"Starvation Mode" Myth Busting

same as you. was at 900 by month 3, 1000 by 5 and continued to lose under 1250. now i'm only 5'4, i maintain at around 1500-1600. now I weighed, measured and logged everything while losing, so my intake was as close as it gets to being accurate. Very clear that is not case across the board.

I avoided eyeballing, mostly, because i tended to under eat by eyeballing...not over eat.

I still weigh and measure everything. When I go on vacation I can be sure I'll drop 2-3lbs because I way underestimate. I hope I continue to do that because it makes coming home from vacation pretty awesome.

Antichick, your response to those several caloric levels is about what mine is -- maintain at 1800 cals, lose slowly at 1500, and lose fast at 1200.

Like you and your post-op advisers, I slowly ratcheted up my calories while losing and, although I didn't lose crazy-fast (I didn't care about that), I was advised to get my calories higher to keep from being stuck at a lower maintenance calorie level.

I'm so happy with how much I can eat. Feel very fortunate.

My surgical team/dietician increased my calories to 800 at first (4 weeks), and then they advised 1000-1200 at my 8-week follow-up. I never had a problem getting my fluids after week 1, so this wasn't difficult and I like being able to eat more than a bite at a time.

I'm still losing steadily at 1,200 calories, but I do exercise every day. I go back in late June to see the dietician and surgeon for a more individualized plan based on my 6-month weight loss at that point. June 14th will be 6 months, so it's actually a little after that. We shall see!

I've lost 80+ pounds in less than 3 months, so I will continue to listen to them until something changes.

I weight and portion almost EVERYTHING, by the way. I frequently take my scale to the restaurant, as well.

In those first months, everything appears to work. But it just slows things down. Those extra calories serve no purpose other than slowing down the fat burning process. Especially as you lose some more.

Grim,you're such a negative bee lol.... if we can tweak our intake to not start "starvation mode". Boy can we lose .. and lose fast.

It's actually not bad.

From a biochemistry perspective, I do disagree that NEAT is a significant factor in weight loss stalls for severely obese or formerly obese individuals; in these cases I'd argue that it's more often it's due to hormone imbalance and insulin adaptation. Also, weight loss does not necessarily equal fat loss; mass is not the same as content or volume, and weight does not indicate body fat percentage, for instance. A DEXA scan or bodyfat measurement is a far more accurate gauge, because really the point of weight loss isn't moving the scale, but rather it's changing body composition in reducing adopisity.

NEAT also misses the point that exercise does not equal total energy expenditure. The body is subject to thermodynamics, however it is also not a closed system which much thermodynamics models after, and so hormones greatly alter the energy utilized.

Fung explains it better than I probably would in a far less verbose fashion.

Everyone also has a different set point, as well. My BMR at 440 pounds was like 1400. Literally... that's really low for someone 440 pounds, no? We're going to redo the calculations soon, but it's frustrating and annoying.

I also maintain, while I won't necessarily lose, eating a ketogenic diet primarily. Hormone balance also plays a role, and if someone is obese and perpetually gaining/stalling, chances are their serum insulin is high and they have impaired insulin receptors in their adipose tissue.

If you were less obese or less overweight, your IR isn't as profound, so things like NEAT might matter more. It's still not starvation mode, and it's also not permanent.

The other thing is observable malnutrition. Anorexics don't "stall." They simply begin to catabolize their own tissues. Part of the issue is behavioral regarding some stalls. The body also just needs to play "catch up" sometimes as hormones change and adjust. If you are female, this becomes far more evident, too.