Revving up slowed metabolism, gaining weight :(

CeleryStalker

Hey folks

I'd appreciate some help with my little dilemma. If you want to skip all the details and get straight to my question, skip ahead to the very last paragraph. I'm providing details in an effort to answer questions before they are asked

For the last few years, I've yo-yo'd my weight, gaining and losing the same 10/20/40 pounds, depending on where my pendulum is. I've always taken the weight off in ridiculous manners....MediFast (800-1000 calories, <100g carbs, meal replacement program), Atkins/South Beach, low calorie, what-have-you. I've never approached weight loss with an 'eat a balanced meal, don't be afraid of carbs, and for God's sake woman, you need to eat more calories than that!' approach. So now, I'm trying to do that, and it doesn't seem to be working.

I wear a BodyMedia armband to monitor my caloric expenditures for the day. I have a desk job, so I'm pretty sedentary most of the day, but I do walk 3-5 miles/day to help thwart that. On average, I burn between 2700-2900 calories per day. That's good to know, because it shows me how unnecessary my 800-1200-calorie approach was all this time. Unfortunately, I've been up and down the scale so many times in the last couple years, and going down the wrong ways, I realize I've slowed the ol' metabolism down some, which is likely why my latest attempt to cut calories has left me feeling sluggish, and losing nothing. So, at the advice of several folks here, I stopped starving myself out and started eating more balanced, and at less of a deficit, to get my metabolism back to an acceptable level. For the last month, I've been eating around 1600 calories a day, macros 40/35/25.

And I'm gaining weight. GAINING. No, my clothes aren't looser, I'm not losing inches. I've done the measurements, I've taken the before pics, and I know full well what items in my wardrobe are off limits- and sadly, more of those clothes are becoming off limits as I put on more weight. I've packed on 7# over the course of the month. Not exactly the direction I was shooting for.

I understand the basics of what's going on. Body essentially starved, metabolism slows to conserve, thinks I'm in Ethiopia in the middle of some famine. Eat more, body rejoices and reserves every morsel I ingest, in fear of another trip to Ethiopia and enduring another famine. Hormones out of whack, etc. I get that. What I don't get is....

How long until my body is like, hey, sweet, we don't have to worry about famine, now we can crank up the engine and whir along at an appropriate rate! I see a lot of 'if you're not losing, eat less' advice, but eating less is what got me here in the first place, ya know? I'm worried that I'm going to continue to gain, and I'm worried that if I cut back, I'm going to put my metabolism back at risk before I ever gave it a chance to restore itself.

CeleryStalker

Oh ya, and just wanted to mention, I've (very) recently started a weight lifting regimen at a local gym. I went once last week and loved it. Owner is out of town until Thursday, so I'll be back on Thursday to resume what I intend to be a 3x/week program. He does a circuit class, and focuses on a different part of the body + abs each class. This will be in addition to my daily walking. I walk 75-100 miles/month to help offset the desk job.

brraanndi

Is Bodymedia like a fitbit? Where it just charts your activity for the day? I would make sure it's burn is correct and you still need to eat a deficit under that to lose weight.

If you still eating a deficit there's that whole thing where your body seems to put on a few lbs when you start feeding yourself a normal amount and then levels out that I've been reading about. Not sure how legit that all is but hey I think it might be worth your looking into.

Mokey41

More info would be helpful, age, weight, height and open your diary.

SLLRunner

Hi,

Simple- if you are gaining weight you are taking in more calories than you think you are. Are you logging all your food and exercise correctly and consistently? I think that's the key.

I don't know anything about the heart monitors, but it seems to me if one says you are burning 2,700 calories a day that you would have to eat 500 below that each day to lose 2 pounds a week. I could be wrong on that, though, and if I am I'm sure someone will correct me.

CeleryStalker

I don't have a FitBit, so I don't know.....I wear my BodyMedia all day, every day and it computes my burn based on several pieces of input. (It's what they wear on the biggest loser, and is said to be the most accurate piece of equipment in this line of merchandise).

It also spits out numbers that are pretty aligned with the average of multiple online calculators for BMR, TDEE, what have you. And based on various calculators in conjunction with MFP and my BodyMedia, I'm eating at about 1000 calorie deficit per day.


I'm 5'11, 38yo female, currently 216#, 44% body fat. Sexay.....

Diary is not open because I don't log on this site. I've listed my caloric intake and my macros for the purpose of discussion.


The question I'm trying to have answered here is how long, after having slowed one's metabolism, should someone expect to put on weight while eating properly, before the metabolism kicks back into gear and weight loss is achieved?

CeleryStalker

Susan, with all due respect, it's not that simple. I'm speaking from a 'slowed metabolism' stance, not 'this is my first diet and I don't know how many calories to eat' stance.

Folks who know about metabolism 'reconstruction', please feel free to chime in. As already stated, I got to this point BY EATING TOO LITTLE. I'm trying to take my metabolism out of hibernation by eating at a more appropriate deficit, which is known to come at the price of weight gain for a while during the 'repair' process. What I'm asking is, how long should it take for things to balance out?

bcattoes

This statement : "I burn between 2700-2900 calories per day" stuck out for me.

Either your Bodymedia is way off, or you metabolism is not damaged. That is a pretty decent TDEE for a woman with a desk job.

CeleryStalker

I'm an overweight, 5'11 woman with a desk job that walks 3-5 miles a day. When I don't walk, I only burn around 2300 calories

bcattoes

I'm an overweight, 5'11 woman with a desk job that walks 3-5 miles a day. When I don't walk, I only burn around 2300 calories

What do you think you should burn? Of would burn if your metabolism weren't damaged?

ETA: The reason I ask is that your numbers don't add up. You say "For the last month, I've been eating around 1600 calories a day, ". You can't burn 2300-2900 and eat 1600 and gain weight. At least you would not be gaining fat. That's a pretty big deficit.

CeleryStalker

That's a good question. From everything I've read, VLCD and excessive cardio wreak havoc on one's metabolism. I'm an endurance cyclist, so I'm guessing the 50/75/100 mile bike rides (which I do eat extra calories for, of course, lest I be found in the ditch, twitching from hunger, lol) have done just as much good for my metabolism as my VLCD stints. :-| I honestly don't think my body knows what a finely-tuned metabolism is supposed to look like.



If you read enough around this forum about metabolism, you will see that it IS possible to gain weight while eating at a caloric deficit......temporarily....while your body adjusts to the mode of thinking that it's got to conserve conserve conserve (thanks to long stints of VLCD), and switch into 'hey, no famine here! proceed with burning this fuel!'

My question is.....how long can one expect to be in this metabolic limbo?

Siansonea

If 1600 calories a day isn't working, try 1500. If that doesn't work, try 1400. That's what I've been doing. Math always wins, you can't fight it.

bcattoes

If you read enough around this forum about metabolism, you will see that it IS possible to gain weight while eating at a caloric deficit......temporarily....while your body adjusts to the mode of thinking that it's got to conserve conserve conserve (thanks to long stints of VLCD), and switch into 'hey, no famine here! proceed with burning this fuel!'

My question is.....how long can one expect to be in this metabolic limbo?

I don't have an answer, because I don't care what it says on these forums, your body can not store more fat when you are eating at a calorie deficit. You may gain/lose weight whether you eat a surplus or defict, but not fat.

If you are gaining fat, either your burn is not as high as you think, or you are eating more calories than you think.

CeleryStalker

OK, and that is your opinion, and that's cool. :flowerforyou: What I'm looking for is responses from like-minded folks who understand the intricacies of metabolism issues.

Siansonea

http://www.healthscience.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=512:are-you-in-the-starvation-mode-or-starving-for-truth&catid=102:jeff-novicks-blog&Itemid=267

This article sums up "starvation mode" pretty well, I think. Basically, unless you're at less than 5% body fat, you're not in starvation mode, you're just eating (AND DRINKING) too many calories. Keep cutting the calories and upping the exercise until you start losing again, and don't think that you can ever lose weight or "rev up your metabolism" by eating more calories. That's junk science, and is only going to make your situation worse.

CeleryStalker

LOL Now come on, nobody here said anything about 'starvation mode'. I'm not in starvation mode.

I have a *very* hard time believing that I'm over estimating caloric burn using multiple methods of calculations in addition to an all-day body monitor, on top of miscalculating my calories to the extent that I'm eating enough to be gaining weight. I weigh and measure everything I put in my mouth, and I don't drink caloric beverages.

