Starvation mode myth

Starvation mode is the oh-so-popular belief that if you restrict your calorie intake so much then your body will conserve every calorie you consume as well as slow your metabolism down so much you'll actually GAIN weight.

After learning about the HMR diet (a physician monitored diet program, mainly used for those morbidly obese or awaiting weight loss surgery), and how physicians restrict patients' diets down to 500-800 calories a day, I was confused.....How can a clinically approved and monitored diet bring someone down that much to lose weight but you supposedly have the opposite effect when you do it alone? So I googled the crap out of it.

Of course there are contradicting beliefs, but the majority of what I found is that "starvation mode" (at least in the sense of "normal" weight loss) is a myth. Yes it is true your metabolism will slow, but there is never a point where your metabolism will slow enough to compensate for your calorie deficit and more. Any caloric deficit equal weight loss, even just by 10 calories. It essentially kicks in when a person has no more excess body fat for the body to use. Somebody at my weight will lose weight very fast on a VLCD but as my weight vs. body fat ratio changes, my weight loss will also slow. It's the same concept where a 400 pound person can go on Roca Labs and have miraculous results whereas someone like me isn't going to have results remotely comparable to theirs. One mile for a 400 pound person equals a much higher calorie burn than a 200 pound person. I'm probably not explaining it clearly, here are some articles:

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/

http://www.nowloss.com/starvation-mode-myth.htm

I'm not discrediting people who believe in it, I too, believed in it just a couple weeks ago. But now that common sense has kicked in, weight loss simply means you burn more than you take in.

Anyhow, after my rant on starvation mode. I have now put myself on a VLCD ( ~800 net calories a day....NOT gross) with much success!

I've been drinking 2 Body by Vi shakes a day for breakfast and lunch, I just mix it with the frozen mixed fruit I got from Costco. I snack on nuts and I have a sensible dinner. "Sensible".

I just realize I am the kind of person that doesn't do well with deprivation. I get grumpy and feel deprived and discouraged. I still need to have "normal" food. So I stocked up on Lean Cuisines, they average about 300 calories each and is actually delicious and hearty enough for me to feel like I'm having "normal" food. The portion size is small but Roca Labs makes me full-ish about 2/3 the way through anyways.

Just this weekend I followed Roca Labs instructions exactly and stopped for 2 days after 5 straight days.

Saturday: Body by Vi shake for breakfast; leftover Mongolian Grill for lunch; 1 hour of Tae Bo and fish tacos for dinner. We were at a auction fundraiser thing for the Rotary Club that night, so fish tacos was the healthiest option I could do without ordering a 'salad' and pissing everyone at the table off. Lots of veggies, small pieces of cod, and the fattiest thing was probably the tortillas, which I didn't finish. I inconspicuously picked out the filling as much as I could.

Sunday: Body by Vi shake for breakfast; French Onion soup & fish and chips (didn't touch the chips) for dinner. I was wayyyy over my calories so I did 35 minutes of Wii Fit and 45 minutes of Tae Bo afterwards.

Again, weekends kill me. But I am also very accepting of the fact that if I'm going to 'cheat' and overeat then I need to own up to it and exercise it off so my daily NET calories is where I want it to be. Both weekend days I over-ate and didn't make the best choices, but both days I exercised and brought my NET calories down to at least 900.


Sidenote: I went to see my seamstress last Friday and my wedding gown is already falling off!! The chest area is gapping like crazy (you could seriously fit a couple kittens in there), and the waist area is so loose she had to grab at least 2 inches at the zipper for it to fit correctly! YAY~~~


So I am proud to announce, in the 5 days I have been on a VLCD (remember, net calories, which is AFTER exercise)....I've lost 3 pounds!!!

3 pounds in 5 days isn't bad! At this rate (yes I like to calculate this stuff)....I'll lose 18 pounds a month and by my deadline (3 months to go), I'll lose 54 pounds!! Which brings me down to approx. 122 pounds!! yay!!!

It honestly hasn't been difficult keeping around 800 calories a day, the Body by Vi shakes really do fill me up. I usually have it on the way to work, then around 10am or so I get hungry and I'll have my Roca Labs, then I'll have another one around noon to 1pm after I walk. I look forward to dinner but I plan it out and I get to snack on nuts if I get hungry. So really I'm not starving and barely staying alive. I really do have energy and I feel as satisfied as one can feel while trying to lose weight for their wedding.