Metabolism Changing?

corey_e

I think my metabolism has increased. I don’t know how you would know for sure but I went from sedentary (literally sitting on the couch 12 hours or more) to working out every day for 90 mins the last 6 weeks or so. With that came more energy to do projects around the house. I set my goals to lose 2 lbs a week which I have actually met but lately I find I’m hungrier. I did some reading on metabolism and from what I can tell I may need to eat more calories to help it going. If it has increased but I don’t eat enough I go into starvation mode. The faster your metabolism is the quicker you burn fat and calories. I find it difficult to eat small meals and snacks as recommended without going over my calories and keeping myself from hunger pains. So I have changed my goal to 1lb a week so I have more room for snacks throughout the day. I love apples but a large honey crisp (my fav) is 180 an apple and that adds up quick with a limit of 1200 a day and my protein smoothie in the morning is over 600. I’m going to be paying much more attention now to my appetite, energy level, and weight loss to see if it actually is my metabolism speeding up. I know that the more muscle you have the higher it is and I have become toned from strength training so maybe that has attributed as well. I don’t know. I guess it’s gonna be a lot of trial and error to find the perfect combination for myself. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Am I on the right track? :indifferent:

NightOwl1

I would say go with more than 1200. I've noticed my metabolism jumped since I've started working out and eating more frequently but smaller meals. Sites like this can never factor in metabolism changes, so if yours has increased (which it appears it has), you need to eat more calories to compensate. It's better to be safe than sorry. Try to up your calories for a few weeks and see how you do.

petchonka82

I was just talking to hubby about this. I've been on a cleaning spree like a pregnant woman about to pop! I have all this energy and can't really sit still. I used to wake up in the mornings and struggle to get out of bed and now I'm popping up and ready to go. I also find myself hungrier, but I eat breakfast at 250 cals, lunch at 200, dinner at 300-500 and snacks ALL DAY LONG. I've noticed grapes tend to fill me up and are about 3 calories per grape. I'm not a nutritionist and far from experienced at this, but I'd say definitely eat back the calories you are burning off each day..that should help. My normal limit is 1200 and with my activity added I can/could eat around 1400-1500. Also, remember adding things like house cleaning will help add calories too. Great job!

anubis609

I would say go with more than 1200. I've noticed my metabolism jumped since I've started working out and eating more frequently but smaller meals. Sites like this can never factor in metabolism changes, so if yours has increased (which it appears it has), you need to eat more calories to compensate. It's better to be safe than sorry. Try to up your calories for a few weeks and see how you do.

Agreed. Recently, I hit a long-running fluctuation period. I then decided to focus more on muscle management rather than weight loss, so I started doing calisthenic-type of prison workout routines and since I started adding intense strength training sessions to my daily workout routine, my body's been in, what feels like, a perpetual state of hunger. I increased my intake by 100 - 200 calories a day for the first week, then up to 300 calories for the second week, and now that it's been almost a month, I've increased my intake to about 400 calories more per day. [Not] Surprisingly, weight loss came back.

So, metabolism increase does require intake increase for fuel. You're on the right track.

tmcowan

I just not even an hour ago changed my weight loss goal from 1 pound a week to 1/2 pound a week to try and jump start it again. I've been hoovering around the same 3-4lbs for the last 2 months. The frustrating thing is at the end of the day, if every day were like today, I should be about 7 pounds lighter. I usually come in under on my calories but typically net at least 1200 a day. I'm going to try this for a month and see what happens. Good Luck to you

Aeriel

I just wrote my blog today about my increased metabolism and needing to add calories. Check it out if you want and you can see how eating more (in a gradual manner) helped me on my journey.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Aeriel/view/a-light-bulb-goes-on-for-me-will-it-help-you-too-73554

corey_e

Ok, phew! I was hoping that would be the case and I wasn't just going back to being a piggy. I tried to ignore it but I know that's not healthy so I have gone over sometimes by 150-300 calories and today I thought well maybe my body needs the food. It's not like I'm eating chips, fast food, candy or anything like that. Thanks SO much for the input! I love this site!

MemphisMarly

Go to Home > My Goals and click "Change Goals." You are definitely not sedentary anymore! Here is a good description of each category.

Edited to add: Can someone help me with the BBCode please? This doesn't seem standard.

corey_e

Go to Home > My Goals and click "Change Goals." You are definitely not sedentary anymore! Here is a good description of each category.

Edited to add: Can someone help me with the BBCode please? This doesn't seem standard.

I totally forgot about that, I only changed my weight loss goal! Eek! I don't think I would qualify as active though, I'm only "active" for my work out time.