Have I gone into starvation or survival mode because I'm eating less than 1200 calories per day & I can't lose weight?

No & Here's 5 reasons why…

1. The Minnesota starvation experiment

In the Minnesota starvation experiment 36 men where placed on a very low 1570 calorie starvation diet (which is equal to about 1200 calories for women) and they were also required to walk 3+ miles per day and…

All of the men in that experiment kept losing weight week after week and they didn't stop losing weight until they got very skinny or until they got down to 5% body fat or basically…

They kept losing weight until they looked like this…

I'm not showing you that picture to shock you but I'm showing you that picture to prove to you that you don't go into survival or starvation mode because no matter how little you eat…

2. Read this excerpt from popular science magazine…

In that extreme case he lost almost 300 pounds in ONE Year eating nothing (ZERO calories) so if you cant lose weight eating less than 1200-to-1500 calories per day…

Then you obviously need to double and triple check your calorie counts to make sure you're eating the right amount to lose fat.

3. Your body does not hold onto fat

First of all, All of the FAT on your body is basically just stored energy and you should know that…
You get fat when you eat too much or eat too many calories or take in too much energy that your body does not need and…
Your body takes the excess energy or calories you eat and stores it as fat so when you don't eat that much or…
When you don't eat enough calories/energy by going on a diet (whether it's a normal one or a VLCD) and/or exercise more than usual…
Your body will have to get its energy by burning fat or use the stored energy you built up from eating too much and…

Your body will NEVER stop burning fat until it's need for energy is balanced out so…

Look at the chart below to help you better understand exactly how weight loss, weight gain and maintaining your current weight works…

So…

Why would your body hold onto fat when it's starving for energy when you're on a diet &/or exercise plan? and…
Where else would your body get energy from if it's not the stored fat on your body when you're on a diet &/or exercise plan? and…
Does it make sense to you or your body to hold onto fat and burn muscle instead of the fat it has stored for backup energy? and…

I'm not saying you'll maintain all of your muscle mass as you lose weight but usually…

You'll only lose muscle as you lose weight if you're already very lean & you go on an extreme Very Low Calorie Diet without exercise but what I am saying is that…
Survival or Starvation mode DOES NOT MEAN your metabolism shuts down, your body holds onto fat and burns muscle for energy and really…
Survival or Starvation mode means your body actually burns fat (or all of your stored energy) to help you survive thru a period of starvation (like when you don't eat as much on a diet)

4. You don't always lose weight fast

Look at the picture above again but for example…

Let's say you weigh 150 pounds and you need to eat 2000 calories per day or your metabolism burns 2000 calories per day to maintain your weight and…
You go on a 1500 calorie diet and you quickly lose 5 pounds per week getting to 130 pounds in 1 month and then after that…
Instead of losing 5 pounds per week you start only losing 1-to-2 pounds per week or no weight at all so…

Does this mean you are in starvation or survival mode?

Of course not and here's what happening in this example…

Once you get to 130 pounds or even 149 pounds your metabolism no longer needs to burn 2000 calories to maintain your weight because as you lose weight…

Your metabolism burns less calories to help you maintain your new weight (simply because it takes less energy to take care of a smaller body) so once you reach 130 pounds in this example…

Your metabolism will slow down and your body may only need to burn 1500 calories a day to maintain your new weight so…
If you eat keep eating 1500 calories per day when your metabolism only burns 1500 calories at your new low weight of 130 pounds then…
You're going to maintain your weight or lose weight at a much slower rate than when you first started on your 1500 calorie diet when your metabolism burned 2000 calories per day so…

Does this mean your metabolism has slowed down so much that you can't lose anymore weight and you're stuck at 130 pounds?

NOPE &…

All this means is that instead of eating 1500 calories per day…
You'll need to eat less than 1500 calories per day and/or exercise more to keep losing weight and…

This is exactly what happens on any weight loss plan…

You always start off losing weight fast (probably more than 2 pounds per week at first) and then…
You get to a point where you're losing the normal 10 pounds every 4-to-6 weeks and then…
You reach a point where it seems like it takes forever to lose those last 5-to-20 pounds because…
The less you weigh doesn't necessarily mean your metabolism is slower…
It just means that someone who is at a normal weight does not have to burn as many calories to maintain their weight as someone who is overweight so…

Look at it this way…

A 300 pound person's metabolism probably burns 3000 calories per day and if they go on a 1200 calorie diet then they'll quickly lose a lot of weight but…
Once that same 300 pound person gets to 150 pounds they'll still lose weight but just not as fast since there metabolism probably now only burns 1500 calories per day.

5. Is it possible to stop gaining weight?

Let's say you ate a HUGE amount of calories everyday and let's say for this example you're eating 10,000 calories per day so…

Do you think after you gain 10 pounds that your body is going to go into some type of "mode" to prevent you from gaining weight?

NO &…

Even if it did where would all the excess energy or calories go? Would you crap it out? Not likely and if you did eat 10,000 calories per day…

Then yes there would be a point where you'd stop gaining weight and…

That would be when your metabolism starts to burn 10,000 calories per day right after you've gained 100, 200, 300 or 500+ pounds!

But the bottom line is this…

Just like it's real easy for you to gain weight from eating 2000, 3000 or 5000-to-10,000 calories per day…
You'll just as easily lose weight on a VLCD or eating only 500 calories (see hCG), 800, 1000 or 1200 calories per day and yes…
There is some evidence that your metabolism slows down a little bit in an attempt to adapt to your Very Low Calorie Diet but…
The main reason why your metabolism slows down is because you lose weight (see #3) but overall…

If you're eating less than 1200 calories per day then your metabolism will never get SO SLOW that you'll go into "starvation or survival mode" and not burn any fat so…

If you're hardly losing any weight on a VLCD or less than 1200 calories then…

See why you can't lose weight and/or look at how to break out of a weight loss plateau but There's really only 5 things you can do…

You can exercise more.
You can exercise harder.
You can double check your food journal to make sure you actually are eating less than 1200 calories and…

9 times out of 10 if you claim that you can't lose weight on less than 1200 calories then usually…

You're not tracking how much you eat correctly and you're underestimating how much you actually eat so make sure you're using a food journal and that you know how to count calories

You can eat even less than 1200 calories but that's probably not a good idea - see why.
Be more patient (see #3 again) because your weight loss starts out real fast and it progressively gets slower and slower as you get closer to your weight loss goal.

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