Fitness: Food - Starvation Mode

   Let's talk about food. Everyone loves to eat, we are all guilty of that indulgence and resisting temptation requires a whole lot of willpower. As Spider mentioned, "You are what you eat". I can literally go on and on about this topic thus I shall break it into manageable parts. Do take note that there will be heavy reiteration to get the message across. Moving on...

   Ever noticed all the dieting fads, slimming pills and products have one thing in common? A fine print which states, "Results may vary. Best results when combined with proper nutrition and exercise". I'm guilty of trying out fads in the past, wasted so much money on them and it didn't showed me results that I wanted.

   Think about it...fundamentally speaking, if you can attain proper nutrition and exercise moderately, do you actually need all those pills and diets? And for people who tell you to just eat less, don't listen to them! Sure you will lose weight at the beginning but this method will backfire for sure and you'll end up bigger than before. This is the wrong way to diet. I admit, I tried this before and failed miserably. I lost alot of weight yes, but when I started eating as per normal, I gained back all of it. I was horrified when I learnt about the real truth behind this method and I quickly changed my habits. Here's why:

   Starvation Mode
   Believe it or not, our body is the most sophisticated machine ever created (scientifically proven too). And as a well oiled machine, our body has countermeasures for everything. Antibodies for germs, tissue and skin repair to heal wounds and this little thing called, "Starvation Mode".

   I'm sure you know that our bodies can go on for months without food but we will die in a few days without water. Look at the reality show Survivor. All of the contestants shrink throughout the course of the show and when they finally eat real food (scrumptious ones too I might add), they are akin to ravenous vultures upon fresh meat.

   You see, when we consume lesser amounts of food, our bodies will begin executing a series of "commands". After a few hours from the initial meal, the body will crave for food. It will send signals to the brain which tells you that you are hungry. Of course, if you are dieting, you will not think about it until your next meal. It is during this time that your body responds with its countermeasures. In the Starvation Mode, this is what the body will do (in any order).

   Slow metabolic rate
   In order not to use up too much energy, the body will slow down the metabolism rate to compensate for the lack of food. If you have tried this before like I did, you will notice that in due time you won't feel as hungry as when you first started right? I thought it was because the body adjusted to the routine. The body did, but not for the right reasons. My metabolic rate was sacrificed and that's bad news!

   Goodbye muscles
   Muscles are the reason why our metabolic rate is high. This is because muscles require more energy to keep it going. It is for that reason the body will break the muscles down to conserve the limited amount of energy. Less muscles means slower metabolic rate.

   Fat storage facility
   In order to conserve energy, any fats that you consume will be stored and the rest will be burnt off to keep you functioning. When your food has all been digested and the body gets hungry again, it will slowly burn the fats off after the muscles have been dealt with.

   Increased hunger and cravings
   When in Starvation Mode, the body will keep on sending signals to the brain to demand more food. When I first started this diet, I could resist the temptation to eat more food. But as the months go by, it was becoming more and more difficult. Although I could deal with the hunger, the cravings was one I could not control.

   At the sight of Pizzas, cakes or anything yummy (and usually fattening), I would splurge thinking that that day would be my "fat" day and I could resume the diet the next day. But what I didn't know at that time was when I splurge, since my body was in Starvation Mode, all the fats I ate were stored. I gained back all the weight I've lost before I even realised it. Need proof?


The new me after I went on the "eat less" diet end of 2006


When I joined HSBC in Jan 2007

   See the difference? I wasn't aware until my significant other's lil sister mentioned that I was fat. That was the starting point of a new me. Back to the main discussion...During the Starvation Mode, the moment we eat these sort of food thinking it's "fat" day, our body will keep on sending signals to consume as much as possible. It is also in this phase that even when we are not hungry, we will still eat due to all these signals from the body (which we usually do not realise).

   Low energy
   When in Starvation Mode, the body has little amounts of Glycogen. Glycogen is stored energy in the body, mainly from processing the carbohydrates from food. Ever heard from others that when you do any exercise, the first twenty minutes of energy will come from the food you ate previously? Scientifically the body will tap into the Glycogen reserves first, once depleted it will tap into the fat reserves. Thus why it is always recommended to do aerobic activities for more than 30minutes to burn the fats off.

   However during Starvation Mode, the body is forced to tap into the Glycogen first as it has few revenues of energy to tap on. Once that is done, it will signal to the brain for more food. If none are introduced, it gobbles up the muscles. Finally on a prolonged "fast", the body turns to the reserves.

   You will naturally feel weaker due to low levels of Glycogen. I felt it too but I couldn't understand why until recently. I hope after reading this, you will understand why too! (Take note hor Betty =P)

   "But won't that be good? Since the body will be burning the fats?"

   That was the question I posed Mister Rahmad when he was explaining to me about food. He explained that with low levels of Glycogen, you will feel sluggish, easily fatigued, lazy and it will affect your mood as well. And besides, the body will only turn to burning the fats as a last resort. So whenever you eat, with the low metabolic rate, your body will only process what it can and store the rest as fats.

   Wrap up
   In conclusion, eating less is a sure way of losing alot of weight at first, but the odds of a backlash stacks up over time. What's worse is that even with a strong willpower, once you hit a certain weight, you will find that you cannot lose more even if you tried exercising more (commonly referred to as "The Plateau"). The frustration alone has left many casualties in the battlefield of losing weight.

   Which leads to the all important question of, "What can I do now?"

   The answer is quite simple however to embark upon it takes alot of effort, time and adaptation on your part. In the next segment, I shall elaborate. Thank you for your time, as usual kindly direct questions to the tagbox.