Will my metabolism slow down from lack of calories?

mattwhite63

Hi Everyone,

A little about me:

I'll be 27 in 2 weeks, I'm a teacher and I work in a bar on weekends so during the school year I'm constantly working 6-7 days a week. Luckily now summer has hit and it has freed me up to allow me to get back in and hit the gym hard. This is a good thing for me and not to foreign as I played football for 15 seasons.

I've always been 'overweight'. I've always carried more fat than I should, but since blowing out my knee and ending my football career five years ago, I've really struggled. Up until two summers ago I worked/went to school seven days a week with no down time and neglected the gym, but two summers ago I started teaching and took some time to get back into shape and things were going ok. I ended up volunteering for a flood recovery during my down time last summer and due to working 35 12 hour days straight I ate like crap the whole time.

Long story short I weighed in at 290 a few months ago and managed to get down to 280(around end of May ish). About a week ago I started to get back in to training and I've already dropped about 5-7 pounds since, cleaning up my diet and training hard. Lots of Cardio and weight training included.

I'm afraid that I'm going to slow my ,metabolism down by not eating as much as I'm used to. Today, I ended up eating more food than I felt I needed at the time because I'm not hungry. Yet I can't but think that the reason I don't feel as hungry is because I'm fueling my body with what it needs, thus I don't need that much.

Any metabolism device would be greatly appreciated as I try to sort this stuff out.

Also- On a side note, I always find myself with cravings for junk food late at night or wake up with those cravings and it's really bad. It can often lead me to eating unhealthy things late which I know isn't good. But that can be a story for another day.

mereditheve

Weight loss itself will slow down your metabolism. A common myth is that thin people have a faster metabolism, but actually your metabolism is highest when you are at your heaviest. So expect that your metabolism will slow down as you lose weight simply by virtue of the fact that your body has less mass to maintain.

That said, for every pound of muscle the body burns 35 calories a day, while for every pound of fat burns just two calories per day. So a good way to preserve your metabolism is to build muscle.

Try to ensure you are eating regularly, even though you are limiting your calorie intake overall.

Finally, don't fall for the myths that spicy foods, green tea, etc. will boost your metabolism -- they really don't have much of an effect at all.

mattwhite63

Weight loss itself will slow down your metabolism. A common myth is that thin people have a faster metabolism, but actually your metabolism is highest when you are at your heaviest. So expect that your metabolism will slow down as you lose weight simply by virtue of the fact that your body has less mass to maintain.

That said, for every pound of muscle the body burns 35 calories a day, while for every pound of fat burns just two calories per day. So a good way to preserve your metabolism is to build muscle.

Try to ensure you are eating regularly, even though you are limiting your calorie intake overall.

Finally, don't fall for the myths that spicy foods, green tea, etc. will boost your metabolism -- they really don't have much of an effect at all.

Thanks for your input. I've been trying to keep my protein intake quite high, and have felt my strength growing, so I feel that it would be safe to say I'm doing ok with that.

How low is too low on the calorie intake if I'm eating healthy foods and not wasting calories?

Springfield1970

Weight loss itself will slow down your metabolism. A common myth is that thin people have a faster metabolism, but actually your metabolism is highest when you are at your heaviest. So expect that your metabolism will slow down as you lose weight simply by virtue of the fact that your body has less mass to maintain.

That said, for every pound of muscle the body burns 35 calories a day, while for every pound of fat burns just two calories per day. So a good way to preserve your metabolism is to build muscle.

Try to ensure you are eating regularly, even though you are limiting your calorie intake overall.

Finally, don't fall for the myths that spicy foods, green tea, etc. will boost your metabolism -- they really don't have much of an effect at all.

Thanks for your input. I've been trying to keep my protein intake quite high, and have felt my strength growing, so I feel that it would be safe to say I'm doing ok with that.

How low is too low on the calorie intake if I'm eating healthy foods and not wasting calories?

If you have a lot of fat to lose, you can go quite low if you can handle it.

What is your weekly goal at the moment? What are your stats?

mattwhite63

Hey Springfield,

I'm currently 275 ish, and my goal is to lose 1.5lbs a week through controlling intake, but also an extra 2lbs a week by working hard in the gym.

Can you see my profile? It should be in there.... I'm new to this site so I'm trying to learn the ins and outs of this thing.

EDIT: I just made my diary and stuff public. Let me know if it works

sijomial

That said, for every pound of muscle the body burns 35 calories a day, while for every pound of fat burns just two calories per day.

More like 6 calories per pound of muscle per day unfortunately.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/dissecting-the-energy-needs-of-the-body-research-review.html

flumi_f

^^^Agree with Meredith

I find my cravings are bigger, when I eat lower protein and more grain carbs / sugar. I don't cut them out completely, but I do eat alot less of them than I used to.

The level of fat burning hormone, leptin, is higher, the more you eat. Of course you will gain weight, if you eat more than your TDEE over a longer period of time. But I have found a few days of eating over my allowed cals and than going back to a deficit actually can help get my weightloss started again. The water gained during those days is gone quickly and then I often start having 'real' losses again.

Springfield1970

Hey Springfield,

I'm currently 275 ish, and my goal is to lose 1.5lbs a week through controlling intake, but also an extra 2lbs a week by working hard in the gym.

Can you see my profile? It should be in there.... I'm new to this site so I'm trying to learn the ins and outs of this thing.

EDIT: I just made my diary and stuff public. Let me know if it works

What's your height? MFP has already built in a good deficit for you, 1.5lb a week, you should be eating most of your exercise calories back, that's why you are having hunger hormone issues, ie you're not hungry, or you want to binge late at night.

I hate to bring it up, but over cutting too much and so much exercise is a recipe for injury disaster.

If you cut 1.5 a week, you'd be 24lb lighter by November which would be an enormous improvement, and you wouldn't be feeling like a pile of poo.

You may get away with 2lb loss a week at the beginning (unless you are very tall and muscular) but I'd say no to the 3.5lb a week loss my friend.

Keep your cardio low impact, and your lifting knee friendly!

jackielou867

^^^Agree with Meredith

I find my cravings are bigger, when I eat lower protein and more grain carbs / sugar. I don't cut them out completely, but I do eat alot less of them than I used to.

The level of fat burning hormone, leptin, is higher, the more you eat. Of course you will gain weight, if you eat more than your TDEE over a longer period of time. But I have found a few days of eating over my allowed cals and than going back to a deficit actually can help get my weightloss started again. The water gained during those days is gone quickly and then I often start having 'real' losses again.

Regular diet breaks. Seemed to kick start things for me too.