The Starvation Response

No one should ever eat like this....

Your body works like a factory, with many thousands of workers and departments all using different resources and producing many different products. Conventionally this factory (your body) runs on energy. Energy is a vital substance delivered everyday and without it, the factory could not run at an optimum level.

Your body...

Let's say for example the factory loses half of it's contracted energy. Production immediately will go down, customers lose faith with the company, workers become disgruntled and agitated. Work ethic and incentive collapses. Sure some customers get their ordered products but they're sub-optimal. Some areas of the factory have to shut and some people subsequently lose their jobs.

This is exactly what happens with us when we decide to drastically cut our food intake.

But...who can blame us. We got the size we are by overindulging in foods only ever meant for a once in a blue-moon treat. Logically, anyone would assume that to lose the same weight again, you would simply not eat as much? Oh if only it was so simple!!

If we turn back to our factory analogy; energy doesn't enter into the factory  and come out the other end as a product without undergoing other processes. In the same way when we take food into our bodies we don't immediately undergo the desired movement. Food undergoes a million different processes before the subsequent energy reaches the final goal. If we compare to the factory again and immediately cut our food intake in half and expect ourselves to perform at the same level. Yeah right! Like that'll happen. Instead, like the factory, certain parts of your body shut down, your can't perform to the same standard. At this stage you start to lose a few pounds and everything is going great!!

As usually in this industry people generally have unrealistic goals in that they want to 5 stone, have a six pack, a perfect ass and 0% bodyfat. So when they drastically cut out food they in some instances can lose 7lbs, maybe even a stone within a month...then....BANG. They hit a plateau! No more weight comes off. They become annoyed with themselves, depress themselves with negative thoughts and give up of leading a healthy lifestyle.

But why does this happen? 

To the factory....!

As we said earlier, if energy supplies are halved, the factory performs at a sub-optimal level (like us). But each time some energy is delivered it's stored specially so that it can be used when it's most important. 

This happens with our bodies as well. Our body thinks to itself "oh no i'm getting barely any food at the minute, look how poorly i'm performing." It then begins a procedure called the starvation response. Any food that touches your lips within this period is prioritised to head towards your fat stores! This is to enable your body to help spread out the energy consumed over a longer period. Your body will remain in this state for as long as you continue this 'sparrow-eating.' The ironic thing about eating like this is that most people end up in the long run putting on even more weight than usual as their body's metabolism has slowed down so much. In actual fact, some individuals who diet like this over many years can actually destroy their metabolism beyond repair. 

Eating like a sparrow if for sparrows!!

So in total an individual maybe loses 7-14lbs by dieting like this, they reach their goal for the desired event (usually a wedding, formal etc.) afterwards they eat as normal and put on 7-14lbs plus more! Restricting calories should never be your first step in trying to lose weight. Many, many other steps come before this should ever be considered. 

If anything is removed from someones diet, something healthy should immediately replace it.

Thanks for reading guys!

Ethan