Fresh Tomato and Zucchini Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette from Shaw’s®

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Question by Jessica: Will my body go into starvation mode if I eat many small meals a day, but do not take in over 800 calories?
I eat every 2 hours or so. I normally eat cottage cheese, an apple, banana, broccoli, tomatoes, mixed salad, or other veggies throughout the day, but I never reach much over 700-800 calories… The problem is that I’m at college and the food here is all fried or salty, so I don’t eat anything other than stuff from the salad bar…

Will my body go in to starvation mode even if I am eating small meals throughout the day?

Best answer:

Answer by HAH
doesnt matter how many meals you eat, if you eat less than 1200 calories a day, you WILL go into starvation mode

Add your own answer in the comments!

6 Comments

  1. Starvation mode does not exist.

    All you need is to avoid carbs, not necessarily calories.

    How oftern you eat does not affect your metabolic rate either.

    Your crash diet is doomed to fail like all others. You’re better off just doing a ketogenic diet

  2. You can’t do that!? Buy your own food, make a packed lunch. You can’t live like that!

  3. the most important thing you need to do is eat more different things. the human body doesnt neeed only calories, you need many other thing wich you cant get enough from salads. i mean ok, maybe if you are vegan or vegetarian, you can look for vegetables wich have similiar materials as meat, but i would recommend you at least to eat fish or chicken meat. (fish is as they say the best meat you can eat, but i personally prefer chicken because it has more proteins)… ah and i forgot, cheese has many calories, so dont worry about it. bananas are great power sources, broccoli and tomatoes are healthy too. it isnt that bad

  4. Pretty much… Going any lower than 1000-1200 calories a day is REALLY bad for you. Find alternate sources of protein and calories such a yogurt (Greek yogurt is the best) or beans. Try fitting in healthy calories as well, just cuz something is fried doesn’t always mean its terrible for you. Fat in foods gets a bad rap because that is what people naturally assume causes them to gain weight when in reality it’s other ingredients in the food that cause your body to absorb all the negative aspects of fat and discard most of the bennifits from it.

  5. Yes if you don’t eat enough your body will try to conserve every bit of fat it can and refuse to release it to be burned off. It effectively puts you on rations until the “famine” is over.

    You will have to cook your own meals if the college is not providing healthy choices. Starving yourself through college is NOT an option.

  6. You need more calories than that. Try to eat more cottage cheese, more fruits and veggies. Ask the college nutritionist if they could please get multi-grain bread. flavored yogurt, whole milk, fish, skinned chicken breast, hard boiled eggs and cheeses..

    Can you cook in your dorm room? If so, get a hot plate and blender. You could make smoothies: flavored yogurt, banana and/or berries and protein powder.

    A good diet/exercise plan would be:

    Breakfast: Cook 9-grain cereal (from health food store) in water with rolled oats and wheat bran. Make a big pot of it on weekends and scoop out 1/2 cup each morning and nuke it for a minute. Add low fat milk or yogurt, banana, walnuts and berries. Drink hot Ovaltine. Breakfast should be your largest meal of the day to raise blood sugar level which falls during the night.

    Lunch: Egg, tuna or turkey ½ sandwich on whole grain bread with bean or alfalfa sprouts and yogurt w/fruit. If you had meat loaf for dinner, bring a meat loaf sandwich on whole grain bread (NO mayo). On cold days, a squatty thermos of hot chili, split peas with ham, or beef stew.

    Snacks: Fresh (not canned) fruit: banana, orange, apple, kiwi, grapes, peach, nectarine, cherries, pineapple. No chips and nothing ever from a vending machine.

    Dinner: salad with white meat chicken and fresh (not canned) veggies: tomatoes, 2 kinds of lettuce, 2 kinds of shredded cabbage, shredded or sliced carrots, alfalfa or bean sprouts, zucchini, green or red peppers, hard boiled eggs, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, tofu, cottage cheese…Instead of dressing, squeeze 1/4 tomato over it.

    Or homemade bean/vegetable soups; great way to recycle leftovers.
    Or grilled fish with steamed veggies.

    Or omelet: In blender, whip together eggs, tofu, cottage cheese, onions, garlic powder. Cook with mushrooms, chopped tomatoes and green or red peppers.

    Foods to avoid: junk food, fast foods, pastries, desserts, sugar, salty foods, syrup (even canned fruit in syrup), peanut butter, fat/grease (pork, wieners, chops, bacon, salami, pizza, chips, fries), pasta, potatoes, white bread, rice, canned veggies, ice cream, soda, chips. And of course no tobacco or alcohol in any form. Both of those add wrinkles and destroy your brain. No oil except olive and mac nut. Coffee also rots your brain.

    To keep your skin clear, drink water. Veg. juice is good too. But not canned juice (too much sugar.)

    Join a gym; they have all the equipment and staff to show you how to use it to get the look you want to achieve. Much cheaper than buying your own equipment. Go hiking, biking, jogging, bowling, swimming, rowing…play tennis, badminton, volleyball, soccer..

    If you lack energy to exercise, take Super B complex.
    To lose weight, try an appetite suppressant.

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