Starvation Mode

I've been tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal and according to the plan I made up I am eating too few calories (as to be expected because MFP doesn't have a bariatric surgery mode) and it's telling me if I continue eating too few calories my body will go into starvation mode.  

So, my question is this, if we eat too few calories will our bodies go into starvation mode and slow our weight loss?  If no, why not?  Just trying to get some feedback and/or opinions...

here is a good article about it...it doesn't mean you don't lose, just that things may be a little slower. Or not. However, with that said, very low calorie diets (vlcd) do have some implication on long term metabolism (as does all dieting).

http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html?m=1

Also, it'd you don't hit complete food journal, mfp will stop complaining at you.

FORGET that starvation mode BS.  

Sorry to be blunt, but that is one of those myths that get perpetuated like dumping on the sleeve (You can be hypopglycemic with the sleeve but its not dumping the way RNY dumps).  The idea that your body stops buning more calories because you are losing is not what happens.  We do undergo a lot of metabolic changes during our journey, but that is not related to the "sarvation mode".

The starvation mode myth came from a famous weight loss study in minnesota.  They took a bunch of average joes and put them in a concentration camp.  They cut one part of the groups calories way down and found that they lost less weight than expected.  On a 500 calorie a day diet they loss less than 3 pounds in a week which was the amount expected by the calorie deficit.  At 1500 and 1000 calories a day the weight loss was as expected.

So why doesn't this apply?  First, they used a bunch of normal sized guys.  Later studies have shown that you don't see the same bahvoir in the obese.  Also, there is the nutrition issue.  A normal non WLS patient will see an overall reduction in nutrients consumed when you reduce the ammount of food eaten.  A bariatric diet is the exact opposite, we focus on the only real food our body needs - Protein - for building and repairing itself.  We get the trace minerals we need from supplements.  We focus our bodies on doing only what it needs to to burn fat for energy.

Forget "Starvation Mode".  Focus on Ketosis.  Thats the state we keep our bodies in so that it is constantly burning fat for energy.

Also, ignore the "You can weigh this in 5 weeks" po-up when you complete a meal.  Thats complete BS too.

 ONe of the reasons we keep a normal to high protein level is to stave this very thing off.  usually when people eat 500-800 calories a day they do not keep protein levels where we as VSG patients do.  That high protein level is what helps keep our metabolism going.  The problem is our body usually turns to our muscles for protein because it isn't getting enough, thus lowering our lean muscle mass (and making us have a lower BMR) by making sure our diets have plenty of protein this is not necessary (as much there is still some because as we lose weight we don't need all that muscle to hold up the fat, and this is where exercising comes to help you keep it too).  

Check out this blog with tons of links (very informative) fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation- mode.html

 LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!  Thanks, guys!  I knew I could count on you to put it all into perspective.  Everything you guys have said makes complete sense and I knew it would.  I have a head cold and my brain is sooo hazy.  I can't even tell a story that just happened 5 minutes ago.  LOL.  But, seriously, thank you because everything that was said made sense and you guys backed it up with articles/links that also proved useful and helpful.