Originally Posted by jdmalm123
I agree the body will auto-regulate, but after a time, starvation is starvation and massive, unhealthy soft tissue loss will ensue.
Researchers from Europe did a study on the Jews in the concentration camps, and learned (among many other despicable things), that the Jews in which did not work (in offices, localized field, etc), were given a diet of 600 calories per day. And, the Jews in which worked in offices and localized fields, etc, received a diet of about 800 calories per day. Most stayed a few years (3 to 4, or something like this).
In context in viewing their body composition in terms of their diet, over a rather long period of time, we see that the body will go to great lengths to survive. Even to the point of eating "nearly" all muscle tissue, and leaving enough fat which was miniscule(to survive, critical fat storage), leaving basically a lagging skinned bag of bones. What was interesting about this study was their body composition before the concentration camp and the time it took the body to reach that point (where some were found alive), and the effects this very low calorie diet had on them. In addition, the contents of this 600 or 800 calorie diet was not very nutritional in the sense of daily macro/micro nutrient needs.
I will see if I can locate this study, it is pretty interesting in terms of how the body behaved and reacted to a low calorie diet with the same persons in basically the same environment, but beginning with different individual physical composition.