Signs of an increasing metabolism?

scottc561

Love the article about the men in Minnesota! Fascinating.

Starving on 1800 calories a day for 6 months. They look like skeletons at the end.

It's a great article isn't it - I'd heard about it before but didn't know the details. I find it amazing that eating 1800 cals/day caused them to lose so much weight and have so many other side effects (loss of libido, poor concentration, irritability etc).
1800 is about my maintenance cals and it seems like a moderate amount of food - not a lot for a man, but I wouldn't imagine that anyone would starve on those cals.

Apparantly some ate less and some more, based on their amount of weight loss. But I agree 1800 or even 1500 doesn't sound like much of a starvation diet. It just puts it into perspective when you see people eating 1000 calories and then exercising on top of that another 500c. (this was an actual poster the other day that stated she was not starving herself).

yogibella

so interesting!

bumperrooo~:happy:

treetop57

These were (a) young (b) men who were (c) walking a minimum of 21 miles a week. They probably had mainence levels of 2500 to 3500, so 1800 is a big deficit.

scottc561

These were (a) young (b) men who were (c) walking a minimum of 21 miles a week. They probably had mainence levels of 2500 to 3500, so 1800 is a big deficit.

Their deficit is stated in the article. 2.5lbs per week which is 8750calories, Nothing mind blowing, but since they were already skinny to start with they had drastic effect imo.

lifechange12

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dbenedit

I started MFP in early January of this year. My starting weight was 174.5, and I am a 5'8" female. MFP suggested 1200 calories a day. I did that for about a month. Felt HORRIBLE! Lethargic, cranky, stomach-gnawing-on-your-backbone kinda thing. Started reading about BMR and TDEE and immediately bumped up my calories. Also, started eating back my exercise calories, and paying close attention to my macros. And I feel so much better! I'm still losing weight, but not my sanity. I'm in this for the long haul, and THIS I can do for the rest of my life.

doorki

I eat back my exercise calories for the week on the weekends. Guilt free cheat days lol.

Heaven71

usually not a good sign if ur shaking after eating

It's not uncontrollable shaking, more like fidgeting of which I am only semi-conscious. When I was younger, I remember a woman from my church whose leg would shake all the time in this way and she said it was because she had a high metabolism. I'm just curious to know if anybody knew one way or the other.

Yeah I do this as well and it does burn calories so shake away! I would also agree that it's a sign of increasing metabolism. Congrats on the NSVs.

treetop57

If a 150 lb man loses 2.5 pounds a week for 6 months, he's down to 90 lbs and has lost 43% of his initial weight.

Amberkr

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NicoletheFaye

@cjpg - So it sounds like you did by accident what I did on purpose, I'm just not sure if it's enough, you know? But I had only increased my calories and not decreased my exercise. In fact, I started exercising more mainly because I was really excited that I was being successful with my C25K workout. But I decided to take a few days off and I haven't done it since Sunday. At first, it was because I was really swamped with work and life and such, but now I'm thinking I may really need to cut back. Yesterday I was ravenous all day. I was eating really healthy foods, just lots of it. So I'm glad I've got another one of the "signs"! I wonder when I can start exercising more again. Have you thought about that? What are your thoughts for you?

@lizzys - You know, come to think of it, I thought my insomnia was coming back, but maybe I just have too much energy to make myself go to bed at night at my usual time! So yes, it is true, I have more energy... at least, I'm having a hard time making myself go to bed. But that could have been the time change, too. I have been eating about 400 more for a couple of weeks and I keep fluctuating up and down the same 6 - 8 pounds. I did sweat more when I exercised, but I thought it was because it's starting to warm up here, plus I was exercising harder. And the shaking I described is more like the "useless movement" that others have commented on.

@scottc561 - You're absolutely right about this being a case for eating back exercise calories! I think that's what got me in this mess of a plateau to begin with. I tried to eat some back, but I had been getting conflicting advice. Now I know better. : )

@mlmlvrs - I agree! This is a great response! I spent a good 20 minutes on google trying to find information. I should have known to come here first. : )

@ProudMPMom - I'm right there with you! My friend and I started in January. I'm lighter than her, but they suggested 1250 a day for me and quite a bit more for her. She has steadily lost 30 pounds, I plateaued after 15 pounds in 5 weeks and now I gain and lose the same 6 - 8 pounds every day. You are right. It's all about sustainability. I feel like a normal person getting a net of 1650, but if I start exercising hard core again, I'm definitely moving it up again. Have you seen this TDEE calculator? It's awesome! - http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

creative1981

Bump to read article

sixisCHANGEDjk

Interesting!

rbccbrown

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CharlieBarleyMom

No time to read article right now... but this sounds ultra-fascinating.

NicoletheFaye

@doorki - You know, I wanted to do the same thing and I listened to my roommate who made it sound crazy. That is an EXCELLENT idea. I know Dr. Oz had an episode recently talking about the importance of spike days and I'm starting to zig zag a little more with my calories myself. I just hate seeing that I've gone over on a day, even if I was under the day before.

