Is starvation a somewhat-viable alternative to dieting?

[Something_clevar]

And if it is, to what extent?

Yes, I know it's lazy, and unhealthy; but if one were to only be aiming to lose about 5 pounds of fat, would starvation be alright for maybe a day or two?

If starvation doesn't work, then how about 1,000 calories worth of powerbars stretched throughout the day, for the course of about half a month?


*Prepares flame extinguisher*

[EllisD]

when you starve, your body is gonna break down your muscles for one, so if u have any muscle its gonna siphon that..but eh.

[enkrypt0r]

As the previous poster said, you'll just start breaking down muscle, and put most of the fat back on when you start eating again. If you really need to lose the weight fast, eat ~1000 calories per day. This should create a deficit of 1000-1500 calories, which isn't the best course of action, but it's better than starvation. Remember to take your multivitamin, and try and eat healthy foods. You can eat to fill without going over 1000 calories daily.

[negz]

http://www.leangains.com/

[Something_clevar]

As the previous poster said, you'll just start breaking down muscle, and put most of the fat back on when you start eating again. If you really need to lose the weight fast, eat ~1000 calories per day. This should create a deficit of 1000-1500 calories, which isn't the best course of action, but it's better than starvation. Remember to take your multivitamin, and try and eat healthy foods. You can eat to fill without going over 1000 calories daily.

I suppose, also, as long as there's a lot of protein in those 1,000 calories (and a vitamin pill somewhere along the line) your body would be forced to wait as long as possible to start digesting muscle. Isn't that right?

[pygar]

well if you're >150kg not eating anything every second day wont cause you to die of malnutrition.

[negz]

This thread is making me hungry. *wanders off into the kitchen*

[Bad_Intentions]

Come on now if your going to starve yourself do it properly. Don't eat anything for 2 weeks and live off of vitamins water, and juice when you feel like you're going to faint. After the two weeks slowly bring yourself back too food, like a piece of raw fruit and veg a day for a while to begin with then eventually eating more till your up to a proper diet. Slowly increase your excercise to keep off the food your slowly turning your body onto again.

I really don't think it's a good idea, I could never do it but hey, if you want to starve yourself do it the right way.

[023]

The human body isn't retarded.

When it stops getting nourished, it shuts all unnecessary processes down. It starts breaking down muscle for fuel, and you are just gonna loose water weight.

You'll gain the weight right back when you start eating again.

Solution:
Healthy diet (2000+ calories) and Lots of exercise (Run, Bike, Swim, Strength Train)

[zooting22]

When sensing starvation, your body will store more fat out of what is available since it is uncertain when the next food source might show up.

[HLC]

As many mention above, your body starts to slow down to conserve when you cut food intake drastically.
But if I recall correctly, this slowdown really occurs after the 3rd day of fasting, so one or two days won't be so bad.
Surely one day won't.
However, if you go on to 2 or more days, rather than zero food, I'd suggest you still take in 600 - 800 calories of good quality protein mixed with carbs to insure less muscle loss and to keep your fat burning pathways working at 100%.

[P_R_Deltoid]

Adding on to other people saying it doesn't really work, when you starve yourself, your body's metabolism slows down, so any food you eat will have added effect than if you just ate normally.

[HowardMoon7]

Juice fast.
Google is your friend.

[HLC]

I did a little more research into the question of short term starvation for fat loss.

It turns out, ironically enough, though your metabolism will slow after 3 days of starvation, it actually speeds up for the first 3 days.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g266/totse006/metabolicrateduringstarvation.gif

But this comes as your nitrogen loss (amino acids and proteins) also rises to its highest levels during starvation.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g266/totse006/Nitrogenlossduringstarvation.gif

Protein loss slows down after 3 days, as your body starts to recognize this no food situation may go on for quite a while. (my words).

Since you have a pool (reserve) of free amino acids, especially glutamine, you can lose a significant amount of nitrogen in the first 24 hours without significant muscle degradation. After that, the muscles start to lose more protein than you'd probably want to happen.

So my take is, starvation for 24 hours is not bad.
Your metabolism will actually speed up, not slow down.
It could actually be a decent strategy as the OP was thinking.
But after one day, you should be taking in protein to reduce muscle breakdown.
And I personally would add a small amount of carbs to keep the TCA cycle working at 100%, avoiding ketosis.
Though going ketotic may be a second strategy that some (many?) find works well for fat loss.

the graphs are from here:

http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food2/UID07E/uid07e11.htm

Oh yeah, almost forgot.
If you're obese, the situation is less dire than if you're lean and starving yourself.
In other words, you can starve yourself longer with less muscle loss if you're obese.

++++++++++++

edit that summarizes the above ... starvation for weight loss ..

No food , only water for one full day ======== good.

No food, only water for more than one day === bad

Protein, plus water for up to 3 days ======== good

longer than 3 days very low Calorie intake ==== bad

HLC
.
.

[zooting22]

Adding on to other people saying it doesn't really work, when you starve yourself, your body's metabolism slows down, so any food you eat will have added effect than if you just ate normally.

way to summarize the thread:rant: