How to repair your metabolism????

brittanylovex

I've been foolishly hardcore dieting for a very long time - somedays included eating as little as 100 calories. Now, I am eating a healthy 1300 calories per day; which for my BMR is more than enough if I'm trying to still lose a pound a week (I'm a tiny 5'2).

However, even after making a healthy change, my metabolism has suffered.

Does anyone have any advice on how to eventually repair my metabolism?

Thank you.

Mokey41

How have you determined that your metabolism has suffered?

brittanylovex

How have you determined that your metabolism has suffered?

I really battle to lose weight, even after trying lowering/upping/maintaining my calorie intake + I have lost a lot of muscle mass from dieting over the past year.

Mia_RagazzaTosta

Were you ever diagnosed with an eating disorder? I would probably go to the doctor for a general physical and get some labs drawn if you truly hardcore crash dieted for a long time.

brittanylovex

Were you ever diagnosed with an eating disorder? I would probably go to the doctor for a general physical and get some labs drawn if you truly hardcore crash dieted for a long time.

No, I don't recall speaking much to the doctors regarding my weightloss. Okay thank you for your advice, I will do that.

TR0berts

Does anyone have any advice on how to eventually repair my metabolism?

Time. That's basically it.

Hopefully, it shouldn't take but a few weeks. Of course, in that time, you'll likely see a gain in weight - DON'T WORRY, THIS IS EXPECTED - but once your metabolism corrects itself, you'll likely see good, *fairly* consistent losses.

brittanylovex

Time. That's basically it.

Hopefully, it shouldn't take but a few weeks. Of course, in that time, you'll likely see a gain in weight - DON'T WORRY, THIS IS EXPECTED - but once your metabolism corrects itself, you'll likely see good, *fairly* consistent losses.

Thank you so much - that's so helpful and really great to hear!

GauchoMark

Time isn't going to help if you continue what you are doing. 1300 calories is most likely not enough to really "repair" your metabolism.

First thing I would do is go get your body fat tested from a good source, like a Bod Pod or something. Once you get that, put your lean body mass into the Katch-McArdle Formula (BMR):



where LBM is the lean body mass in kg to get a better idea of your BMR. Since you say you have lost a lot of muscle mass, this is probably the best way for you to gauge your metabolism.

Once you do that, multiply that number by your activity factor to find what your maintenance calories are. You want to eat that amount for a month or two - maybe 100-200 calories above it. You will also want to stop your cardio and start lifting heavy to try to regain the muscle mass you lost.

The best way to "fix" a metabolism is to build muscle.

Dlacenere

The other poster is right, it takes time - but it took me longer than a few weeks - more like 6 months to a year. It depends on how aggressive you are about it. Go to the Eat More 2 Weigh Less group on here and you will get a lot of good information on how to raise your calories to where you need to be. What they recommend is to figure out your TDEE (google this and you will get a lot of calculators to figure it out or you can google Scooby's Workshop - I personally prefer the calculator on www.iifiym.com) and then eat at that maintenance number for a while to get your metabolism up where it should be and then take a cut of that. I personally chose to gradually raise my calories, but that is probably why it took me longer. Understand this - just as you trained your metabolism down by eating so little and it adjusted - the same thing happens when you train it up. Trust me, it really works. I now eat 1750-2000 calories per day and still lose. You have to be patient. Good luck :-)

brittanylovex

The other poster is right, it takes time - but it took me longer than a few weeks - more like 6 months to a year. It depends on how aggressive you are about it. Go to the Eat More 2 Weigh Less group on here and you will get a lot of good information on how to raise your calories to where you need to be. What they recommend is to figure out your TDEE (google this and you will get a lot of calculators to figure it out or you can google Scooby's Workshop - I personally prefer the calculator on www.iifiym.com) and then eat at that maintenance number for a while to get your metabolism up where it should be and then take a cut of that. I personally chose to gradually raise my calories, but that is probably why it took me longer. Understand this - just as you trained your metabolism down by eating so little and it adjusted - the same thing happens when you train it up. Trust me, it really works. I now eat 1750-2000 calories per day and still lose. You have to be patient. Good luck :-)

That's really helpful, thank you! I appreciate your honesty with the timescale that you experienced. The website you suggested showed that I still probably am eating too little, so I will gradually raise my intake and see how I go.

I understand that I am likely to gain weight in the beginning, but I'd much rather be healthy and strong as opposed to what I have been in the past.

Dlacenere

You will gain a little weight but you will lose it again as soon as your metabolism adjusts. What I did was raise 100 calories every 1-2 weeks. I was eating 1000-1200 per day typically. I lost a lot of muscle. I have gotten it all back and then some. It's hard to mentally get your head around this, but once you do - you will be so much happier. I never in a million years thought I could eat this this much and lose.

jonesme8

It's true when you're starving your body like that, which you were essentially doing eating 100 cal a day it will start consumming your muscles as well which as going into starvation mode, essentially halting your metabolism. It will take time, eating healthy, and putting on some muscle. I'd almost focus exclusively on bulking up (muscle wise, dont worry) and very little cardio until your metabolism kicks back in, the more muscle mass you have, the more your resting metabolic rate is... Thats why guys always end up being able to lose weight easier... the jerks! =]

Greenrun99

Time isn't going to help if you continue what you are doing. 1300 calories is most likely not enough to really "repair" your metabolism.

First thing I would do is go get your body fat tested from a good source, like a Bod Pod or something. Once you get that, put your lean body mass into the Katch-McArdle Formula (BMR):



where LBM is the lean body mass in kg to get a better idea of your BMR. Since you say you have lost a lot of muscle mass, this is probably the best way for you to gauge your metabolism.

Once you do that, multiply that number by your activity factor to find what your maintenance calories are. You want to eat that amount for a month or two - maybe 100-200 calories above it. You will also want to stop your cardio and start lifting heavy to try to regain the muscle mass you lost.

The best way to "fix" a metabolism is to build muscle.

^^^This, figure out what you should eat.. eat at maintenance until your weight stabilizes, then cut.

vypeters

Addition to the time suggestion: you can go two ways with this. One is to jump straight up to what you should be eating. That will likely cause a short-term gain, but eventually even out. The other is to up you calories gradually, about 200 per day at a time. Give your body about 3-4 weeks to adjust after every increase.