Starving yourself does reduce calories burned due to spontaneous fidgety behavior (are you really relaxed and holding still while you’re at the computer?), as well as metabolic processes (even on a bodyweight-relative basis), by which I mean whatever energy is expended outside gross motion.
However, most people using this phenomena as an excuse are conveniently overestimating its magnitude (and/or underestimating their caloric intake). This helps them combat the stigma of moral weakness (often wrongly) associated with being fat.
Starving yourself does reduce calories burned due to spontaneous fidgety behavior (are you really relaxed and holding still while you’re at the computer?), as well as metabolic processes (even on a bodyweight-relative basis), by which I mean whatever energy is expended outside gross motion.
However, most people using this phenomena as an excuse are conveniently overestimating its magnitude (and/or underestimating their caloric intake). This helps them combat the stigma of moral weakness (often wrongly) associated with being fat.
I was talking about theories that starvation lowers basal metabolism, even after food is more available.