My metabolism is coming back
stevepax
Posts: 86 Member
I've lost 65 pounds, and for much of it I was eating around 1400-1500 calories gross. That is, I didn't eat back my exercise calories. Yes, that's low. Yes, I know it. So when I got to about 180 pounds, I decided I needed to stop losing, up my calories, and give my body time to get my metabolism back.
I maintained weight on about 1750 calories. For a 180 pound male, that's ridiculously low.
I decided to bite the bullet and eat more - the only real way to increase your metabolism. Upped to 2000. Feels like a ton of food to me - I get to end each day enjoying a 300 or 400 calorie snack (smoothie, nuts, and sometimes, okay often, ice cream). I love it. And miraculously, I continued to lose! I'me down to 175 pounds now. Lost a pound this week. My metabolism, which I had feared I had damaged forever, is rebounding. I love it, because eating more food is way more fun than eating less!
So, my advice for maintaining - eat more food. Just do it, let your body recover that metabolism you need!
I maintained weight on about 1750 calories. For a 180 pound male, that's ridiculously low.
I decided to bite the bullet and eat more - the only real way to increase your metabolism. Upped to 2000. Feels like a ton of food to me - I get to end each day enjoying a 300 or 400 calorie snack (smoothie, nuts, and sometimes, okay often, ice cream). I love it. And miraculously, I continued to lose! I'me down to 175 pounds now. Lost a pound this week. My metabolism, which I had feared I had damaged forever, is rebounding. I love it, because eating more food is way more fun than eating less!
So, my advice for maintaining - eat more food. Just do it, let your body recover that metabolism you need!
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Replies
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I hope this works on mine too! I'm slowly increasing my calories from 1290 to 1390, maybe 100/week until I get to maintenance! Still scared!
Good job on the weight loss and awesome metabolism!0 -
This is encouraging! I'm wondering what to expect when I reach my goal. Congrats on the loss!0
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yep, this is what i'm currently going through! eating more to increase my metabolism again, and i've already found i'm so much hungrier all the time (which is kind of annoying, but also really nice as my metabolism had slowed so much that i very very rarely felt hungry on 1300 cals/day). working my way up to 2000.0
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An adult male needs 2200 kcal and more. This is because, the male metabolism is higher then females. It is also a known fact that males, are stronger, and need the energy for musclemass.
Which, human rights cause did you hunger strike for?0 -
yep, this is what i'm currently going through! eating more to increase my metabolism again, and i've already found i'm so much hungrier all the time (which is kind of annoying, but also really nice as my metabolism had slowed so much that i very very rarely felt hungry on 1300 cals/day). working my way up to 2000.
Yes, this is exactly where I was. Not hungry when I knew I should be starving. But now, the hunger is back, for sure.0 -
An adult male needs 2200 kcal and more. This is because, the male metabolism is higher then females. It is also a known fact that males, are stronger, and need the energy for musclemass.
Which, human rights cause did you hunger strike for?
I'm so sick of people like you acting like men are so **** superior.
Why don't you just be quite?0 -
food for thought0
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An adult male needs 2200 kcal and more. This is because, the male metabolism is higher then females. It is also a known fact that males, are stronger, and need the energy for musclemass.
Which, human rights cause did you hunger strike for?
I'm so sick of people like you acting like men are so **** superior.
Why don't you just be quite?
Pretty sure that's not what *she* was saying.0 -
Same for me. I eat around 2,000 cal a day, although today I ate 2,200 cal. Since going into maintenance and eating more I've lost an additional 2.5 pounds. I'm just gonna keep eating, cause its fun!0
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An adult male needs 2200 kcal and more. This is because, the male metabolism is higher then females. It is also a known fact that males, are stronger, and need the energy for musclemass.
Which, human rights cause did you hunger strike for?
I'm so sick of people like you acting like men are so **** superior.
Why don't you just be quite?
quite what?0 -
Thanks, I did the same thing. I think my metabolism came back with a bang, because even though I reached my goal weight, I kept losing, despite slowly building up my calories. So made a bit of a bigger jump in calories to 1,920 for a 5 ft. 10 in., 36yo female. Here's hoping I stabilise soon, though a bit nervous.0
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An adult male needs 2200 kcal and more. This is because, the male metabolism is higher then females. It is also a known fact that males, are stronger, and need the energy for musclemass.
Which, human rights cause did you hunger strike for?
I'm so sick of people like you acting like men are so **** superior.
Why don't you just be quite?
How is it being superior when stating a fact? Men have more muscle than women hence higher calorie needs.
P.s. I'll be quiet now.0 -
Did you gain before losing? I am now in maintenance mode and trying to figure out my new calorie goal. When I was losing I was eating about 1600 calories (eating exercise calories back). I've been slowly upping calories 100 per week to see what will work but with just an 100 calorie increase this week I gained 1.2 pounds. This may just be due to normal flunctuation in weight but it's freaking me out. I know a 100 calorie increase for matainance isn't right but why would I gain so much in just one week with that increase. I'm not sure what to do? Should I still increase and hope for the best...it's so scary..don't wanna gain any weight back!!! Thanks for any input!0
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I'm doing this too. I was eating 1300-1400 and have recently upped to 1750. I'm down 4 lbs last month eating more. It's hard to change my mindset, but it's working so I don't mind at all.0
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Bump0
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bump0
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Great job on the weight loss and metabolic reset!!0
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Does anyone know how to delete posts......0
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An adult male needs 2200 kcal and more. This is because, the male metabolism is higher then females. It is also a known fact that males, are stronger, and need the energy for musclemass.
