Can raising calories increase metabolism?

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youngcalorieburner
youngcalorieburner Posts: 45
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hey, I've heard that while dieting to lose weight, weekly re-feeds above maintenance are imperative as it temporarily spikes the metabolism. I also heard that after dieting to lose weight, the metabolism slows down and going straight from the deficit back maintenance calories will make the body see maintenance as a surplus and store it all as fat, i know that completely goes against the whole idea of having re-feeds but this is actually true as i have been in both situations. So since slowly increasing calories after a diet allows the metabolism to know what to do with the slowly increase in calories and use it for other bodily functions instead of putting it in fat stores, otherwise slowly increasing maintenance, once maintenance calories is attained, or even if someone who never dieted does this, would slowly increasing calories from maintenance by 100 each week naturally increase maintenance and increase metabolism without or minimal weight gain?

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  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    You can hear many things about dieting.

    As far as I can tell, most people here ease into maintenance so they get their calories correct. They tend to gain 3-5 pounds of mostly water when they do so (I didn't). And they need to fuss about a bit to find a good calorie/exercise balance for whatever their current metabolism is.

    What is a statistically significant difference that can be found in a population study is probably not meaningful to an individual - the noise of whatever your own body is doing will overwhelm those generalities. I have found my metabolism varies with the time of year and even more so what I eat. Too many carbs (<50%) and I'm hungrier and pack on more pounds. Lots of protein and I store less fat and feel less hungry. But that's me. Your body may be different.

    Some nice studies have been done suggesting getting up and moving for 5 minutes out of every hour increases your metabolism significantly. I know my pedometer tells me it sure as heck increases my activity levels.

    Maintenance is the whole rest of your life - unless you regain the weight you lost. Figure out what will work for you in the long run.

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