I would not compare yourself to an extreme such as an anorexic. What is the point when your journey is geared toward being healthy as well as thin, while an anorexics is geared toward being thin and beyond ill. Bodies adapt and change as you force it too. Hence, cut calories, you lose weight. However, there is a lot of other things going on behind the scenes that you are not familiar with, most likely. Same goes for anorexia. The body adapts.
The starvation response is a very real phenomenon. Many people think it works like a switch, turning on and off at will.... but it is a very scientific and deep subject.
Most of it has to do with your endocrine system, i.e. hormones.
One of the major drivers of the starvation response mechanism is a hormone called leptin. This hormone is released by your fat cells telling your body if you are starving and if you have adequate storage of energy (fat).
I always say that people with a large excess of fat can handle larger caloric deficits. There is a reason for this. Most professionals will spout off about how large deficits are not good for anyone because you will trigger starvation response.
Well here is my take on it:
The only reason I am NOT a fan of huge deficits for very big people is simple. It is not a healthy way of eating that leads to long term results. Losing a lot of weight takes time and consistent adherence. If you starve someone by cutting their calories in half, from what they are used to eating.... chances are, this individual is going to hate it. Chances are, this individual is going to treat this as a diet. A diet being a temporary way of eating that leads to temporary results. Who wants that? Chances are, this person is going to dislike it so much that they fall off the wagon before ever realizing their goals. Sure, they may try again a few times. Heck, they may even keep trying with the same huge calorie cuts for the rest of their lives. But based on empirical evidence, most won't last long enough at any one try to maintain any lasting results.
So in a way, most of the trainers spouting off about how easily the starvation response is triggered are actually doing some good. But not because they are helping people avoid starvation. Rather, they are helping to promote long term adherence and good lifestyle habits. And this is what matters.
This said though, when you have a lot of excess fat, the starvation response mechanism is not so easily triggered. When you have plenty of fat, you have plenty of leptin, and this tells your body that you are in no danger of starving. As fat is lost, leptin goes down, and vice versa.
There are a lot of people on here who have a lot of weight to lose, but seem to plateau. 9/10 times, as much as I hate to sound rude, this occurs due to poor adherence. Every now and again, I have seen someone with plenty of fat, eating perfectly calorically, and still unable to lose weight. However, this is few and far between. In most cases, they eat great most of the time. But they have lapses where they binge a little here and there, or they have lapses in their exercise regimen, and these things add up to create long term energy maintenance, meaning no weight loss or gain. You have to think about this on a larger continuum, not just by the day. Sure, you were in a calorie deficit today. Good for you. But what were you for the month? What were you for the past 6 months? Hell, what were you for the year? This is what matters, and this IMO, based on empirical evidence, is why MOST big people plateau. Not because they are in starvation mode.
So think of leptin as the mechanism that alerts your body that starvation is a possibility in the near future. It will changes some of the physiological processes of your body systems that regulate metabolism.
One of the responses, and this is a kicker, is that as leptin levels fall with fat levels, appetite tends to go up. It is your bodies natural way of saying, hey dumb-dumb... eat some food so you don't starve. Of course, you are not starving in reality, but wind the hands of time back a couple of million of years ago and you damn well better believe that starving to death was a possibility. Our bodies evolved to fend off starvation for as long as possible, and these evolutionary changes we still carry today.
As you all get skinnier, and for those of you who are starting out with not all that much weight to lose, you don't have a lot of room to wiggle in terms of leptin levels and its response. This means you have to find more ways to trick your body into thinking you are not starving. I think "refeeds" has been mentioned on here before. Or zig-zag dieting? These techniques were born out of the need to trick your body into letting you lose more weight when you don't have all that much to lose in the first place.
Again, these are not things you really have to worry about when you have a lot of weight to lose though.
I think this is an interesting topic and I would love for some "pros" to kick in their thoughts on the subject of leptin, starvation, and obesity.
