If starving doesn't work.. then how do anorexics..?? - Just for Teens, and Teens Only Please! - Groups

Diet & Weight Loss Forums > Groups > Just for Teens, and Teens Only Please! > If starving doesn't work.. then how do anorexics..??

Moderated by: Moderator Team

Author

Post

Dreamer
New Member

Joined:	3 July 2008
Location:	London, United Kingdom
Posts:	7

Well, the title says it all. If going in to starvation mode makes you keep fat.. then how do anorexics lose fat?? :confused:

clarinetgurl
Distinguished Member

Joined:	20 April 2006
Location:	Smalltown, Tennessee USA
Posts:	2377

Well, I think the way it works is that he body of an anorexic grows so desperate that all those bodily systems shut down and everything...

Yes, if you KEEP starving yourself, you will lose weight. never mind you will have a slew of negative repercussions. But your bodies first defense is to hold onto the fat, so that is why we don't lose weight.

At least thats how I think of it. Hope that makes sense.

DaNcEaHoLiC
New Member

Joined:	3 May 2008
Location:
Posts:	156

You don't get fat if you're starving yourself. But when you stop, you gain all the weight back, probably more. That's why it's not worth it.

I can't think of anything else right now. I'm too tired, sorry, my brain isn't working. xD

ThisOneGuy
New Member

Joined:	7 July 2008
Location:
Posts:	2

Forgive me if my information isn't entirely accurate, but the way I udnerstand it is this...

Your body has an advanced defense mechinism installed into it, which changes your metabolism when it detects food shortage. Basicly, when you starve yourself, your body goes into shock, and this mechinism is initiated.

Now, what happens is that it begins to slow your metabolism WAY down, which affects your RMR - in effect causing you to burn near enough to zero calories in your resting state. This is a survival method, so because your body thinks it's starving, it tries to store every single calorie it can.

Because of this, you end up burning next to no calories. The next stage is the icky part. Because your body needs energy to funtcion (respiration, dugestion ect), but your mechinism doesn't allow it to take any calories to burn, your body begins to eat your muscle tissue. This is because, by this time, you wouldn't be able to mve around much, and so your muscles aren't being used a lot, so your body thinks they are disposable. Also, there are more calories in fat tissue, so it saves those.

Anyway, only after all your muscle tissue has gone goes your fat tissue become the next to go. By this time, you have no muscle definition. Your body will be so shrivled because it has no muscle tone (because there is little or no muscle). This is why most sufferers of anorexia look like mere skeletons.

Now, after your fat has gone, you die. You'd probably die a LONG time before this, but there it is. The only way to not die is to eat. Now, when you begin to eat, your body once again stores all the calories you take in. Because you burn nothing at all, they are stored. Your body still thinks it's starving, so in effect, you'd start putting more weight on.

Conclusivly, if you starve your body, you either end up putting on more weight than when you started, or you'd end up dead from starvation. Either way, it's not a road I'd like to take. Please consider these points, although it's require an admin to fine-tune my post :)

clarinetgurl
Distinguished Member

Joined:	20 April 2006
Location:	Smalltown, Tennessee USA
Posts:	2377

Actually that sounds like a pretty good explanation, from everything I have ever heard.

CG :music:

stillhere
New Member

Joined:	18 July 2008
Location:
Posts:	24

Dreamer wrote: Well, the title says it all. If going in to starvation mode makes you keep fat.. then how do anorexics lose fat?? :confused:

They dont starve they might eat 1 strawberry for breakfast and another for lunch and maybe toast for dinner? to keep up there metabolism..they drink so much water that its like a detox and they pee it out..

OnceUpon-A-ThinGirl
Distinguished Member

Joined:	7 April 2006
Location:	Willits, California USA
Posts:	1300

What they are actually "peeing out" is all of their essential electrolytes and nutrients, because they aren't replacing them with copious amounts of healthy foods.

stillhere
New Member

Joined:	18 July 2008
Location:
Posts:	24

OnceUpon-A-ThinGirl wrote: What they are actually "peeing out" is all of their essential electrolytes and nutrients, because they aren't replacing them with copious amounts of healthy foods.

Water.

addy
New Member

Joined:	12 June 2009
Location:	Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts:	5

Hiya, i was anorexic for a year and a half, and its a mental state, starvation doesn't work because most people get hungry and then binge, with anorexia, its like an addiction, you become addicted to feeling hungry and even when you are unhealthily thin you still feel fat, its a sick state of mind.