Have you ever killed your metabolism...

Teardrop81

...with fad dieting for years and then tried to lose weight with healthy eating and exercise? No matter how much you did right, did it seem like it took FOREVER to get below a certain weight, and how long did it take for you to "get on track"?

Thanks! :flowerforyou:

QuilterInVA

Another myth heard from.

Teardrop81

Another myth heard from.

That's helpful, thank you. I would love to see some data where this is actually proven to be a myth. Mythbusters, maybe? Personally, I am exploring possibilities for continuing my fitness and overall health. If my metabolism is a finely oiled machine, then there's another explanation. I'll explore all possibilities, since I'm open-minded like that. :flowerforyou:

atb0821

I did, so either it's not actually a full myth or there's something else going on. A while ago I lost a ton of weight, got down to a size 00 using various diets and a VLCD. Around the holidays I was surrounded by food so I ate. Put on weight. At the new year I decided to do TDEE-20%, but it wasn't working. I tried low carb; nothing. I tried VLCD again, nothing. All my old 'tricks' just didn't work anymore, and I realized I had a screwy metabolism thanks to extreme dieting in the past. So to get over the hump, I've had the most luck doing 5:2 intermittent fasting, and working my butt off at the gym 5-6 days a week doing a mix of heavy lifting and going to a strength training class. I hardly do any cardio. It took about 6 months to get things moving again.

HerpDerp745

That's helpful, thank you. I would love to see some data where this is actually proven to be a myth. Mythbusters, maybe? Personally, I am exploring possibilities for continuing my fitness and overall health. If my metabolism is a finely oiled machine, then there's another explanation. I'll explore all possibilities, since I'm open-minded like that. :flowerforyou:

The burden of proof is on you to back up the ridiculous claim. There has been studies in laboratory settings where accurate calories consumed/expended always results in the equated weight loss if under caloric deficit.

Teardrop81

I did, so either it's not actually a full myth or there's something else going on. A while ago I lost a ton of weight, got down to a size 00 using various diets and a VLCD. Around the holidays I was surrounded by food so I ate. Put on weight. At the new year I decided to do TDEE-20%, but it wasn't working. I tried low carb; nothing. I tried VLCD again, nothing. All my old 'tricks' just didn't work anymore, and I realized I had a screwy metabolism thanks to extreme dieting in the past. So to get over the hump, I've had the most luck doing 5:2 intermittent fasting, and working my butt off at the gym 5-6 days a week doing a mix of heavy lifting and going to a strength training class. I hardly do any cardio. It took about 6 months to get things moving again.

Glad to hear that you were able to get things going again in a reasonable amount of time. If in fact this is what I'm facing, that's good to know! Thanks!

Mokey41

You didn't kill your metabolism you would literally be dead. It's impossible to kill your metabolism and the whole starvation mode theory is bunk. Most often the problem is bouncing around from one diet to another, losing muscle mass from inactivity and inaccurate logging of foods. You are not that special snowflake that has a body that totally works differently than the rest of the world.

debaloo

I almost hesitate posting this because my opinion usually gets slammed by men who want to say that the equation is 100% calories in calories out. Your metabolism is dictated to a great extent by your hormones. I am insulin resistant and have PCOS so tweeking my diet and fitness to leverage my hormones is essential to my success. The things that have helped me is eating on a schedule, watching carbs and building muscle mass. I have counted calories and run a 1,000 calorie deficit a day and stayed at the same weight for months.

Ness8411

I watched a doc on HBO, saying that research shows that a small body fight to remain smal and a fat body fight to remail fat.
In essence, there is point where the body fight to remain where he is.
They even said that a person who loss weight will gain weight back if eating 1500 cal/day, compare to a smal person eating the same amount of calories.

Mistery solved

_Waffle_

I'm almost afraid to mention this but for the benefit of others I'll tell you my story. My metabolism used to be okay. It was healthy and in pretty good shape but I wasn't happy with the relationship so I started feeding it less and less. At first I just deprived it of snack foods or treats. It was grumpy about it but eventually it stopped complaining. I could tell it was weakening. With lessened resistance I cut back more and more. I always told myself "Just a little bit more" and thought it was harmless. It was mostly harmless until one day.... I went under 1200 calories. I was scared to see what would happen but it seemed to survive so I did it again and again.

My metabolism is now buried in a shallow grave in an old industrial factory on the edge of town. Some nights I have nightmares about it. Some days it's hard for me to live with the guilt. I killed it. I know it was my fault and I wanted to believe that it was just part of the fun but I'm the one responsible. I hope no one ever finds the body. I don't know what to do. It's dead and it will never come back.

aalicia88

I can relate. I had an eating disorder in high school. I went to several websites for healthy weight loss. I knew the minimum amount of calories per day was 1200 but I still purposely went way under that number. There were some days where I would only eat 300 calories. I would also do exercises using my own body weight and took a multivitamin so in my head back then I didn't think I was treating my body so badly. Boy was I wrong. Maybe its because I'm older.. not that much older but maybe my metabolism has slowed with age. I dropped weight really quickly back then but now it has really slowed down. I have hit so many plateaus that it has taken 2 1/2 years to get where I am now. Just keep at it though and you'll eventually get there

AglaeaC

Metabolism is the series of anabolic and catabolic reactions that happen in all your cells constantly. The reactions are varying according to cell type (differentiation) and in necrotic tissue they have stopped. I doubt you have killed your metabolism.