The funny thing about starvation mode is this – the definition keeps on changing.

It used to be that ‘if you didn’t eat every three hours your metabolism would crash and you’d start to lose muscle.’

This was proven to be a big fat lie.

Then it became ‘If you are on a low calorie diet for too long you can actually start gaining weight, even while in a calorie deficit’

Again, big fat lie.

Then, starvation mode grew up a bit. It became ‘if you are on a low calorie diet for an extended period of time and have very low body fat you can start to see metabolic complications including muscle loss and an altered metabolism, especially if you are undertaking constant strenuous exercise’

This definition is kind of hard to argue with, but I’d also hope that this should be somewhat obvious to most people, since this isn’t ‘starvation mode’ as much as it is the classic definition of ‘wasting’.

Now here is something less obvious – my own definition of a true starvation mode.

The classic symptoms of ‘starvation mode’ – muscle loss and an altered metabolic rate can absolutely occur when you starve your muscles… from exercise.

‘Disuse atrophy’ is when a muscle shrinks in size as a result of not being used or stressed. It can occur quickly (just think of an arm in a cast) or slowly (someone stops working out, but isn’t bed ridden).

And, if your entire body isn’t being used at all, you will burn less calories per day then someone who is moving.

Interestingly, it’s even more complicated then just losing muscle because you’re not using it.

When you don’t use your muscles they become “anabolic resistant”. Meaning, the physiology of your muscles changes and they become resistant to the anabolic affects of protein and amino acids.

When people are subjected to prolonged bed rest, feeding them amino acids or protein doesn’t help prevent the muscle loss that occurs.

The only thing that does is resistance training, especially when combined with protein or amino acids.

So in my eyes true starvation mode is what happens when you starve your muscles of meaningful contractions – movement, lifting, pulling these types of things.

In this regard a very large percentage of the population is in ‘starvation mode’

This is why Eat Stop Eat is the combination of fasting for weight loss AND resistance training. It’s a two part system.

You are never in a prolonged calorie deficit, in any given week you spend more time eating then you do fasting, and you are resistance training.

No starvation mode, no muscle loss, no messed up metabolism.

In my opinion the resistance training is just as important as the fasting.

I’ve finally finished the updates to my book “How Much Protein”.

My recommendations really haven’t changed in this new expanded version, but I have added some rare exceptions to these recommendations and some more explanations on how the protein you eat works (and doesn’t work) in the muscle building process.

I’ve also removed the creatine information and moved it into it’s own report – Aptly named “How Much Creatine?”

The RIGHT amount of protein is still a big question mark in many people’s approach to nutrition, and this is my best answer to the question:

How Much Protein should I eat if I want to Build Muscle?

Plus, I’ve included the creatine research because I think it’s an extremely valuable but misunderstood supplement.

And you can get them both here –> THE NEW HOW MUCH PROTEIN