[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by DoctorB2B

Calorie restriction is not always key to losing weight ... you have to be careful not to enter a state of starvation due to lack of nutrients. Should this happen, you're body will utilize whatever muscle you have before it lets go of it's fat stores. .

This is a myth that people hear and then repeat. Hereward Carrington, M.D. wrote a book called Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition. He says "fasting is a scientific method of ridding the system of diseased tissues, and morbid matter, and is invariably accompanied by beneficial results....The whole secret is this: fasting commences with the omission of the first meal and ends with the return of natural hunger, while starvation only begins with the return of natural hunger and terminates in death."

Natural hunger is the body saying that it is time to stop the fast. In starvation of animals and people (in real life, not in imagination) the adipose tissue (fat) stores are lost first before the body starts to consume the lean tisssue (muscle). This is the purpose of extra fat on the body. It is a source of concentrated energy.