Why the Starvation Response Makes Diets Ineffective
Posted: Wednesday, December 09, 2009
by Donovan Baldwin
No Diet 4 Me
First of all, what is the starvation response anyway?
As Tom Venuto points out in his great book, "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle", this survival trait of ours came about when we, as a race, did not know where our next meal was coming from. Back in the day, the caveman day, that is, it was literally about feast and famine. Hunters would kill dinner and all would gorge themselves. If they were lucky, they would do it again the next day.
The survivors had the starvation response to thank for their survival, at least in part.
When the human body is deprived of food for an extended period, such as being on a strict diet over several days, it begins to realize that sustinence is in short supply. It then takes steps to conserve energy. This is the starvation response. It happens when you are on a diet just as it did when the hunters came home empty handed several days in a row.
As Tom Venuto puts it in "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle", "Your body can't tell the difference between dieting and starvation".
However, the starvation response, which can be a lifesaver if you actually are in a starvation situation, can be a deal-breaker when it comes to a diet.
Basically, what happens is that your body learns to survive on fewer calories. If you are dieting strictly enough to lose weight, as your body adapts, your weight loss slows down. To continue to lose weight, you have to cut down your calorie intake even more.
That might not seem like too bad a deal to some, but food is what provides the body with important nutrients...and the energy necessary to live life.
Actually, the worst part for many is what happens after they go off the diet. They go back to eating in their normal manner, but their body needs fewer calories so even more get stored as fat. That makes it even harder to lose weight in the future even if they find a healthy and effective weight loss technique.
Going on a diet sets you up for failure in the long run due to the workings of the starvation response.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donovan Baldwin is a 64-year-young amateur bodybuilder and freelance writer who currently lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia with his wife and their self-taught champion begging dog. He is a University of West Florida alumnus with a BA in Accounting (1973), and is retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service. He has a blog entitled Fitness After 40 and has posted a review of Tom Venuto's book "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" on his website at http://nodiet4me.com/burn_fat.html .
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