@Heaven71 - Okay good! Someone else! The only thing I could find on the internet about shaking your leg and metabolism is that it would burn calories if you chose to do it, not that it might just kinda happen without your really thinking about it if your metabolism increases. And thank you for the support!

r3d13

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Sinope82

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doorki

@doorki - You know, I wanted to do the same thing and I listened to my roommate who made it sound crazy. That is an EXCELLENT idea. I know Dr. Oz had an episode recently talking about the importance of spike days and I'm starting to zig zag a little more with my calories myself. I just hate seeing that I've gone over on a day, even if I was under the day before.

I don't do it for any physical reason but rather for my own sanity. Since I am working for a lifestyle change, I want to be able to find the balance where I can have some beers and pizza on the weekends and not feel guilty. Then I found the weekly charts on the ipad and phone apps, so I now just aim to stay under the weekly net target. The body doesn't work on a 24 hour clock .

amyy902

id say go see your doctorrr and ask them so you get a sound answer and then you'll be able to ask a few questions to get a good understanding

LittleElephant

Bump for reading later

amyy902

ALSO, thank god someone on this site is using academic journals for resources. its about time because ask yahooo or what not is not a source with credability

BaileyKat52

Very interesting read. Thanks for sharing.

DoubleE615312

This is very interesting...what I do is keep a spreadsheet of my calorie deficit/overage for each day. This makes it a little easier for me to see the week as a whole instead of trying to look at it through this website or on my phone.

MovesLikePuma

Interesting article and the best discussion I've seen in a while. BUMP! :happy:

NicoletheFaye

@doorki - It was within my first few weeks here that I first thought about just paying attention to my weekly net calorie intake and living somewhat sensibly day to day. But I didn't trust my intuition and listened to advice for others who shot it down, for lack of any other science to back it up. Thank you for sharing. You're absolutely right. The body doesn't work solely within the times I log into MFP and input calories and exercise. It's working at all times.

@amyy902 - Right after I increased my calories, I pulled a friend into keeping me accountable that if I stay at this plateau through the whole of March I will go to a doctor in April. I agree, there has to be more than just opinions for me to make decisions about my body and my life. My sister, actually, is one of my roommates and a nutritionist, but this isn't exactly her field of expertise. I'm so glad that journal article was posted. I'm passing it on to her now!

@DoubleE615312 - That makes much more sense to me, to look at the week as a whole than to break it down day by day. Otherwise, I just can't see a life without pizza. : )

@Jedwards7425 - I'd have to agree! I'm geekin' out a little bit over this article and I'm so glad to see that so many others were wondering the same thing. When you think your metabolism is increasing but you aren't losing weight yet, it's kind of a weird limbo to be in.

***To those of you who don't know what article we're talking about, @gemiwing so graciously posted a list of symptoms that your metabolism is increasing based upon her experience and an article from a scholarly journal, "The Journal of Nutrition". It's based upon an experiment that was conducted in 1944 {also known as the Minnesota Starvation Experiment} in which 36 men willingly subjected themselves to semi-starvation to allow scientists to gather data otherwise unknown such as the physiological and psychological effects of semi-starvation and what happens when you begin to eat more again. They did so in an effort to help war-torn Europe properly refeed their civilians. In the process, much of what we understand about our body's natural defenses against extreme weight loss and metabolism was procured during this experiment.

It can be read here: http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/6/1347.full

Again, thank you to @gemiwing for sharing that article!

Hartmowen

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gemiwing

***To those of you who don't know what article we're talking about, @gemiwing so graciously posted a list of symptoms that your metabolism is increasing based upon her experience and an article from a scholarly journal, "The Journal of Nutrition". It's based upon an experiment that was conducted in 1944 {also known as the Minnesota Starvation Experiment} in which 36 men willingly subjected themselves to semi-starvation to allow scientists to gather data otherwise unknown such as the physiological and psychological effects of semi-starvation and what happens when you begin to eat more again. They did so in an effort to help war-torn Europe properly refeed their civilians. In the process, much of what we understand about our body's natural defenses against extreme weight loss and metabolism was procured during this experiment.

It can be read here: http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/6/1347.full

Again, thank you to @gemiwing for sharing that article!

The real thanks should go out to 31prvrbs for posting the article on her blog. She's absolutely worth following! I'm just the reposter

JMarigold

Love the article about the men in Minnesota! Fascinating.

Starving on 1800 calories a day for 6 months. They look like skeletons at the end.

It's a great article isn't it - I'd heard about it before but didn't know the details. I find it amazing that eating 1800 cals/day caused them to lose so much weight and have so many other side effects (loss of libido, poor concentration, irritability etc).
1800 is about my maintenance cals and it seems like a moderate amount of food - not a lot for a man, but I wouldn't imagine that anyone would starve on those cals.

I also find the side effects fascinating. I imagine that even people starting at a higher weight would experience those due to malnutrition. The irritability of ALL the men was intense towards the end. Also one man noted that he actually experienced a moment of intense hatred towards a small boy b/c he thought that boy was going home to dinner. And consider that 2 of the men who ended up being excluded from the published results (only 3 didn't make it) actually had mental breakdowns!!!! Malnutrition is NOT something to play around with.

It's interesting to note other factors about their actual diet. For example, they fed them mostly the foods that the people of war torn Europe had access to: potatoes, bread, and macaroni were a large part of their diet. A lot of fast burning carbs! Also they enforced a certain activity level on the men--in addition to normal "life" duties and jobs requiring a light amount of activity the men were required to walk 22 miles a week.

TanyaRochelle

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