I know this question is not directed to me, but I MUST voice my opinion on the so called "starvation mode" issue.

IMO, there is no such thing as "starvation mode", at least not in the way most people think of it. There is no invisible threshold of caloric restriction which is so severe where your body SUDDENLY slows down everything immediately. Don't get me wrong, I do believe starvation will cause your body to slow down metabolic processes (which I will go into later), I just simply don't believe it works in binary like that, like an off or on switch, and I don't think the physical effects of starving your body are as much related to how much energy you take in as it is to body fat levels.

I think any caloric deprivation will cause your body to slow down its metabolic processes; and the greater the deprivation, the more your body will cut back. However, I do NOT think the reason this is, is because your body has already started to conserve energy. I think the reason is much more simple than that.
If you are not giving your body enough protein and/or fat, it can't make the optimal amount of repairs it could be. This is what causes the slowdown. Whenever you deprive your body of essential amino acids, fatty acids, minerals, or whatever... you are depriving it of the building blocks it needs to make repairs. If your body doesn't have the needed materials, it can't make the repairs, and it is the repair process which raises our metabolism. By withholding "materials", your body has no choice but to slow everything down.
The greater the deprivation, the less your body will have to work with, and the less work your body does the less energy you will expend. So you see it isn't so much that your body "thinks its starving" and is conserving energy, it's more an issue that your body just doesn't have the option to burn more energy because it lacks materials.

So, the very act of dieting slows metabolism. Eating more (in absensce of true starvation) won't counter this, since the extra energy you take in will be greater than the energy your body will spend.

Some people theorize your body has ways of being more efficient with the energy you give it during times of negative energy balance, but I think this only happens when your weight drops very low, not from dieting alone. Entering so-called starvation mode is a direct function of body fat levels, and not directly related to dieting. Set points are very real, and everyone has a unique set point. Most of us in the TDC don't need to worry about this, but this is a common cause of stalls for people who are already at a normal weight but just want to lose 10 or 15 pounds. It works something like this. Leptin is an anti-starvation hormone, and fat cells produce leptin. Your body has a set "leptin sensitivity" threshhold; meaning, your body expects a certain amount of leptin to be circulating. When leptin is too low your body thinks it doesn't have enough fat. If you lose too much fat, that is if you go to far below your "expected leptin levels" aka "set point", a whole hormonal shift begins to occur. Thyroid function lowers, which lowers metabolism. You will feel cold all the time, tired, and lethargic (due to the decreased thyroid function). You become insatiably hungry and prone to binge eating. Your body does everything in its power to "save you"; it makes you insatiably hungry and makes you feel like the walking dead to conserve energy. It is important to remember showing these signs of starvation are not something that happens over night. The lower your body fat levels get below "optimal", the more your body will fight you.

I should say it is not quite correct to say diet has no effect on whether or not you are in starvation mode and how deep in; after all you can only starve by not eating so the two must be related. One thing is certain however, if you have LOTS of body fat, and if you are not eating a very low calorie diet, you are in *no danger* of entering starvation mode. It are the folks who are only slightly overweight/normal weight and on very low calorie diets who can "enter starvation mode".

I repeat: STARVATION MODE only happens when you do not have a lot of body fat, and when body fat is leaving the fat cell too rapidly (meaning you are on a very low calorie diet or not eating anything at all).

In other words, if you weigh 300 pounds and your ideal weight is 170 (130 pounds of total fat), and you are eating 1400 calories, rasing that so you are eating 2000 calories will acomplish nothing but slowing the rate of loss.

Now if you weighed 130 pounds, and your ideal weight is actually 135 (you are already low on fat), AND you were only eating only 400 calories a day (thus causing whatever meager fat you have left to be spent rapidly), yes it is expected your body would enter starvation mode in a hurry. Leptin would plumet so low that all the anti-starvation hormones would kick in.

If this still doesn't put to rest your fears of starving and stalling, ask yourself this. Do you feel cold and tired all the time? Do you want to sleep all the time and have no energy for anything? Are you insatiably hungry and do you feel like binging on everything in sight (especially carbs)? If not, relax. You aren't manifesting starvation symptoms. If you are stalled it is probably because you aren't getting enough activities in or eating too many hidden calories (which might be caused by eating too many hidden carbs).