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Starving yourself?


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Iam C
Yahoo User

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:21 pm Post subject: Starving yourself?

First off, NO I am not planning on doing this.I realize how unhealthy it is. I'm just curious about different things I've heard about it.When you see anorexic people, they are very thin, obviously.But I've heard a lot of people saying that your metabolism slows down & you gain weight.If that's true, why are anorexic people so thin?& how long would it take to lose weight that way?

sXe hapa
Yahoo User

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:25 pm Post subject:

you wouldnt really gain much weight, just wouldnt lose any i think. maybe gain like a couple pounds. anyways.after a while, you lose the weight, maybe a couple weeks because your body eventually needs to burn the fat in order for you to stay alive.

Megan
Yahoo User

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:26 pm Post subject:

They get so skinny because after a while your body starts eating itself-it's fats, it does slow your metabolism because you aren't getting any more food to create more energy, but it probably only takes about a week or less for you to lose weight.

Reese R
Yahoo User

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:26 pm Post subject:

this question has been asked many times. use the search box next time plz. But for my 2 points, let me answer:As soon as you START EATING AGAIN, that's when you start gaining the weight back. But when I was anorexic...and started eating healthy again, I didn't gain the weight back....hmmm...

tanika971
Yahoo User

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:28 pm Post subject:

People with anorexia become obsessed with dieting and weight. They develop a fear of becoming fat and have a distorted image of their body, seeing themselves as fat, even when they're very thin.Under-eating, vigorous exercise, ritualistic food habits and abuse of laxatives cause excessive loss of weight.Most anorexic people have no history of being overweight.Anorexia usually starts in the mid-teens, although it can start at a younger or older age. Women are more likely than men to have anorexia - about 90 per cent of those affected are female.It's estimated about three or four people in every 100 have anorexia. Most deny they have a problem and many have depression. It can run in families.What are the effects?Lack of food deprives the body of essential protein and prevents the normal metabolism of fat, resulting in:An irregular heartbeat that can lead to heart failure and deathDehydrationKidney stone formation and kidney failureWeakness because of muscle wastingConstipationGrowth of fine downy hair on the face and armsLack of calcium, which may cause osteoporosisInterrupted or no periods

Laura
Yahoo User

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:31 pm Post subject:

The thing about starving yourself is...- you do loose weight - while you're not eating.That's why anorexic people are so skinny.- Since it does slow down your metabolism, you gain weight once you start eating again.That's why it causes you to gain weight and makes it harder to loose anything gained back.And another reason why fasts don't work in the long-run

Stina
Yahoo User

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:34 pm Post subject:

Yes it's 100% true that your metabolism slows down when you stop eating. The reason why many anorexics are so thin is because they starve themselves (or restrict their caloric intake) for a long enough period of time that their bodies go PAST that starvation phase, where the body can no longer survive by holding onto the fat, etc which is not being redistributed by eating more food.After you pass that phase of starving for long enough, your body starts to eat away at its own fat, muscle, tissue, etc, to keep itself alive, and THAT'S when the weight begins to come off. Water weight comes off first (which makes you look a little thinner until you drink a drop of water--pointless), and muscle weight comes next. Muscle weight is what makes your body look toned and sexy (so not only does it take like a month to see results, but the initial results will be flabby and make you look bad).If someone is starving themselves, it may only take a few days to a week to notice water weight loss, then a couple weeks after that will be muscle and tissue loss, and you don't actually lose FAT from starving yourself until about a month or so of starvation, and then you've already lost all the important stuff like muscle. Not a good game plan, lol.Hope that helped!

