Starvation mode. In terms of the biology of the body, what happens when the body goes into starvation mode?

Question

The body goes into starvation mode when someone cuts too many calories from their diet.

I am looking for more detailed answers in terms of what actually happens in the body in terms of the biochemistry of the body.

Answer 1

The body needs a certain number of calories just to keep up regular bodily functions. It also needs calories to provide energy for the physical work you do each day. When you drastically cut calories, your metabolism slows down so not to use up the calories you do have. These calories are stored as fat so your body has an energy supply and keeps running. It's like if you knew your job was going to stop paying you, you'd slow down your spending and start saving. That's what your body does.

Answer 2

Hitler used doctors to measure the calories needed to keep the prisoners alive for three months in the V-2 factories. I think it was 800 calories a day as per the movie I saw. The act of fasting for a few hours starts the body producing three solvents one of which is the human acetone. Starvation I am sure has to make the opposite chemicals to save the oils.

Answer 3

When you starve your body into starvation mode. It actually starts to shut down functions that it does not need to survive, like, heart, liver, kidneys etc and prevents any fat storage from being released.

It doesn't know when that fat can be replaced so it saves it. Your brain needs lots of sugar to function and it can take other tissue to provide itself with necessary nutrition. In a true starvation mode the brain will actually take brain cells to convert to sugar to furnish itself with survival nutrition.

So small meals often, gives your body the nutrition to function and lets it know that more stuff is coming and it doesn't have to hang onto every calorie it gets. After a time, it will begin to let the stored calories go.

Answer 4

Exactly, and it holds on to all your fat.

I've been told here my body is going into starvation mode just eating 650 calories a day.
But funny...I've lost 15 pounds since they said that :-)

Answer 5

Don't know about the biochemistry part, but all i know is anything you see, you'll hallucinate them as food.

Answer 6

You body will storage fat and you might lose weight by losing muscle but not fat. Be careful.

Answer 7

don,t think about it so much