The Upside of Starvation

A couple years ago, my Dad, who had been obese all of his life, got on a strict diet supervised by some famous dietitian in Buenos Aires. The whole premise: eating no more than 600 calories a day. He lost about 25 kg and has kept them off.

Tired of being always trying to lose weight, putting back on in 2-week vacations all the weight I had squeezed out in 6 months, I finally decided enough is enough. 12 days ago, I also went on a 600-calorie plan.

The first couple of days my stomach kept growling and a few times I stopped short of biting off a piece of flesh out of Kumar's arm. But - just like my Dad promised - in a few days the hunger went away. It's a phenomenon that this BA doctor calls "acidosis".

Here's how it works: Since my body needs more calories than it's receiving, it needs to burn internal fat. Fat starts to melt into fatty acids. These acids create a metabolic imbalance, and to get back to a normal equilibrium my body reacts putting other systems in action (respiratory, urinary, etc) to evacuate the toxins. Meanwhile, the melted fat flows to my brain and while passing through the hypothalamus it blocks the hunger center - kind of an anesthesia. This must be a self-defence mechanism: since I am already starving, my body resolves not to make me even more miserable by being hungry all the time.

If you care to read more, here's an interview with this doctor (in Spanish only).

The result is I'm eating little, I'm not hungry, and I'm losing weight at an incredible pace.

Bottom line: I'm 3 kg down in 13 days... 3 down, 8 to go.