[maeon3]

Fast too much and your body goes into famine mode, where your fat storage management system is convinced that this month's food catch is low, and it is likely this will be a lean year. Therefore store everything you can to fat and keep energy outputs low. Causing obesity.

When I was 26 ish, i fasted for 3 days. I'm 30 now. Dumbest thing i ever did. I gained weight from that DAY I started eating again forward, and it's been a battle of the buldge ever since.

[jacques_chester]

The "starvation mode" idea comes from the Minnesota Starvation Experiment.

Wherein the subjects were starved. And are you ready for the punchline?

For months.

There is such a thing as a starvation response. A slight drop in basal metabolic rate, an increase in cortisol and a bunch of other changes. Psychologically, subjects were obsessed with food.

But it takes time to kick in. Weeks. Months even.

One or two days is not going to do it.

[jere]

Maybe, just maybe, one day when you were 26 you entered your late 20s and received the corresponding metabolic slowdown.

[sandGorgon]

There have been many, many papers that show that starvation mode does not kick in until after about 36-48 hours of fasting. Intermittent fasting is usually a 16-24 hour fast.

[jamiecurle]

For those interesting in the papers [Leangains][0] has a long informative narrative connecting the papers together.

[0]: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debun...

[jamiecurle]

Do you attribute your three day fast as the only, or main, factor to your 'battle of the bulge'?

[lucisferre]

Yes, this is not a particularly scientific study here.

[pizza]

Source?