restarting metabolism with TDEE?

sweetsorrow18
sweetsorrow18 Posts: 54 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a question for people on the TDEE method (or anyone with insight into this) but my question basically pertains to how I can restart my metabolism after a restrictive diet+over exercising period (approx 1 year) because I'm quite sure this messed up my metabolism. Let me recap, approx. 7 years ago I lost 20 pounds in 2 months through an extreme calorie deficit combined with daily over-exercising - though I was happy, at the time, of my weight loss, I eventually gained it all back and then some and am now sitting 7 years later with weight that is moving at the pace of a snail. I want to lose it in a healthy way (no more restrictive dieting!) and am trying to go the TDEE-20% route however I am wondering if it might be better to start at my TDEE? I have always either under ate or over ate my TDEE

TL;DR - Should I eat at my TDEE or TDEE-20% to kick start my metabolism? How long should I TDEE before introducing the 20% deficit? Should I still workout while working on recovering my metabolism? And finally, will my metabolism ever be the same? (success stories anyone?)

Replies

  • HawkeyeTy
    HawkeyeTy Posts: 681 Member
    You don't "restart" your metabolism...it never stops.


    TDEE-20% will do just fine for weight loss.

    You could even go -10% if you wanted to.
  • Laura732
    Laura732 Posts: 244 Member
    I'm somewhat new to this site...what do TDEE, and NEAT mean?
  • sun_fish
    sun_fish Posts: 864 Member
    You don't "restart" your metabolism...it never stops.


    TDEE-20% will do just fine for weight loss.

    You could even go -10% if you wanted to.

    This ^
    Are you sure you know what your TDEE is or are you going by an online calculator? You mention the weight is moving at a snails pace - do you mean you are slowly losing or slowly gaining? If you are slowly losing, then you are already eating at a slight deficit. It's important to remember that your results are how you know your TDEE, not what a calculator says. And that takes very accurate logging, weighing your food and logging every bite.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Studies show that the suppression you may have caused can be recovered eating at maintenance.

    Notice this study, where beyond the normal expected reasons for TDEE to drop with weight loss and being in a diet, there was a metabolic efficiency gained.

    But even 3 months in to maintenance mode, it was starting to recovery.
    If the deficit hadn't been so steep, likely wouldn't have been so severe a drop either.
    Now this study references another one where those folks took 6 years to get recovered, or back to normal in-efficiency.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/heybales?month=201401

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