What are the consequences of regularly not eating enough?

I know what you're gonna say.... "Eat more, dummy!"

I know that for fat loss you're supposed to be in a calorie deficit, but not too much. I eat clean (well... except for when I fall off the wagon and cheat like this past weekend), but I have a hard time eating enough on a daily basis even to hit 1500 calories (I weigh 158), normally it's more like 1000-1200.

The last couple weeks have been all weird for me with being sick, not having any appetite, etc. But even before that when I was working out regularly I still had a hard time consuming enough calories.

I know this will be turned completely on it's head when I go on vacation next month; then I'll have a hard time keeping my intakes *down*!! But when I get back, it'll be back to the same ol'. If I regularly am unable to get in enough food, what will happen?

You'll go into "starvation mode" a survival mode for your body. It will start storing a lot more of the calories you do eat as fat instead of using it for energy.

Guess what is used for energy then? Yup, your muscle :eek:

Y'know, I knew that and had conveniently forgotten. I needed to be reminded. That might explain why I'm losing weight but my body fat % still seems high.

I keep forgetting to re-run my calculations at mybodycomp.com, the last time I calculated my bf% it seemed that I'd gained a good deal of muscle and dropped a few lbs of fat too, but I think I ran them incorrectly. Doing it again correctly will probably show that fat retention and muscle loss is exactly what is happening.

Sigh.

Actually, it depends.

There are a few variables you must first consider;
- how active your lifestyle
- how long you are awake for
- if you cronically under eat

For example, if you sleep for 12 hours a day, then you will need less calories then a person who only sleeps 8 hours a day.

Another example would be your job. If you have a sedetary desk job, you'll need to consume less calories then a personal trainer would.

If you cronically eat only 1 - 1.2 kcals at your weight, sleep roughly 8 hours a day, and do some form of physical excercise everday (walking 30 mins, gym, cardio), then yes your body will go into starvation mode.

Usually what that entails is that your body goes through a process of storing the majority of your food as fat, decrease your energy levels, and burn LBM.

The reason your body burns LBM is muscle burns a lot of calories AND is easier to break down then fat AND skeletal muscles are also a storage area of glycogen.

By reducing your muscle mass, your body will burn less calories, therefore needing less calories. Your body is also trained to break down muscle mass first as fat is it's emergency storage area. Lastly, depending on when you eat, your brain needs (and uses) more then 75% of your body's glucose. If you do not supply it with the proper nutrients, after you body drains glycogen from the liver, it will then delve into skeletal muscle to get the glucose the brain so desperately needs.

Moral of the story, EAT MORE :D

Andi,

I was having trouble eating more as well. 2000 calories of clean food is not easy. I was able to increase my intake by having 1 or 2 2-scoop whey shakes a day (mixed with water). I'm usually very skeptical of any sort of exercise related food or beverage, but I found some inexpensive stuff at costco and it's been helping me add on some good calories, plus they're protein which is hard to get anyways. The other good thing is that they're not terribly filling when mixed with water, so you can still eat normally in addition to the mix. The taste, to me, is somewhere between "not unpleasant" and "it has it's own particular charm"

thanks guys. It's pretty hard for me to get back to a routine at this point, since at the moment I'm still sick and can't work out as I'd like to. Plus the month of April will pretty much be out the window since I'll be overseas (at least I'll be doing plenty of walking!). All of this means that my "lifestyle" is changing from week to week and it's near impossible to pin down what my body might be doing.

Mahdimael, I actually do supplement my diet with EAS' MyoPro Whey (chocolate!), and I like it quite a bit. I've only had it with skim milk, but I may very well start adding additional servings with water as well to up my caloric intakes.

... getting their calories up, the key is to add lots of vegetables (nutrient-dense - won't increase calories, but will provide more nutrients) and healthy fats.

You can EASILY add another several hundred calories by adding a few tablespoons of healthy fats. I would start adding a little of both even if you are inactive - your body will love you for it. Women seem to have an even more positive response to healthy fats than men!

Jeremy

Thanks Jeremy. I like most kinds of nuts, and we have them at home already, but I had myself convinced that the fat content was too high to have them as a snack very often. I had forgotten that it's the GOOD kind of fat!!

How do u know if yr body is in starvation mode?

When i first started to lose weight i weigh 205lbs but i ate less than 1000cal a day then i lost 6lbs during the first week but for the subsequent 3 weeks+ i stopped losing any weight.

And during that 3 weeks i am damn tire and lack of energy, to the extreme that i dun even have energy to crawl outta bed even when i m fully awake.. I even still feel very full after hours of a meal(low metabolism i assume). I have no appetite through out the day also.

But later i started eating at about 1300-1500cal then i see my weight dropping again. After 3 weeks after that starvation weeks, i drop about 8lbs.

But the thumb of rule is 10xbody weight right? Since i weight about 190lbs now but i eat 1300-1500lbs, how long does it take to reach that starvation mode again? Cos at the moment i stopped dropping weight again though i am so full of energy at any time of day.

Cos i am damn scared of getting into starvation mode again when i am running my ass off everyday but dun see result. I know some ppl eat below their 10xbody weight calories but still not in starvation mode(like john in the beginning, though he kinda regret, but still he's not in starvation mode right?)

So my point is

How do u gauge if u are in starvation mode?
-lack of energy?
-no results?
-loss of appetite?