Signs And Symptoms Of Starvation Mode: How To Get Out Of It?

Privation of food makes your body go in to starvation mode. Starvation mode is a metabolic reaction to being deprived of food; it occurs during economic depression or famine, when you embark on a fad diet, or when you suffer from anorexia nervosa. Some of the signs and symptoms starvation mode are:

  • When you starve, the body cannot obtain adequate amounts of nutrients and energy.
    Consequently, fatigue is common because there isn’t enough energy to function optimally.
  • Weight loss is an obvious feature.
  • Vitamin and mineral insufficiency occurs, and this results in anemia, rashes, diarrhea, edema and even heart failure.
  • Testosterone and estrogen levels diminish during starvation mode, so sexual drive is low. Women complain of irregular menstruation or a complete absence of menses.
  • Depression is another major clinical feature of starvation.
  • Anxiety is also a commonly seen psychological symptom of not consuming sufficient food.
  • Food obsession is seen too; a deprived body focuses on food because it needs the energy. If you are starved, you will spend a lot of time talking about, thinking about and looking for food.
  • A lessening in the intake of food leads to a drop in the metabolic rate. Once you begin to eat more, your metabolic rate tends to stay at a low level, and consequently, you will regain all the lost weight and may sometimes even put on more weight than when the starvation started.

How To Get Out Of Starvation Mode?

  • Eating right, getting sufficient calories, sustaining lean body mass and building muscle boosts your metabolic rate. Most of the calories that you consume are used to maintain the basal metabolic rate, (including the heart rate, breathing and maintenance of muscle). Thus, to get out of the starvation mode, consume adequate nourishment. Track your current intake and the rate of weight loss. Eat calories which help you to shed weight at a rate of 1 to 2 pounds a week. To make sure that your metabolism does not slow down. Women mustn’t eat less than 1200 calories per day and men should not eat less than 1,800 calories a day.
  • Muscle tends to burn more calories than fat. You should lose weight at a slow rate, so that you shed fat, not the calorie-burning muscle. In addition to preserving your muscle whilst you try to lose weight, you can get yourself out of the starvation mode by building lean muscle mass. Confer with a gym instructor and start a weight training program that will help you. Weight lifting, push-ups, sit ups and squats are resistance and endurance training exercises which promote muscle building and also give your metabolism a huge boost.
  • Eating less does not play a pivotal role in your overall metabolism; but that does not mean it is a vital aspect of your diet for weight loss. If you radically restrict your calorie consumption to slow down your metabolism, it is quite likely that you are not getting all the nutrients that your body requires for optimal health and normal functioning. Follow a healthy weight-loss diet program that incorporates foods from all the food groups – vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, lean proteins and dairy. Eat regularly and frequently, consume 4 to 6 small sized meals a day, to keep hunger at bay and energy levels high.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *