What do we think about 'starvation mode'?

[Tortoiseonthehalfshell]

Using MFP. It thinks I need 1350 calories a day, but it yells at me if I eat less than 1200. Some days I get busy and it's easier to just be hungry than to think about faffy food preparation so I don't eat until the afternoon, and some days I eat under 1000 cals, and the weight is falling off very fast. But I don't want to fuck up my metabolism forever, and how would I know?

I did 5:2 a while back and my understanding is that it works partly because you're eating in a feast/famine pattern, meaning that your metabolism doesn't go into permanent slowdown. I could go back to that, but I'm quite happy calorie-counting, I'm just worried that it'll all come back to haunt me. Does that make sense?

Why is 1200 this magic number anyway? It seems like anything under 1200 calories is considered too little, but I'd rather just eat little on the days where that's not a problem, and leave some room to eat more on weekends etc.

[PeachyParisian]

I remember reading somewhere that starvation mode is a load of bollocks but that it isn't very good for you to eat under 1200 cals per day. I think it will affect overall health and organ function maybe. Hopefully somebody who isn't relying on my feeble memory can come along and explain why.

[jenniepanda]

I'm confused about this too! I'm using mfp and sticking to 1200 per day, but when I add exercise it complains that I have eaten too few calories. Surely if I burn off 200 at the gym, I shouldn't then eat 200 to compensate? Am I making my weight loss more difficult by exercising??

[teafortwo]

I am naturally normal sized. I am neither fat or thin.... I wear 10 to 12 up top and 8 to 10 down there and I naturally eat shed loads on somedays and hardly anything on others just because that is what my body says to me and my will power is bad so I just go "oh alright then". I am active rather than sporty iyswim. I have always worried that this eating pattern would bite me on the bum one day but the 5.2 diet has really struck a chord with me and made me worry much less about my eating. It is ok to eat like I eat. Maybe you are naturally more a 5:2 kinda gal?

[Tortoiseonthehalfshell]

I did 5:2 last year, but I'm reluctant to change up a pattern that I'm finding perfectly sustainable if it's not an actual issue, does that make sense?