Totally screwed up metabolism help!

yepimonfire

Let me preface this saying I'm entirely aware it is impossible for your body to outrun a deficit and most of the time when people claim they're unable to lose weight or metabolism has slowed they're underestimating they're intake, however this is a different scenario.

December of this year I decided to get back into weightlifting, but I had blown up to about 278 at 6'4. Initially started dieting at a 700 cal deficit everything was going smoothly, then back off a bit to 1lb a week, making some progress in the gym, making progress on the scale etc... late April I decided I was tired of being fat, and wanted to rid myself of the blubber as quickly as possible, I began dieting at a calorie deficit of about 1300 calories a day, losing an average of 2.7lbs a week, and this was with weekly cheat meals going slightly over maintenance, so the deficit could've been higher on a day to day basis.

Long story short I dropped 24lbs in 9 weeks. Then I decided to eat around maintenance and recomp, regain my lost strength in the gym (my ability to workout had been pretty much trashed, strength loss, massive reduction in volume etc). Well, for the first week at maintenance even with ample calories I was still losing strength in the gym on a daily basis, becoming weaker each workout. And worst of all, I was getting fat! Even at my previous maintenance (3300 calories, started eating 3000 to adjust for metabolic slowdown) it's now been over a week, I am weaker then I was and smaller since returning to maintenance, and I've literally regained all 24lbs. I'm sure alot is water weight because I'm extremely bloated, can't even get my wedding ring off, but it's obvious I have gained a good amount of the fat back.
Right now I've just decided to take a week's rest off the gym.

How long do I have to eat normally before my weight levels back out and my metabolism fixes itself? It's very frustrating, I'm still very weak in the gym, and just getting fat again. Anything I can do to fix this or just wait it out? Also my digestive system is messed up. Huge gut bloat and cramps from eating normal portions again. Initially was constipated for like 4 days straight.

Technically I know it's supposedly impossible to gain weight like this, but it's happening. And I'm very on top of my tracking. Everything is measured and weighed. I've been tracking calories minis the break that caused me to regain fat for the past 3 years successfully.

What should I do??

yepimonfire

Really? Anyone?

meshashesha2012

well considering that the idea of metabolic damage (especially after 2 months) hasnt been completely scientifically proven, you're going to get some really vastly different answers i suppose.

anyway this might be an interesting read for you
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/permanent-metabolic-damage-followup-qa.html

bfitgirl

just bumping for support!

There is a great poster called Haybales who may come to your rescue here, he's great for figuring the whats and whys! I think he's on Eat More to Lose Weight group. Maybe post there?

parkscs

Odds are you haven't affected your metabolism and what you're seeing can almost certainly be explained by fluctuations in water weight and hormone levels caused by drastic changes in your caloric intake. I wouldn't be worried about your metabolism, but I would try and look at why you're losing strength. Try setting a more reasonable deficit and being consistent with it. Your lifts will likely stall out at some point while cutting, even if you just got back into lifting 7 months ago, but that's life. There comes a point where you need to choose between adding mass and dropping fat - at 278, I'd focus on the latter for now and be patient with it.

CeriGrindrod

Bump