[Just do your best!]
Yahoo User

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:40 pm Post subject:

Here's an explanation for the "slowed metabolism": http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_8.htmAs for the anorexia question, their bodies waste away because they have very little food to hang on to. People who suffer from severe anorexia do not JUST starve themselves, they go to extreme lengths to lose weight and get rid of any calories they ingest (i.e. purging). They often exercise excessively/obsessively and abuse diet pills and what not. OF COURSE they lose weight rapidly - they are literally killing themselves. Their bodies get abused to the point that they have NO CHOICE but to use its own energy stores (fat and muscle) in order to survive. Their metabolism gets slowed down (amenorrhea, hypothyroid, and bradycardia symptoms occur), of course, but organs like the brain and muscle still need to function somehow.Take in consideration that a lot of the time people say the "OMG DON'T STARVE IT'LL KILL YOUR METABOLISM" to scare people off from not eating (it's often the quick-fix for most people). While this is a valid argument, and it does happen (as explained in the site I provided), one day of not eating will not kill you (thought it's an unhealthy and ineffective way to lose weight in the long-term). What IS true is that months or even just weeks of doing so can and will hurt your health a lot, depending on the severity of your "diet" and how your body manages itself.

runner
Yahoo User

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:53 pm Post subject:

It is true that when your body enters starvation mode, your metabolism will be slowed. Your body does not suddenly enter starvation mode, it is something that happens over time, but it may go fast if you eat very little. Starvation mode is a defense system your body enters when it believe it is not going to get enough food for a while. Fat are vital to protect organs, and therefor your body starts to tear down your muscles and later on tissue instead. When you don't have much weight to lose, your weight loss will decrease. A person that has entered starvation mode is maybe burning 1200 calories a day (just to take an example, this differs a lot) while a normal person burns 2500 calories a day. To lose weight, they both have to burn more calories than they eat. If the person that eats 2500 calories a day, eats 20% less calories, that person will end up eating 2000 calories and experience a weight loss (burns 500 more calories than he/she eat). If the other person that are in starvation mode would eat the same amount, that person would experience a weight gain (burn 800 calories less than he/she eat). It is therefore harder to lose weight when you're in starvation mode, as you burn less calories a day than a healthy person. However, it is not impossible. If you eat less than 1200 calories a day, you will lose weight, but your metabolism will also continue to decrease. So it will in other words take longer time to lose weight when your body enters starvation mode. If the anorectic person also cuts down her/his what he/she eats by 20%, he/she will eat 960 calories a day. Eating that little over time will be very difficult, but even both decreased their calories by 20%, the person who ate 2500 calories a day will lose 4 pounds a month, while the person who ate 1200 calories a day will eat 2 pounds a month. When we also calculate that the weight of the person who eats 1200 calories a month, most likely is a lot lower than the person who eats 2500 calories a month, the weight loss will be about 1-1,5 pound a month. It will in other words take four times as long to lose the same amount of weight when you cut your calories by 20% when you're in starvation mode, compared to when you're not. How long time it will take to lose weight depends on how much the anorexic person eats. Sometimes increasing the amount of calories may increase the weight loss, as the metabolism increases, but usually you lose more weight the less you eat, but the effect will be decreased the less you eat. If you for example eat 500 calories less than your body requires to maintain it's weight when you weigh 150 lbs, you will lose about 4 pounds a month. Eating 1500 calories less than your body requires wont make you lose three times as much, because your metabolism will be decreased. To sum it up, when you eat less, your metabolism will decrease, and you will after a while come to a point where you have to eat even less to continue the weight loss, because your metabolism is slowed down. If you don't, you wont lose any weight, if you do, you will lose weight, but your metabolism will continue to decrease, and the weight loss will happen slowly. You can't eat 2000 calories a day, and expect you will continue lose weight for the rest of your life in other words, after a while, your metabolism will have decreased to burn 2000 calories a day, and you will have to eat less in order to continue the weight loss.Anorexic people are very thin, because even their body may have entered starvation mode, they manage to eat very little. However, it is not uncommon that anorexic people experience weight gain, and if someone who is in starvation mode suddenly starts to eat normal, they will increase their weight pretty fast, compared to a normal person which would just maintain it's weight. However, they will also reach a point where they need to eat more to continue their weight gain, just as you will come to a point where you will have to eat less or exercise more to continue a weight loss. Long post, but hope I was able to explain it to you:)

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