What Exactly Is Starvation Mode
Starvation mode is a very popular and simple term that a lot of trainers
, fitness coaches, strength coaches and nutritionists throw around with their clients, me included. The reason we do this is because it is a simple term to recognize and understand. Usually the reason we use it to get a point across about starving yourself when youre trying to lose weight. But what exactly happens when youre body goes into starvation mode?
Well the body is a funny and tricky thing. It is so much more complex than a lot of us realize and give it credit for. It has hundreds to thousands of checks and system balances just like our government to make sure that we remain in homeostasis as much as possible. Thats all your body wants to do. It wants to remain in homeostasis and survive. It doesnt care that you want to lose belly fat so the world can see your abs. It does not care if you want to build muscle and it doesnt care if you want to tone your arms.
If that was the case and it did care as much as us about all of these things, then wed all be walking around looking like Greek Gods and Greek statues with our shirts off constantly. Sadly, its not that easy. I wish it was.
No one can really attest to when starvation mode sets in. It depends on many factors and it really depends on the person and their diet. Diet is the biggest variable with regards to starvation mode and weight loss. Lets say for example you decided to try and lose weight so you cut your calories drastically because you want it to happen fast. You start losing weight at a rapid pace for many weeks and then all of a sudden the scale stops moving or it comes to a screeching halt. There are mainly 2 reasons for this.
Reason 1 is that since you are much lighter now, your body does not have to burn so many calories each day for regular daily activities. Many people dont realize this and automatically chalk it up to their slow metabolism or something, but usually its just because your body is a lot lighter and therefore, it doesnt need to use up that much energy to get through the day.
Now the other real reason is because of starvation mode. Starvation mode does happen but a lot less than people understand. To really get your body into starvation mode, you have to really be restricting your calories for a long period of time. And by restricting your calories, I mean really dropping them down to almost nothing. This is when starvation mode kicks in and your metabolism will drastically decrease. Theres no way around this at all. And the reason for this is because your body wants to survive. It wants to preserve itself as much as possible. It will still burn body fat for fuel if your calories are low enough, but during true starvation mode, it starts to dip into its muscle stores. This you want o avoid at all costs. Muscle is metabolically active tissue. It needs calories to function and survive so the more muscle you have the more calories you can burn at rest. Its pretty neat stuff.
But your body does need to get its protein from somewhere in order to survive and function and to your body, a lot of muscle mass is not needed because it takes up extra resources so it will be broken down into amino acids and be used for everyday activities.
Now what if I told you there was an easy and great tasting way to end all of your starvation mode problems? Would this be something that youre interested in? Im sure it is.
The easiest and best way to get out of starvation mode and to jack up your metabolism for a decent period of time is by consuming a high calorie, high fat and high carbohydrate meal. The reason for this is because of leptin. Leptin has been found to be positively correlated with your metabolism. When your body senses starvation, leptin levels drastically decrease and so does your metabolism. So what your body needs is a huge jolt of calories to evoke an insulin shock throughout the body. This will invariably increase your leptin levels and therefore your metabolism. This is a trick that physique athletes use when they are severely dieting for a show or competition.
Since they are dieting for long periods of time, they will periodically re-feed or have a cheat meal or cheat day in order to top off glycogen stores and increase their metabolisms. Also you have to note that the leaner you are, meaning the less body fat you have, the more you will need to purposely cheat on your diet. This is again because of leptin levels. IN fact, leptin is secreted by your fat cells; however someone who is overweight for a long period of time, scientists believe will become leptin resistant. Kind of like a diabetic who is insulin resistant.
So as you can see starvation mode is not necessarily your body hating you per se, but its just another checks and balance system for it to stay alive. Remember, thats all it cares about and it doesnt care about your abs showing for everyone to see at the beach. The only way to bust through a weight loss plateau is by strategically cheating on your diet with a high calorie, high carbohydrate and high fat meal. This will increase insulin levels and therefore increase your metabolism, taking you out of starvation mode.
by: Jared DiCarmine
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