Mend Your Diet

Does strict dieting and starvation slow down your metabolism?

I have heard that very strict dieting and starvation slows down your metabolism. Can someone confirm this? Also, is it possible to speed up your metabolism after this has happened? So am I basically screwed?

Public Comments

1. As long as you restrict what you eat and not how many times a day you eat your metabolism should be fine. And yes you could speed up your metabolism after it has slowed down. That is part of the reason why diets such as "Jenny Craig" work. Starvation will defitanlty slow down your metabolism I hope you are not considering this.
2. If your body thinks it is starving, it starts conserving its fat stores to help it get through the 'lean times'. You will tend to burn muscle at these times and not fat, so you will lose weight, but from the wrong places.
3. yeah it slows it down a lot sometimes it can never be made fast again my friend when on a strict starvation diet and lost lots of weight but then she gained it all back really quickly and she has a personal trainer now but its taking even longer for her to burn the fat off.
4. This is because most diets tell someone to cut off certain substances that your body needs.. Like cutting calories or carbs. Your body needs them. People think it would make you healthier to cut down on those things, but your body can't work right without them..
5. Yes
6. my personal answer: stress=cortisol production=fat storage. If you starve your body, you go into starvation mode, your body is designed to adapt to whatever you put it through, so if you feed it less than normal, it stores what you eat afterwards as fat so that it can ration your calories throughout the "starvation period." I'm sure it's easy to recover, just takes a while of going back to a more balanced diet.
7. YES!It slows it down alot. eating regularly and exerciserung at least 3 times a week will keep you in shape, but if your looking for a plane to loose weight exercirse more like every day!!! 2 time days if possible but never before bed, and don't forget to drink plenty of water to keep you hydrated also helps clean out the toxins in your body... Jope this helps somewhat...good luck! A Frind
8. yes