Article: Starvation Mode

[Fallen_Horse]

Interesting article. I'm not the biggest fan of FBB, but the study itself had some interesting results. Anyone agree, disagree?

http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/starvation-mode-why-you-probably-never-need-to-worry-about-it/

The study:
http://jap.physiology.org/content/88/5/1820.full

[Mufflon]

If this is really true then why do overweight people stop losing weight on a relatively low calorie intake after having lost a lot of weight?

[downhillingdemon]

Oooh now that is proper interesting.

I'm not surprised at all tbh - it makes no sense for a human to loose muscle mass rapidly when cutting back on food. In the wild as cavemen then food shortage would mean we'd have to work even harder to obtain food so if muscle wastage was turned on too quickly then it would just make the process of obtaining food even harder. This is something I have always believed, it's nice to see some research which may potentially back this up.

[Fallen_Horse]

If this is really true then why do overweight people stop losing weight on a relatively low calorie intake after having lost a lot of weight?

One reason could be because these guys were eating way below their maintenance calories, but they were still exercising hours a day, so their body HAD to maintain muscle mass and remove fat, otherwise they would simply collapse...

....it makes no sense for a human to loose muscle mass rapidly when cutting back on food. In the wild as cavemen then food shortage would mean we'd have to work even harder to obtain food so if muscle wastage was turned on too quickly then it would just make the process of obtaining food even harder. This is something I have always believed, it's nice to see some research which may potentially back this up.

Yeah I hadn't thought of it that way either...

[Mufflon]

[One reason could be because these guys were eating way below their maintenance calories, but they were still exercising hours a day, so their body HAD to maintain muscle mass and remove fat, otherwise they would simply collapse...

Maybe. Or maybe beacuse they weren't overweight/obese in the first place and didn't reduce bigger amounts of weight over a longer time. Maybe people who're losing weight aren't exercising enough.

Hummmm, too much maybes.