To be uneasy/confused by what the weight loss coach said?

[QuestionableMouse]

Just left an appointment with her after being referred by my GP for help losing weight.

She told me I must eat within and hour of getting up and something at lunch or my body will go into "starvation mode" and hang on to fat. I thought the whole starvation mode thing was proven to be rubbish? And that I have to exercise more.

It's left me a bit bemused and not sure how helpful the whole thing is going to be!

I think it's more of a long term thing. You can do that but it slows your metabolism, making it harder to keep the weight off indefinitely.

Is she a registered dietician (RD)? If not, I’d ask the GP to refer me to one rather than send me to a coach.

Totally get why you’re confused—“starvation mode” is mostly a myth, especially the way it’s often explained. Weight loss is more about overall intake than meal timing. If the advice didn’t feel right, trust your gut and maybe look for a dietitian who gives more personalised, up-to-date support.

@Aria999 that article was really good. It also chimes with the work of Dr Andrew Jenkinson, a bariatric surgeon, who wrote “Why We Eat (Too Much). He talks a lot about the weight ‘set point’, and uses The Biggest Loser as a great example as to why calorie counting, in the longer term, doesn’t work.

I do think if I eat before or with my first coffee it helps massively - think all the Intermittent Fasting etc works better for men or post menopause but really screws up women otherwise / that has been my experience at least and that 3 (balanced) meals will actually get rid of that weight you can’t lose better - if you are used to kind of ‘punishing’ yourself to lose weight it can be difficult to trust the process but it pays off!

this book was life changing for me. I think the science in it is mixed (for example Herman Ponzer is pretty scathing about the view of the prehistoric diet that it presents) but the underlying ideas are very compelling, and his suggestions worked very well for me controlling my weight.

Who decided that that breaking of the fast should be between the hours of 6-11am, and not 12pm? Kelloggs?

You have to work out what works for you and your body, is the simple answer.

If you're hungry, eat breakfast. Make it something low in sugar and higher in protein. If you're not hungry, your body is saying you don't need to eat breakfast. Eating when we're not actually hungry is part of the problem that leads us to gain weight in the first place!

Only eating brunch and dinner isn’t punishing myself. It’s all I want to eat. If 8m hungry at different times, I eat.

Starvation mode IS a thing, but not in the way a lot of people think and probably not in the way she’s meaning it. When you lose weight, particularly when you lose a lot, your body slows down your metabolism, as well as increasing hunger, cravings and food seeking behaviours. It’s a survival mechanism from when we were genuinely at risk of starving through famine. That’s why the vast majority of dieters regain weight.

When I was recovering from my ED, I was told to eat within 90 mins of waking but that was more because I didn’t really get proper hunger and fullness signals. I’m not sure it matters when trying to lose weight.

I have what she said today and I've been absolutely starving all day. Not sure if it's just one of those days, will have to see.