Slow metabolism

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I go to gym 4 times a week (cardio + lifting) and I eat at a 1000 calories deficit (healthy food) and I can barely lose 1 pound a week. It's very frustrating. Im sure it has to do with my metabolism being slow.

Any things I can do to speed up my metabolism?

I might as well built muscle mass?

Any help will be appreciated :)

Replies

  • 1Fizzle
    1Fizzle Posts: 241 Member
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    Hard to say from the description that you have listed....Sounds like you may need to eat more. You are very active, fuel your body!
  • Gunsentry
    Gunsentry Posts: 121 Member
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    Weight loss is down to diet, check your calorie intake, you need to be in deficit.

    You say you are in deficit but take a close look at what you are eating probably hidden calories somewhere.



    If you want to gain muscle mass you will need to eat 300-500 calories over maintenance to fuel muscle growth as well as lift progressively heavier weights weekly\monthly to produce enough stimulus for muscles to grow.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Your ticker shows you only have 5lbs to lose? 1000 cal deficit is WAY too much, especially for as active as you are. Your diary isn't open, so it's hard to say for sure, but...

    1) Are you measuring foods and logging accurately?
    2) How many cals are you netting daily?
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
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    Eat more food. Your deficit is way to high for only needing to lose 5 lbs. It should be closer to 250.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/815934-layne-norton-on-metabolic-damage?hl=layne#posts-12225299
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Unless you are very special your metabolism is the same as everyone elses. There's very little variation amongst all of us humans. You can increase your daily calorie burn by building more muscle but you won't do that eating at a 1000 calorie deficit.
  • shmoony
    shmoony Posts: 237 Member
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    Slow metabolism is a cop out I hear way too often. My guess is that you are not actually tracking everything. My wife tracks her food, or she thinks she does, and almost every day I notice one or more things that she forgot or underestimated. Over time, that one little handful here or one little sip of something there will add up. Do your diary for the day in the morning at a 250 cal deficit and stick to it exactly. If it's not logged, it doesn't go in your mouth...period. It takes a lot of pre planning, portioning, weighing, etc., but I guarantee you start to notice better results.
  • Pinkyivy
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    I should have mentioned that I currently weight 235 pounds ( I give myself small goals at the time), I have a good 80-100 pounds to lose so 1000 calories deficit seems decent, I think. At the gym I lose a minimum of 350 to 450 calories depending of my workout. I try to eat back my calories.

    I pay a lot of attention to what I eat...drink a lot of water, 250 ml of orange juice at breakfast. might be missing few calories here and there but still...

    I don't understand the problem.
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
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    I should have mentioned that I currently weight 235 pounds ( I give myself small goals at the time), I have a good 80-100 pounds to lose so 1000 calories deficit seems decent, I think. At the gym I lose a minimum of 350 to 450 calories depending of my workout. I try to eat back my calories.

    I pay a lot of attention to what I eat...drink a lot of water, 250 ml of orange juice at breakfast. might be missing few calories here and there but still...

    I don't understand the problem.

    Ah thats a little different then. If you are losing 1 pound per week consistently that is actually really good. The weight loss will not always be linear. Being new to lifting or very over weight can allow you to see some gain in lean body weight even while in a calorie deficit. This is a good thing even though it slows down the movement on the scale. There is also water gain that can mask fat loss. I would say keep doing what you are doing and be happy with that. I dont know how long you have been lifting but if, after 3 months, the weight loss stays about the same you could adjust the calorie deficit up a little. I would guess that a lot of the initial water weight gain will start to shed off at some point and you could see some weeks with more loss than others.
  • Pinkyivy
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    Will check on water gain...