High metabolism

ashleygroizard

How can I get a high metabolism? And what does having a high metabolism do?

estherdragonbat

Gain weight. Having a high metabolism means that you need more calories to maintain. As you lose weight, your metabolism slows down. This isn't just "normal", it's what's supposed to happen.

https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/metabolic-damage/

...metabolic slowdown is NOT a “broken” metabolism. There is nothing that needs to be “fixed.”

This is like if a person weighed 250 lbs, then spent the next year losing 50 lbs, and then asked if their scale needs to be “fixed” because it’s now showing “200” instead of the “250” it showed a year ago.

Nope, there’s nothing broken here.

The number on the scale has simply decreased in accordance with the 50 lbs of weight loss that has taken place.

With metabolic slowdown, your metabolism has simply decreased...

Can It Be Minimized Or Reversed?

...there’s not much you can do to minimize or reverse the decrease in metabolic rate they cause.

I mean, one way you can slightly lessen the drop in BMR is by not losing muscle mass, as your body burns more calories maintaining muscle than it does maintaining fat.

But beyond that (and ignoring the option of regaining all of the weight you’ve lost, which would technically reverse the slowdown caused by losing it), all you can really do is increase your activity level so that you burn more calories to make up the difference.

So, for example, if you lost some amount of weight over some amount of time and now burn 200 fewer calories per day than you did before, you could add in some additional exercise activity (or non-exercise activity) to burn an extra 200 calories a day.

Let me be clear though: you don’t actually have to do this.

And in most cases, continuously increasing activity to offset every decrease in metabolic rate will fall somewhere between excessive and unnecessary, and physically/mentally detrimental.

Not to mention, you can’t really outrun metabolic slowdown. The more you try to offset it with activity, the more slowdown there will be. You’ll always be playing catch-up.

NovusDies

You can't. Your BMR goes up and down based on your stats but even then it is normal. You can't make it drastically higher.

You can damage your metabolism by a prolonged unhealthy eating practice and it can be impacted by medical problems but then it is lower than normal.

There are "internet" ways but they are myths. There are diet pills that makes promises but they are either illegal or basically caffeine pills for which you will overpay.

Seffell

If you want to eat more - move more. That's all you can do about it.

suzannesimmons1

You cant.

Pipsqueak1965

Move more. That burns more calories.

lynn_glenmont

ashleygroizard wrote: »

How can I get a high metabolism? And what does having a high metabolism do?

A high metabolism is generally used to refer to the idea that some people expend many more calories than would be expected based on their size, physical activity, etc. It's a way of describing the idea that someone you know seems to eat a lot, based on the meals they eat in your presence, and don't seem to gain any weight. You don't know the totality of their life. And if they're not tracking their calories in and out, they could easily have a misperception about their CICO, so even self-reported "high metabolism" should be taken with a grain of salt. (And I say that as someone who found her actual TDEE to be several hundred calories higher than the formula MFP uses would predict. I describe myself as an "outlier." I don't say I have a high metabolism.)

Since the phrase "high metabolism" is generally used to "explain" a higher than expected calorie-burn that the person using the phrase doesn't know how to explain otherwise (kind of like a diagnosis of an "idiopathic" disease or condition), there is no way anyone can tell you how to get a "high metabolism" (i.e., a state in which you are burning more calories than would be expected based on your overall weight, lean body mass, digestive demands, physical activity, etc.).

lynn_glenmont

This isn't exactly what you asked for, but it might be helpful, if not for you, for lurkers attracted by the thread title:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10212746/your-neat-tips-non-exercise-activity-thermogenesis-ways-to-increase-your-activity

AnnPT77

You can't increase your metabolism. "Metabolism" is just the by-product of many physical factors and processes.

If what you want to do is increase your daily calorie burn:

1. Increase exercise intensity, frequency, or duration (work out more often, harder, or longer). Don't do so much more that you get fatigued for the rest of your day, because that will cancel out the benefits.

2. Work to incorporate more movement in your daily life (non-exercise) activities. That option is disussed in this thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/

Those are the potential big contributors, and by "big", I mean you could possibly get a couple of hundred more daily calories out of them, if you really work at them, possibly more if you add really long runs or bike rides or something like that (but those take a good bit of time).

Any other contributor is tiny, tiny, tiny, hardly even noticeable in the big picture. These are a few of the tiny ones (TINY!):

A. Do a serious, well-designed, progressive strength training program to increase your muscle mass. (I linked a thread about that in another one of your threads, but to be complete, it's at: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you ). A pound of muscle is believed to burn about 2 calories more per day than a pound of fat. It will take a woman at least a month of very hard work (and probably longer) to gain a pound of muscle while maintaining body weight, so it will be a long time before there's any noticable calorie difference, and that's if you keep working hard at the weight training. (You do get a few hundred extra calories burned along the way from the added exercise, as a bonus.)

B. Eat foods with a higher TEF "cost" (Thermic Efficiency of Food), i.e., things that make your body work harder biochemically to digest them. That would include getting enough protein, avoiding highly-processed foods and preferring more "whole" foods (fruits, veggies, etc.), and eating some foods raw. I've not seen any sound research on this, but some kind-of-preliminary research suggests you might burn a very, very few more calories this way. These changes are worth doing for nutrition's sake, for some people, but I certainly don't think it's worthwhile to do them in order to burn more calories. Would you even get a dozen or two extra calories a day? Dunno.

C. Be cold. Don't get hypthermia, but dress lightly for the weather conditions, keep your house on the cool side (don't bundle up), drink beverages cold. Might be worth another dozen calories a day if done persistently, but uncomfortable and potentially dangerous. Really not worth it! I can't imagine why anyone would do this intentionally.

D. Drink beverages with caffeine, like coffee or energy drinks. Maybe burns another 3 or 5 calories a day? But drinking too much is bad for you, so don't go crazy.

That's all I can think of . . . .

Seriously, do the #1 & #2 items above if you want to burn more calories. Don't do A, B, C, or D unless you want to do them for reasons other than weight management. It's not worth it.

L1zardQueen

In a word, fidget.

yirara

L1zardQueen wrote: »

In a word, fidget.

This!
It might sound like a joke, but it's not.
And if you happen to be hypothyroid: try to get your replacement hormones in order as people who are exhausted tend to fidget less. Same for people who are tired from too little sleep.