Losing weight can be a difficult feat – people try so many different diets, regimes and workouts to lose those additional pounds, but often to no avail.
This can be incredibly frustrating; when you’re putting in the work, you want to see results.
Deciding to take charge of your body is something to be admired, but many people are put off even trying because of their history of no results.
In a lot of cases, starvation seems to be the only option. After all, when you’ve overeaten and put on weight, surely, it’s doing the opposite that will counteract this?
Actually, starving the body can be incredibly damaging to your health and has no lasting effect on weight loss. Putting your body through periods where you don’t consume anything is uncomfortable, unhealthy and ineffective.
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How long does it take to go into starvation mode
Why Starvation Doesn’t Work For Weight Loss
Trying to lose weight through starvation is something that most people will have tried at one point or another. When you’ve reached the end of your rope, it’s understandable to try extreme measures.
If you have tried starving your body to lose weight, then you may have noticed some weight loss. During the initial stages of starvation you may have experienced the pounds dropping off.
However, these results are short-lived. After a week or two into starving your body, it is likely that you will not see any further weight loss.
During this stage, a lot of people assume that they must be doing something wrong. They may start to increase their exercise, decrease their water intake – anything to make the weight go away.
Not only is this incredibly damaging to the body, which we will explain further in a moment, but it also has no impact on your weight loss.
Starvation Mode
When the results stop during your starvation diet, it is not because you are doing something wrong but rather your body’s natural instincts.
The body enters starvation mode, which is a natural process for the body. When the body has no nutrition, it goes into a natural survival stage in order to keep you alive.
Starvation mode is a primal instinct that allows you to survive for a longer period of time on fewer calories than before.
It is a process that is not dissimilar to the power-saving mode your cell phone goes into when the battery goes low. It is simply a way for the body to keep going, even in extreme circumstances.
How Does It Work?
Starvation mode is designed to retain energy levels in the body when you have no source to provide it. It is a survival instinct that you cannot control and that has been designed to help you survive.
This instinct works by slowing down all non-essential processes to make sure that you have enough energy for the important things that are needed to get by. One of these non-essential processes that get slowed down during starvation mode is the metabolism.
This is why your weight loss stops after a certain period on a starvation diet. In starvation mode, the body isn’t going to waste precious energy burning calories.
Instead, it will cling on to every ounce of calorie surplus you may have left in your body to keep you going. This retention is designed to keep your energy for the worse possible times.
This means that starvation is a terrible weight loss plan in the long-run.
Entering starvation mode is incredibly damaging to your body. It does not contribute significantly to weight loss and will instead leave your body more sensitive to storing calories to keep you alive.
How Does Starvation Effect the Body?
Hopefully, you can understand now how starvation is an incredibly damaging and terrible weight-loss plan.
Not only does it not have any lasting weight loss results, but it can also really damage the internal workings of your body.
Starvation also has a lot of other negative side effects on the body, a lot of which may be internal. Starving the body will result in you looking and feeling sickly, as well as a range of other symptoms.
No Significant Weight Loss
As we’ve already discussed, starving the body may result in dropping a few pounds in its initial stages. But once you have surpassed a week or two, your body will enter starvation mode.
In this mode, the body will store and keep a hold of every single calorie you have left in your system to help you survive.
Starving the body has been proven to have no lasting effect on weight loss and can actually cause more damage than good.
Decreased Energy
Losing weight works best when you combine eating less and moving your body more. On a starvation diet, you are likely to experience a crash in energy levels.
As the body stores calories and energy to keep you going in the worst times, it also stops all unnecessary bodily processes.
In most cases, during a starvation diet, people experience an intense decrease in energy. This means that they do not have the energy needed to work out and move their body, in order to aid their weight loss.
In worst cases, people on a starvation diet have no energy to tackle everyday tasks.
As you are not fueling your body, you cannot expect your body to fuel you.
This is not only a scary thing to experience, but it is also wholly inconvenient to your daily routine and detrimental to weight loss. If you cannot move your body, you are not going to experience any kind of weight loss or body shaping.
Muscle Atrophy: Use It, or Lose It
Muscle atrophy occurs when muscles actually begin to waste away. This typically occurs as a symptom of a lack of physical activity, which when you’re in starvation mode is something you’ll definitely experience.
Muscles are incredibly important parts of our bodies, although they can often be overlooked. Typically, we think that muscles are only important when we’re using them at the gym or when they looked toned and defined.
