Starvation Mode??

So my question to those of you who have had WLS and consume 400-500 calories for the first few weeks (or longer) - how does your body NOT go into starvation mode?  I have decided to mirror this type of caloric intake (with approval from my PCP, who said to me that as long as I have something in my stomach, my body will not go into starvation mode), and doing high protein, low carb, taking multivitamins (twice per day), sublingual B12, calcium + vit D (twice a day), vit E (1200 mg), biotin, and iron (28mg)... This is my third week of eating 500-600 calories daily... I have also been exercising 60 minutes per day, at least 5 days a week.  My first week's weight 234, and i lost 10 lbs... the second week, I lost 3... this is my third week, and no weight loss as of yet.  I do not feel tired, in fact feel very energetic, and my protein has been 65-70 grams per day.  I've been scouring the internet for articles and have read many that say eating less than 800 puts your body into starvation mode - but how do WLS patients still lose eating so few calories?   My insurance does not cover WLS, so I know I needed to lose weight on my own, and thought - why can't i restrict my calories and do what a bariatric patient does?  I'm only on week 3 and I guess my impatience is getting the better of me.  I've read on here that there are stalls... maybe this week is a stall for me?  Anyway... any response is appreciated... good luck on your journey!

Starvation mode is generally assumed to be a myth.  Studies, as opposed to anecdotes,  show that VLCD work well at first and then loss slows. This is not "starvation mode". Your body is absorbing and retaining calories more efficiently but it cannot store what it does not receive, so the calories you ingest will still be lower than your bodily needs. 

It is extremely common to have an early stall as your body adjusts. And it isn't really a stall - on here we think of a stall as losing no weight for a long time, maybe a month or two. Use the search function on here to read the hundreds of threads asking this, although on here they will be about after surgery, the same principle applies.

Look up pictures of people in concentration camps and famines.  There is no starvation mode where your body stops losing weight.  With lack of food, you will just keep losing.

Starvation mode is nonsense. People who swear they aren't losing weight because of starvation mode are eating more than they think.

Good luck.

Thank you all for the responses - this has given me encouragement.  Not that I was planning to abort my diet already.   I have been keeping a daily food diary since day 1 (i use the Atkins app), and it seems I need to learn to be more patient.  Have a great day!

"Starvation mode" does exist, but not in the way that people generally think of it. If you consume too little food for an extended period of time, your body does drop your metabolism down to try and make as much as it possibly can of the food that it is getting, but it does NOT completely prevent weight loss.  It just makes it a bit slower, and you potentially run the risk of having the body retain that lowered metabolism.

As the others have said, though, as long as you continue to operate on a caloric deficit (burn more than you eat), you will lose weight.

Lora

The whole premise behind the very-low-carb-diet (or ketogenic diet) is to put your body in ketosis so that it goes to the stored fat for calories rather than to easily burned carbs.  Most of us have lots and lots of stored fat that could be used for months so there's no danger of you "starving".  

What Lora said is much more accurate in that resting metabolic rate could possibly go down.  However, you've got a little bit of insurance against that when you are exercising as much as you are every day and being consistent with it.  

Typically, when you hit a stall or plateau you'll discover that the body is losing FAT and retaining water, thus keeping the scale at the same number.  The way you are eating is for optimum FAT loss, which is different than weight loss.  If you want to lose a quick 10 lbs. you can chop off your head but it won't make you any less fat, will it? ;-)   And the bathroom scale is the worst measurement of fat loss out there.  

You will know you're losing fat even when the scale doesn't move because you will lose inches.  Make the measuring tape your friend and use it rather than the scale to measure your success.  

Good luck in all your efforts! 

Thanks Tracy!  Your response really put things into perspective for me.  I am so glad to have found this website!!  I will take measurements of my body later today; i knew I should have done that when I started, but I thought "eh.. i'll just go by the scale and how my clothes fit".  and while I do notice a difference in the way my clothes fit me now (not tight or rolls hanging over the side), I can't help but want to get on the scale every morning!  Do you measure weekly or ?

When I was in weight loss mode I measured monthly.  

Weigh as often as is comfortable for YOU.  Tracy weighed monthly. Worked for her. I weigh every day, often twice a day! But I don't get hung up on numbers so it wasn't a stressor. Now, fior maintenance it (usually!) keeps me on track.