HELP my metabolism has slowed as a result of dieting

ck2307

I am a young 5'2 female, 107 lbs (I realize that I am at a healthy weight but I've been attempting to reduce my body fat percentage of 23 and some water retention as well as feel healthier and stronger). I haven't been intentionally under-eating but I've transitioned from a vegetarian diet to a vegan diet and am eating almost exclusively fruits, veggies, nuts, and legumes. The diet change in itself reduced my caloric intake. At the same time I went off of my birth control pill and began taking another antibiotic for a skin condition that reduced my appetite a lot. I haven't been losing weight in about a month despite the fact that my caloric intake is never more than 1500 (usually less than 1000), I walk 5-10 miles a day, am constantly moving, and exercise almost daily. Today I took a body composition test and found out that my BMR is 1183. I used to have a speedy metabolism until recently and suspect that it is the factors listed above that triggered my decreased BMR and subsequent plateau. I've been making an attempt to eat a bit more frequently as I've heard that this can kick start a slow metabolism. Is there anything else that I can do the fix this without gaining weight?

myheartsabattleground

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TheLegendaryBrandonHarris

What other indicators besides the bmr test make you believe your metabolism has slowed?

TheLegendaryBrandonHarris

I don't want to be Captain Obvious here...however, a vegan diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes doesn't necessarily translate to fewer calories than you previous diet.
Just plugging your stats into a generic bmi calculator gives a bmi of 1,184 (almost exactly what you got, and I guessed 25 years old).
So, your bmi seems to be accurate for your age, height, and weight.

TheLegendaryBrandonHarris

*I used bmi when I meant bmr....sorry!

PamWOhio

Oh my....at 107lbs for your height, I can't imagine you having any spare fat to lose.

ck2307

TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »

What other indicators besides the bmr test make you believe your metabolism has slowed?

I haven't lost weight in weeks despite my high levels of activity and low caloric intake. I've never eaten so few calories and maintained my weight before. When I was taking birth control I was eating a ton- around 2000 calories a day with the same lifestyle and exercise habits and I weighed the same as my CW. I also know that eating significantly less can really mess with your metabolism so I kind of suspected that it had slowed before my test.

TheLegendaryBrandonHarris

And you're sure you are, in fact, consuming fewer calories?
(Don't read that in a condescending tone...I'm just trying to cover the obvious...)

PamWOhio

I am really new to all the diet and exercise stuff but from what I have seen on here and read, I would think you would want to up your calories and add some weights to your exercising to gain lean muscle.

ck2307

TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »

I don't want to be Captain Obvious here...however, a vegan diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes doesn't necessarily translate to fewer calories than you previous diet.
Just plugging your stats into a generic bmi calculator gives a bmi of 1,184 (almost exactly what you got, and I guessed 25 years old).
So, your bmi seems to be accurate for your age, height, and weight.

You're 100% right but I should have mentioned that my potion sizes decreased significantly as well and I figured that that combined with replacing grains and dairy with smaller amounts of lower cal foods would definitely mean fewer calories. Usually when I use a BMR calculators online I get around 1350 and have heard that the average for females of my age is around 1300 to 1700 but as these numbers came from the Internet they are by no means accurate so you could definitely be right. I wouldn't be concerned about the test if I wasn't eating so much less and not seeing any changes. Maybe I'm just paranoid

ck2307

TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »

And you're sure you are, in fact, consuming fewer calories?
(Don't read that in a condescending tone...I'm just trying to cover the obvious...)

Don't worry- not condescending in the slightest but I'm definitely consuming far fewer calories

ck2307

PamWOhio wrote: »

I am really new to all the diet and exercise stuff but from what I have seen on here and read, I would think you would want to up your calories and add some weights to your exercising to gain lean muscle.

Thanks! I'm planning on upping my calories I'm just worried about gaining fat if my metabolism has truly slowed. I'll definitely try to incorporate weights more often and see if that makes a difference.

TheLegendaryBrandonHarris

I seriously Googled "bmr calculator," chose the first result, and entered 5'2" female, 107 pounds, 25 years old and got almost exactly the calorie number you said in your opening post.
What that tells me is that the bmr you got (1183) is probably accurate, or fairly close.

Ok...make no mistake: I'm on your side...however, the language you used above was "and I figured."
If your maintenance level is (let's guestimate) 1400 calories per day, being off in measuring 1 ounce of peanuts would mean being off over 10% on your calorie goals.
At your size and with your calorie limitations, you need to measure very accurately.

dewd2

May I also suggest reducing your body fat percentage by adding lean mass (instead of starving yourself and looking like it). Instead of trying to lose, gain some while lifting for a few months.

Also, how did you measure your body fat? Many tests are unreliable.

JeromeBarry1

This is something I wrote on my status today, and I'll post it here because I think you might find it useful.

"My project of tracking my net calories vs my calorie deficit and my expected weight vs my actual weight has produced some interesting results in under 2 weeks. The columns are Date, Net Calories. Cumulative Calorie Deficit, Actual Weight, Predicted Weight. I added another column this morning, Error. Error measures the percentage difference between Actual Weight and Predicted Weight. For most days the Error has been positive. Earlier this week when I posted 5 consecutive days of losses, the Error turned negative, indicating that my weight loss exceeded the value predicted by my calorie deficit. Prior to my 2 recent weekend whoosh events, the Error had climbed above 0.5%. "

As I noted, I've been tracking this data for less than 2 weeks. I am not a statistician, but it is obvious to me that I have to be accurate with my food logging and with my exercise logging to get an accurate net calorie number. I also have to be honest and accurate with mfp when I describe my activity level. When I added the Error column this morning, I was surprised to see how closely the predicted weight matched the actual weight

rileysowner

ck2307 wrote: »

TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »

And you're sure you are, in fact, consuming fewer calories?
(Don't read that in a condescending tone...I'm just trying to cover the obvious...)

Don't worry- not condescending in the slightest but I'm definitely consuming far fewer calories

Do you log everything you eat using a digital kitchen scale for all solids including those that are grated or ground? If you are logging everything you eat and drink, are you sure the database entries match what you are eating in terms of what the calories actually are. There are a number of incorrect entries here where the calories are way off.

rileysowner

Also, as others have stated, start lifting heavy using a good program like Strong Lifts 5x5, Strong Curves, New Rules for Lifting for Women, or the like. Do so while eating at maintenance or a small surplus 250 calories or so. Take measurements other than weight (chest, waist, hips, etc) with a photo or two. Then compare them after at least 4 weeks.

ck2307

Thanks for the responses. Just an update: I upped my protein intake (I'm estimating that I doubled but I wasn't very careful about keeping track before) and have lost a little over three pounds since this post. Also feeling great and my appetite has returned- keeping track of macros and knowing how much you need is really important!!!