• Question: Does starving yourself make you lose weight? If not, why and can you please explain? :)

    Asked by brandoncolque123 to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 27 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      When your body is in ‘starve’ mode, it gets as much energy out of any food that it can. So periodically starving yourself for a day and then eating won’t help much with losing weight. Starving yourself for longer must have an effect, but as soon as you start eating again you body will try to store as much fat as it can.

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      You lose weight by using more energy than you take in via food. Starving yourself is not a good way to do this because, as Tom says, your body is really good at getting the most energy out of food. If you don’t have food for a long time, your body uses up all your body fat and then starts digesting muscles.
      Of course, as soon as you start to eat again, your body will store away fat reserves so that it can survive the next starvation.
      If you want to lose weight, it’s better to cut out some unhealthy food and replace it with healthier food, and then make sure that you do some exercise very day.

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