Weight loss is associated with numerous physical and mental health benefits and is generally seen as positive. However, your brain, which is more worried about keeping you from starving, doesn’t always see it that way.
When you first try to lose weight, you may experience rapid results. However, things may slow after that.
This is because your body starts trying to conserve energy by reducing the number of calories it burns. It also makes you feel hungrier and increases food cravings.
The phenomenon, which is your brain’s natural mechanism to protect you from starvation, is often called “starvation mode.”
But what is actually going on in the body?
What people generally refer to as “starvation mode” is the body’s natural response to calorie restriction. During this time, your body might reduce how many calories it needs to maintain energy balance.
Though you might view a calorie deficit as a good thing, your body and brain may not feel the same way. This is where the phrase “starvation mode” came from. Though your body is not starving, it can react to a lower calorie intake and do what it can to hold on to energy with the goal of stopping you from entering starvation. This might be by making you feel hungrier so you consume more calories or by reducing the number of calories you burn.
The technical term for this is “adaptive thermogenesis” or “metabolic adaptation”. So, the term “starvation mode” is not strictly accurate since no starvation is actually happening.
The calories you burn in a day can be measured in different ways and can depend on how the energy is used:
- Basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR is the number of calories your body uses for vital functions, such as breathing, heart rate, and brain function.
- Resting metabolic rate (RMR). This is how much energy your body burns at rest.
- Thermic effect of food (TEF) is the number of calories burned while digesting a meal, which is usually about 10% of calorie intake.
- Thermic effect of exercise (TEE) or exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT) is the number of calories burned during physical activity, such as exercise.
- Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) refers to the number of calories burned fidgeting, changing posture, and other movements. This is usually subconscious.
The amount of energy you burn through all these mechanisms can decrease when you reduce your energy intake through dieting.
This is because the body responds to lower caloric intake by becoming more efficient at doing work. This means it needs less energy than before for the same amount of work.
When you lose weight, muscle mass can also decrease. Muscle is metabolically active and burns calories around the clock. So, it’s important to make sure you aren’t losing muscle when you lose weight. You can do this by keeping your protein intake high and incorporating strength or resistance training into your exercise routine.
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Weight-loss plateaus can have many causes (and solutions), and it doesn’t always mean you aren’t losing weight. For example, water retention can make it seem like you haven’t lost weight when you have.
Additionally, muscle can weigh more than fat, so it might just be that your body composition is changing, which is why you’ll weigh the same despite losing fat.
If adaptive thermogenesis is a prominent cause of your weight loss plateau, you might also try losing weight more slowly to stop your body from slowing its metabolism. The idea is that this puts less stress on the body, as it doesn’t experience an abrupt change, leading it to try to hold onto calories.
Starvation mode actually refers to a phenomenon called “adaptive thermogenesis”. The effect is simply the body’s natural physiological response to changes in calorie intake.
During this period, the body becomes more efficient at using calories, so it requires fewer calories for the same work. This means you don’t burn as much for the same activities. Hormone changes can also happen, making you feel hungrier.
To prevent this from happening, you can try eating more protein, maintaining muscle mass through strength training, and losing weight at a slower, steadier pace.
Speak with your doctor or a registered dietitian if you are finding it difficult to lose weight, or if you are restricting calories and still not losing weight. Sometimes, restricting too much can actually slow your metabolism and can also have harmful effects. It’s best to go slow and steady, keeping your body healthy along the way.