Which, human rights cause did you hunger strike for?
I'm so sick of people like you acting like men are so **** superior.
Why don't you just be quite?
Sweety, I know men can be douches at times, but this is actually scientifically correct. Testosterone promotes muscle growth, which makes men musclier. It also boosts metabolism. This is why sports are divided into men and women, because an extrodinarily fit woman can be outmatched by a mediocre man, meaning that if women and men competed in the same class they would not have a fair shot. This is not sexism, it's science0 -
Congratulations, Steve! I'm doing the same thing. It's amazing how the body responds when we treat it right. Good luck!0
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I'm 5'0" 105lbs and I net 1,500 cals a day on most days. When I net more I gain a little, but it's easy to lose. I just eat less for a few days. My BMR is like 1,200 so I figure eating 1,500+ and maintaining means my metabolism is good??0
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Did you gain before losing? I am now in maintenance mode and trying to figure out my new calorie goal. When I was losing I was eating about 1600 calories (eating exercise calories back). I've been slowly upping calories 100 per week to see what will work but with just an 100 calorie increase this week I gained 1.2 pounds. This may just be due to normal flunctuation in weight but it's freaking me out. I know a 100 calorie increase for matainance isn't right but why would I gain so much in just one week with that increase. I'm not sure what to do? Should I still increase and hope for the best...it's so scary..don't wanna gain any weight back!!! Thanks for any input!
All4norma, I highly recommend that you read the third post down (the post by mrsbigmack) in this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/993146-people-eating-low-calorie-to-maintain-weight-read
Glycogen/water is a good thing! And just because you gain a few pounds when you start eating your maintenance calories does not mean you'll continue gaining at that rate if you keep eating all of your maintenance calories. It's only a temporary thing until your glycogen stores are replenished - then your weight will level off. (Remember how you/I/many-people lost quickly when you/I/we first started dieting? Those lbs were not fat then, and they're NOT fat now, either. It's a healthy thing! Your body will be healthier and happier if you let this happen.)0 -
I lost quite a lot of weight with bariatric surgery, and have now reached a healthy & comfortable weight and am in maintenance. I try to net about 1560 cal/day (female, 48, 165 - 170, and net means I eat back my calories). I weigh myself weekly, and I tend to fluctuate between 165 & 170. Sometimes I'm higher, sometimes I'm lower. As long as I'm somewhere in that 5 pound range, I don't worry too much about gain vs. loss; I think it tends to be just normal fluctuations in water retention and other stuff. Because even when I'm being "bad", I don't eat enough to actually gain 4 pounds in a week's time, and I don't have a revved up enough metabolism to lose 4 pounds in a week's time (and I've recorded 4 pound weight gains and weight losses in a week's time).
If you are being mindful of how much you eat and what you eat (for some people, the type of food can mess you up, even if you are keeping your calories in check), and you are getting in enough fluids, appropriate exercise, and reasonable sleep, you will likely find your maintenance balance if you monitor over time and tweak a little bit. Once you find you are staying in a 5 or 10 pound range consistently, and you feel good and your clothes fit properly, you have probably found a good maintenance balance. At that point, you won't worry too much if your weight goes up and down a few pounds every week.
If you creep up out of that "comfortable" range, review what you've been doing for maintenance, shake things up with different food combos, different exercise combos, etc. to get back down into your "comfortable" range again. Losing weight is a big lifestyle change, but once it's gone, you still have to work to keep it off; maintenance is learning how to tweak all the good things you were doing to lose the weight in the first place, and find the optimum combination of food, exercise, water, and other good habits to keep the weight from coming back.
And most important of all, if you do see a bounce up and realize you've fallen back into some old bad habits, don't beat yourself up about it. You're human, and like all of us, there will be occasional stumbles. Just look forward and do your best to get back on track. If you lost the weight in the first place, you've figured out some of your problem areas and the triggers that cause them. You can fix that. Regrets and guilt will only hamstring you. Better to focus on what is good for you and going after that.
Best of luck to you.0 -
I decided to bite the bullet and eat more - the only real way to increase your metabolism.
Huh?0 -
Thanks, I did the same thing. I think my metabolism came back with a bang, because even though I reached my goal weight, I kept losing, despite slowly building up my calories. So made a bit of a bigger jump in calories to 1,920 for a 5 ft. 10 in., 36yo female. Here's hoping I stabilise soon, though a bit nervous.
Don't be surprised if your weight continues to drift down at 1920. That's only 20 calories more than I eat to maintain at 123 pounds for a 5'7", 60 year old female.0 -
I think mine dropped a little during the loss and is returning to normal pretty quickly also. With all the running I do and ball park logging, it is hard to be sure but I am pretty sure. We should have some T shirts or bumper stickers made that say:
"I upped my metabolic rate; up yours!" :bigsmile:0
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