"Fixing" a low metabolism

You're at the gym at 9pm?

are you getting enough sleep? Not resting your body properly causes you to hold extra weight. true story.
I don't mean do you feel tired. I mean are you actually getting the proper amount of sleep.

Keep in mind, if you go by the TDEE estimate, you do not apply the MFP method of "eating back exercise calories" since activity is already calculated in to the TDEE equation. You likely already know this since you have tried several ranges, but I am not sure how long you maintained doing so for each trial.

With that said, I do recommend people who have struggled to experience noticeable weight loss over a long span of 6 months or so get a RMR test done especially if they have tried various possibilities. Have you had any blood work done, ruling out any potential condition which may be contributing to your state?

You may think your RMR hasn't decline much since restricting calories, but in a recent study that looked in to whether relative preservation of lean body mass limited the decline in RMR - which it did not. Here is a copy and paste of the abstract which unfortunately requires a subscription to view:

Metabolic Slowing with Massive Weight Loss despite Preservation of Fat-Free Mass
Abstract
Context: An important goal during weight loss is to maximize fat loss while preserving metabolically active fat-free mass (FFM). Massive weight loss typically results in substantial loss of FFM potentially slowing metabolic rate.
Objective: Our objective was to determine whether a weight loss program consisting of diet restriction and vigorous exercise helped to preserve FFM and maintain resting metabolic rate (RMR).
Participants and Intervention: We measured body composition by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, RMR by indirect calorimetry, and total energy expenditure by doubly labeled water at baseline (n = 16), wk 6 (n = 11), and wk 30 (n = 16).
Results: At baseline, participants were severely obese (×± SD; body mass index 49.4 ± 9.4 kg/m2) with 49 ± 5% body fat. At wk 30, more than one third of initial body weight was lost (−38 ± 9%) and consisted of 17 ± 8% from FFM and 83 ± 8% from fat. RMR declined out of proportion to the decrease in body mass, demonstrating a substantial metabolic adaptation (−244 ± 231 and −504 ± 171 kcal/d at wk 6 and 30, respectively, P < 0.01). Energy expenditure attributed to physical activity increased by 10.2 ± 5.1 kcal/kg·d at wk 6 and 6.0 ± 4.1 kcal/kg·d at wk 30 (P < 0.001 vs. zero).
Conclusions: Despite relative preservation of FFM, exercise did not prevent dramatic slowing of resting metabolism out of proportion to weight loss. This metabolic adaptation may persist during weight maintenance and predispose to weight regain unless high levels of physical activity or caloric restriction are maintained.

If you search the title of the study at JCEM, you can find it.

Well considering human biology and mechanics work different... I'll stay away from that study, I will however agree with the theory behind it as it is indeed very sound... However the body is a living organism that changes over time, and as such adaptive thermogenics cause metabolic slowdown and increases...

What this study essentially at the core is saying that keeping LBM up while decreasing fat by decrease in calories induces a negative impact on your body via thermogenics, however, reversing the impact is possible if done slowly.

Of course, 10% increases and constant monitoring is not everyones cup of tea, hence why people will put on when they first move to maintenance before levelling out again. Taking a few months to level out properly is not in the mindset of most peoples here this is the solution lets do it quick mindset.

In response to OP about fixing metabolism, simple take a month or so off your diet, don't go extreme as you will pick up fairly quick at first, then eventually level off, when you level off, then go back on your diet plans again as your body then has finished adapting to your new requirements. Sure preserving LBM means you burn more calories, but honestly? say 90c extra? maybe 200 max? I mean maybe every little helps, but that is not much to help you... Best off losing quickly, sacrificing a little muscle, then rebuilding muscle as muscle does regenerate quicker if it is used to particular load for a certain amount of time, usually we call this muscle memory.... You will get your muscle back fairly quick, at least you'll be lean, and you can build from there slowly with calories and muscle once reached.

Again, slow is king when building things back up... When losing, well.. do what you want and do what works... Transitioning back to maintenance is the most crucial aspect you'll face...

This may sound really odd but why would you care what your family and friends see what you eat? The reason I ask is that sometimes our own head's can get in the way of our weightloss. When I trusted myself enough to let my friends and family into my journey and help me and encourage me, weight loss and eating healthy got a whole lot easier. Just a suggestion. Besides that without an open diary folks here won't really be able to help you look at your food choices and see if there can be some improvement. As a side note, eating as healthy and clean as possible away from processed foods helps me and many on this board lose weight, also 3 smaller meals and three snacks helps me keep my blood sugar even and body moving all day.

Your metabolism isn't broken

^^^^^ this!

Amen.

Metabolism isn't low, TDEE calc is wrong. Most people calculate using formulas that assume average body fat. For anyone who is overweight, those will greatly overestimate BMR (had a friend go from 2300 BMR to 1300 when switching from generic BMR calc to body fat-based calc). Use 370 + 21.6 x lbm in kg. use 1.2 for activity multiplier unless you are fairly active outside of whatever exercise you are doing. Eat 20% under that, and you should start losing weight. At your weight, you may just want to eat 1500 calories per day. That is very easy to maintain, and should produce faster weight loss.

I would also strongly recommend eatin adequate protein and lifting weights 2-3x per week.

You should easily drop 1-2 lbs per week that way.

I think that should be revised to "For some people who are overweight."

(or maybe my LBM is 157 pounds, which would make my bf 26%) :huh:

bump