Cutting the calories to a ridiculous level is what got me here. I'm not going to go back to an unhealthy way of eating. You know what would happen if I did? I'd have people telling me, 'ZOMG! YOU ONLY EAT 1200 CALORIES A DAY??????'

The conflicting advice thrown around between threads here is infuriating.

CeleryStalker

It sounds to me like what you want it is permission to eat more calories, because you really, really, really don't want to cut your calories.

Actually, no, because it's hard to get in 1600 calories a day of veggies and lean protein. But thanks for the condescending assumption! Did you not read the part about my eating 800-1200 calories for months at a clip? I have zero problems eating too little. And when I do eat at ridiculously low caloric levels, I lose weight. There is no reason for a 5'11 woman of my weight to be eating under 1200 calories a day. Do you intentionally promote eating disorders?

One last time, I'm going to ask people who actually understand the science around slowed metabolism due to excessive dieting, coming out of that, the weight gain that happens initially before things balance out, to please come offer guidance. It's insulting to read these comments insinuating I'm either lying or stupid. I'm neither.

kw85296

With all due respect, I can't help thinking your body media is quite inaccurate based on what info you have given. If you go to Fitness Frog and figure your TDEE even using light exercise just to maintain you would only need 2397 calories for your age, height, and weight.
That being said one of the things that does seem to help get the body going the right direction sometimes is to calorie cycle. Such as: one day maybe do 1600 another 1400 and then maybe 1200 and then back to 1600, etc. this confuses the body and often helps to get the metabolism where you want it. You can play with the numbers that work best for you. Another thing that may help is instead of taking a 2 or 3 mile walk, try doing 1 mile 2 or 3 times a day. This keeps your body burning more calories because the effects of exercise are felt for a few hours afterwards, so instead of only getting the effects for say 2 or 3 hours, you could get the benefits for maybe 9 hours if you did it 3 times a day.
If nothing seems to be working, you might also want to check with your doctor to make sure there is not a medical reason, such as thyroid that is hindering you.
Hang in there, things will get better.

tx_megan

http://www.healthscience.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=512:are-you-in-the-starvation-mode-or-starving-for-truth&catid=102:jeff-novicks-blog&Itemid=267

This article sums up "starvation mode" pretty well, I think. Basically, unless you're at less than 5% body fat, you're not in starvation mode, you're just eating (AND DRINKING) too many calories. Keep cutting the calories and upping the exercise until you start losing again, and don't think that you can ever lose weight or "rev up your metabolism" by eating more calories. That's junk science, and is only going to make your situation worse.


Thanks for sharing this article. The whole 'eat more calories to lose weight' thing always seemed a little kooky to me. :noway:

Greenrun99

There is really no number we can give you for this unless you get your RMR tested.. and even then it doesn't mean your body isn't going to try to fill stores when you eat over whatever deficit you been at for a long time. That is probably what is happening now, your body is trying to repair itself and holding water.. I know some people that are in long deficits can take 2 months of eating to see that weight level off so they can cut again.. Being 5'11 1200 calories is not the answer.. either is 1300-1400-1500.. with exercise its probably 2000.. but if you jump to those numbers its going to really kick your weight gain up.. I would slowly increase calories every week until your gain levels off.
Most people just freak out when the scale moves and cut again.. so its up to you.

tx_megan

With all due respect, I can't help thinking your body media is quite inaccurate based on what info you have given. If you go to Fitness Frog and figure your TDEE even using light exercise just to maintain you would only need 2397 calories for your age, height, and weight.
That being said one of the things that does seem to help get the body going the right direction sometimes is to calorie cycle. Such as: one day maybe do 1600 another 1400 and then maybe 1200 and then back to 1600, etc. this confuses the body and often helps to get the metabolism where you want it. You can play with the numbers that work best for you. Another thing that may help is instead of taking a 2 or 3 mile walk, try doing 1 mile 2 or 3 times a day. This keeps your body burning more calories because the effects of exercise are felt for a few hours afterwards, so instead of only getting the effects for say 2 or 3 hours, you could get the benefits for maybe 9 hours if you did it 3 times a day.
If nothing seems to be working, you might also want to check with your doctor to make sure there is not a medical reason, such as thyroid that is hindering you.
Hang in there, things will get better.

Thanks for sharing this article. The whole 'eat more calories to lose weight' thing always seemed a little kooky to me. :noway: