Why is it that people say you shouldnt starve yourself because you will gain weight?

Question

They say if you starve yourself you metabolism will slow down and you body will store more fat causing you to gain weght. Then why do people with anorexia lose so much weight? I AM def not going to starve myself and Im not anorexic...Im just curious so I thought I would ask. Thanks :-)

Answer 1

Because an anorexic continues to starve themselves. BUT once and anorexic begins eating again, all their weight comes back as fat because their body is convinced that the starvation will come back. So they store all the fat they can make to prevent death later.

Answer 2

People who suffer from that disorder are satisfying a temporary craving or hunger through purging. When the stomach is full,the brain tells the body that everything is normal now and the hunger or craving can cease. It is then that the person purges what they have consumed before the stomach enzymes can process the food to store as fat for potential energy.

Metabolism is the body's process of turning food into energy. When you starve you don't build more fat. It can't build any fat because it has nothing to obtain the fat from. The body is constanly getting its fuel from carbs. When there are no carbs it uses its reserves, which is the fat that we are so disgusted with. When there are no reserves, it has no choice but to start burning the very muscles that give us the strength to do our daily activities, until bones is all that is left.

You said, "They say if you starve yourself your metabolism will slow down..."
This is true. Think of your body's metabolism as a factory of workers waiting for product (food) to come in on the conveyor belt. The less food that comes in, the slower the conveyor belt (metabolism) rotates. When you eat more, for example 3 meals a day with snacks in between or 6 small meals a day, not only do you speed up the conveyor belt, but it stays working at this rate so as long as you continue to maintain this "production rate." This is why your metabolism slows down when you don't feed "the machine." When it doesn't get any exercise, it just stays there helping build more reserves. It is also not healthy to eat very healthy and work out too much. Small portions of fat are necessary to have as a back up supply of energy. If the body cannot find it, it shuts down...literally.
TRUE STORY:An old G/F of mine once passed out on a treadmill at a gym. She was eating minimal,only vegetables and doing a lot of cardiowork. No meats,breads (carbs are main source of fuel),etc.Passing out was her body's way of communicating that its fuel level was low and needed more fuel (food) to keep going. Dying is your body's way of telling you it can no longer metabolize anything because it doesn't have enough energy to do even that.

Answer 3

You have the basic premise correct. The way I understand it is, if you don't eat regularly (skip meals, try not to eat a lot, etc.), your metabolism does slow down, and your body will hoard any food and fat that one does eat, thinking that it has to save everything because it's not going to get any more. When this happens, when one does eat regularly or more than usual, they will typically gain weight instead of just burning off the fat. Anorexic people don't gain weight because they never eat enough food to do so. If they ever did begin to eat regularly, they would gain weight faster than an average person, because their metabolism is slower and their body wouldn't burn off any of the calories. That's why they say those diets where you eat lots of small meals a day are really good for losing weight and staying healthy, because your body just constantly burns fat, because it doesn't have to worry about whether or not another meal is coming -- it knows one is coming!

It's never good to mess with the natural workings of the body. Food is good.

Answer 4

It goes something like this... When you are on a very low calorie diet your body notices. It then become more effecient at using up available calories. It will try to keep it's fat stores by breaking down muscle tissue to obtain energy. This is why you can lose weight fast, at first, with almost all low calorie diets.

And at the same time, your metabolism will slow down. Weight loss will stop. Once you start eating more calories, those extra calories will be stored as fat because your body has adjusted it's caloric needs.

People with anorexia are on a low calorie diet for long periods of time. Their body will eventually use up most of it's muscle tissue. Then it will use it's fat reserves. And after this, your body will begin to digest itself.

Answer 5

When your metabolism slows down you will not necessarily 'gain' weight. It just causes your body to slow the calorie burning process. Anorexic people lose the weight because they don't eat. They have no calories to burn so the body begins to 'cannibalize' itself by taking from muscle mass--that is why anorexic people look so emaciated. Also, on another note, muscle weighs more than fat and the more muscle mass one has, the faster the metabolism works. So a person would want to keep muscle.

Answer 6

It's only partly true. When you go on a "starvation diet", your body's metabolism slows, you lose energy, and you generally burn fewer calories. Your body goes into starvation mode and begins shutting down to store what little food you're eating for later use. Now, when you eventually go off the diet, that is when the rapid weight gain occurs. You won't necessarily gain while starving yourself but those sorts of diets NEVER LAST LONG, and when you start eating pizza and soda again, POOF goes your belly!

Answer 7

because when you are starving your metabolism slows RIGHT down. when you eat anything at all, the body stores as much from it as possible, you also use as little energy as possible. so its practically impossible to loose weight. your body stays in this mode for a good while after you start eating again. so its hard to loose weight. this is part of what makes beating anorexia so hard because they freak out about how soon they gain weight when they eat. anorexics loose the weight because they do it over a very long period of time, theres nothing for their body to store anyway. most people will eat again (atleast a little bit) after starving themselves

Answer 8

Does starving your self make you shed weight or income weight? It makes you shed weight. Now, starving your self for a lengthy era of time slows down your metabolism. So, hypothetically, in case you bypass from ingesting a regularly happening eating regimen of 1800 energy an afternoon to ingesting enable's say, 2 hundred energy an afternoon - for sure risky - your metabolism will decelerate and get used to the two hundred calorie an afternoon gas provide. Then enable's say after, oh, about 2 weeks of two hundred energy an afternoon, you bypass lower back for your 1800 energy an afternoon because you purely won't be able to stand ingesting so little and also you want to eat more suitable because you're starving, then you will income weight exceedingly quick in an risky way. that is why convalescing anorexics must have their energy slowly more suitable lower back as a lot as what their on a daily basis caloric intake must be for his or her age, sex, properly, and target weight. it is likewise why maximum those that bypass on fad diets income the load lower back they lost at the same time as on the eating regimen. those fad diets shrink your calorie intake appreciably (> 500 suggested calorie deficit for most human beings, no longer all). best of success and robust well being.

Answer 9

Anorexics have been starving themselves for an extended period of time. The fat stored has already eaten itself to provide much needed nutrients in their starving bodies. If you want to lose weight the healthy way you have to continue eating just eat smaller portions.

Answer 10

Because they make it a habit and keep doing it. Most people that try and starve just to lose weight will go back to eating after a day or so.