the key, like proteins, good fats, and low glycemic index carbs (aka the “good carbs”). They release energy over a long period of time without the insulin spike that you get from sugars and white foods.
If you are doing those things, you won’t go into “starvation mode” and you’ll continue to see your body fat melt, even at a calorie deficit.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are some calorie totals you don’t want to drop below in order to keep you body functioning properly. These limits are about 900 for women and 1200 for men. But none of us would advocate going that low for weight loss anyways. So we are safely above those levels.
I hope this helps clear up a little about starvation mode, at least from my perspective, based on what I’ve studied. Remember, keep the metabolism up, eat often, eat clean, and eat less than you burn during the day and you WILL lose body fat!
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