In actual fact, our muscles are incredibly valuable pieces of kit. They are attached to bones and help us move from place to place.
Additionally, muscles are also vital to a successful weight loss. Energy is produced within our muscles, in areas known as mitochondria. This is where most of your dietary calories are burned and converted into energy to use throughout the day.
This means that people with a higher muscle mass will burn more calories throughout the day, as they have more energy stored here. Starvation simply destroys this process, and it impacts the way you lose weight.
Decreased Immunity
Throughout our daily lives, we come into contact with many different pathogens. These can make us incredibly ill if we do not have a strong, healthy immune system to fight them off.
Starvation diets come with a lot of sacrifices, and perhaps one of the most damaging is the lack of nutrition. To maintain a healthy and effective immune system, you need to consume a varied and balanced diet that is full of nutrients.
This means making sure that you are consuming a mixture of fruits, vegetables, protein, good fats, and grains.
During starvation mode, the immune system is unable to produce the necessary factors to fight off bacterias and viruses. This means you will fall ill more often and are at risk of serious health conditions.
Unwanted Mood Changes
Just like starvation reduces your energy levels, it also impacts your mood. Your mental willpower will be significantly lower than previously due to the fact your brain isn’t getting the nutrients it needs to function properly.
A normal diet, one that is full of fruits, vegetables, and proteins, provides many important raw materials for your brain that encourage the development of hormones. These are essential for normal brain function and general mental well-being.
During starvation, neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin are reduced which can result in depression or similar conditions.
Starvation Is Very Impractical
In these modern times, we are all incredibly busy. We flit from work to the gym, to the school run to social events without barely any breathing room.
In order to operate your normal daily routine, even if that’s a relaxing day off, you need food to fuel you through it. Being constantly tired, unmotivated and in some cases unable to move is terribly impractical.
Hunger is also something that is not easy to live with. The deep, intense feeling is more than you’ve experienced mid-way through your working day.
Proper hunger is an all-encompassing feeling that will impact your physical and mental wellbeing. It is also impractical to weight loss, since when you experience hunger the body will actively seek out food for you to consume.
For those that have tried starvation diets in the past, it is this emotion that leads to binging afterward.
How to Lose Weight Safely and Successfully
Losing weight can be quite tricky, but it doesn’t have to be. As long as you are dedicated, motivated and are taking proper care of your body, you should see changes.
The best way to lose weight is to maintain a healthy, nutritious diet and to move your body more often. If you want to lose a few pounds, shape your body – and generally lead a healthier lifestyle – you should:
Reduce Your Daily Calories Intake, But Slowly
Losing weight is all about eating less than you have been to shed the extra weight. However, this does not mean you should starve yourself.
Slowly decrease the number of calories you consume on a daily basis and keep an eye on it to ensure that you are consuming enough for your gender, age, and weight.
Eat Nutritious Foods
Even though you are decreasing the amount of food you are eating, you shouldn’t feel hungry. One of the most effective ways to see real changes to your body and mind is to fill your diet with healthy, nutritious foods.
Make sure you are getting a healthy balance of all food groups, and that you are eating filling, healthy and satisfying meals. This will make losing weight feel easier and something you are going to want to continue.
Move Your Body Regularly
Working out doesn’t always have to be sweating in a gym. You can take up walking, jogging, swimming, yoga, boxing or hiking.
Any kind of activity that will get you moving and raise your heart rate is good for your body and your weight loss. Cardio workouts, such as jogging, walking or fitness classes, are one of the most effective ways to burn calories quickly.
The best way to start and maintain a fitness regime is if you find something you enjoy doing and that can be incorporated into your daily routine. This can be anything from going to the gym to train weights after work or simply walking to and from places instead of driving.
The most important thing to remember when trying to lose weight is to take care of yourself. Be mindful of how your body feels, move as often as you can and if you feel hungry – eat.
Conclusion: A Workout Plan That Works
There are so many diet plans available in the market right now, all of which will demand high amounts of money for few results.
When you are trying to lose weight, you really need to educate yourself and discover the kinds of foods and exercises that will work best for you.
The Lean Belly Breakthrough System is a diet plan that is totally different, and therefore more effective than any competitor. This is because at its core it is an educational tool.
This system also includes easy and short workout routines you can fit effortlessly into your daily routines.
It is a system that allows you to make great changes to your life and truly value your health, which should always be your main priority. And at the end of the day – it’s much better than starving. Everyone deserves better than that.
