Ok this is my first post but I was always a lurker and have read alot of the posts. =)

anyways, I don't get why they say that 5 days or so of starving yourself, your body stores fat and burns muscle..

And ketosis, which is a result of restricting carbs.. Burns fat

I would think that starving yourself for 4 days would force your body to make ketones and burn fat the same way...

Not trying to promote starvation diets here, this is just how I would see this lol... I don't understand what the difference is and I was just wondering why..

Hi there.......

I think the basic difference between the two states is that in the case of "starvation" (fasting), you have actually activated the body's protective mechanism for survival. There are no nutrients of any type coming in and the body is alerted to famine.

With LCing, there are nutrients coming in and the body shifts to a different bio-chemical reaction to handle the type of nutrients that ARE coming in. Specifically, ketosis.

If you haven't already done some reading on Low Carbing I'd like to suggest that you read both DANDR (Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution) and Protein Power, to really understand what is going on with your body. Knowledge is power and you will be well armed with information by reading both of these.

Also.....for more information, go to the orange bar at the top of the page and check out the section called Low Carb Tips.

HTH
Marlaine

Muscle is a lot easier for your body to break down than fat. Muscle is also where amino acids are stored in your body. When you fast you are depriving your body of the amino acids it needs on a daily basis, and which it normally gets from your food. Fat storing is an end result of generations of adaptation to times when there wasn't a grocery store or McDonalds on every street corner. Fat is conserved for when it is truly needed.

Ketosis happens when you starve yourself as well. Some fat is burned, but so is muscle, during starvation. When LCing you are restricting carbs but you are also providing protein and fat as nourishment, so your body does not need to look to an inner source of amino acids.

It will, to a certain extent. VLCD (very low calorie diets) are as close to starvation as you can get w/o actually fasting. They provide great results for the first few weeks, then the losses slow down and often come to a halt. The body adapts to less calories and metabolism slows - but this takes weeks. "Starvation Mode" doesn't happen in 4 days.

HTH
Nat