rebuilding a broken metabolism

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  • i_love_vinegar
    i_love_vinegar Posts: 2,092 Member
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    Maybe "broken" was too strong of a word... but clearly her metabolism has adjusted to such a high caloric deficit.

    "My girlfriend has been netting well under 1000 calories for the better portion of the last year. She has put on weight, which causes her to exercise more, which causes the deficit to increase... You see where this is going. "

    There's something else in the equation.

    If someone is below their BMR, net cals, and they're gaining weight, they're not gaining weight because of their diet. If we run a calorie deficit, we have to lose weight over the long term. If not, our body would be creating energy from nothing.

    Since we're dealing with a female, is it possible that her period is causing her some issues or, hang on to your hat, is it possible that she's pregnant?

    That is what I was thinking. ^^ Hmmm...she is gaining weight, but how much? And does it LOOK like she is gaining weight? Maybe she is working out so much, shes simply building muscle ^^
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    I'll see if I can find the link but I think Lyle McDonald did an article about this subject that basically says you cannot permanently screw up your metabolism. All you need to do is start eating the right amount of food and/or increase activity and it will fix itself.

    Links are here:
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/permanent-metabolic-damage-qa.html
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/permanent-metabolic-damage-followup-qa.html
  • Malissas
    Malissas Posts: 64 Member
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    Does she log what she eats, drinks and when she exercises?
    Is it possible she is miscounting? Just a couple of drinks can be 500 cals easy.

    I have pretty much been on 800 -1000 cals for a few of years and gained 35 pounds in this year. I thought my metabolism was broken too as I finished a duramine treatment two years ago and I thought that had killed it.
    I think my problem was that I stopped logging and started guessing which obviously wasn't right.

    My first week of logging everything and I have lost 4lbs after consistantly gaining every single week. We'll see what subsequent weeks bring but clearly my metabolism is working!
  • kappyd
    kappyd Posts: 199 Member
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    I did the same thing. When I started I was eating around 1000 to 1200 calories a day. After 2 months I had gained around 6 pounds so I stopped tracking and went back to being fat thinking that was it for me. A friend talked me into trying again but eating more calories so I started at around 1440 calories a day and have dropped every week. I am now down 52 pounds since July and eating around 1350 a day. Still losing and hope to lose another 20 pounds or so before I am done. I have seen on here several times were people say that going into starvation mode is not possible unless you were just eating 200 to 300 calories a day, but for me they were way wrong, and yes I ate healthy both times. So after all that maybe she needs to eat more to lose the weight.
  • timothycarey7549
    timothycarey7549 Posts: 7 Member
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    Sorry to revive an old thread, but this interesting article talks about "broken" metabolisms (not the best news, but the brain's "plasticity" is encouraging)

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2013/09/04/the-6-weight-loss-tips-that-science-actually-knows-work/

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