Training Experts out there? help please.....

Your weight is fine. If you're not happy with the way your body looks than start lifting weights. You didn't ruin your metabolism. You over ate the amount of calories your body was taking in. This metabolism theory is a myth. It's calories in and calories out. Unless you have some medical problem such as your thyroids. By the way you're 36 yrs old. As you get older you start losing muscle. Which means you start burning less calories. If you want to speed up your metabolism start lifting.

If you're not measuring all your foods than thats how you gained weight. Measuring with a scale is the only accurate way! Not Cups, tbsp etc

Watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

I totally get that you would want to get back to your usual weight (even if it is a little on the light side) we all have different body shapes.

There would be no need for you to gain weight to reset your metabolism, just modify your diet to include a balanced set of nutrients and a healthier calorie intake - more on that later. I've been dieting on and off for 20 years as I tend to put on weight in the winter and it's a constant battle (until now of course!) and my metabolism hasn't suffered as a result - I hope that gives you encouragement. The metabolism naturally slows down a little from our 20's to 30's and so on but unless you have a metabolic disorder, then there would be no lasting impact on your ability to burn calories and use fat/carb/protein etc in the body as normal with your previous dieting. Seriously the metabolic damage thing, I'm not sure where you read that but the only thing I would say on that matter is that sometimes, after vigorously dieting where you are starving yourself, the metabolism will slow down as long as you continue with this but again, once you increase your intake, your metabolism will speed up to compensate, again, providing there are no health conditions present. I know there is evidence to suggest we lose lean cells as we age (and through aggressive dieting) but as long as you are exercising and toning muscle, your metabolic rate should be inline with someone of your age.

You say you are only eating 1000calories per day? That's very low, it could be that your metabolism is slowing down to compensate for the very low intake. I would increase it to around 1300 - 1500 calories at least.

One more thing, cut the elimination diets where you are only eating certain types of food. This could be interfering with your metabolism also and is of course, not a healthy routine as your body will be missing out on essential nutrients. Eat a balanced diet and exercise every day and you will find that the weight comes off. I'm not sure what you mean by "now im doing low carb and doesn't seem to do much other than maintain my weight at about 500 cals a day" but if you are saying that you are cutting out carbs and eating only 500 cals per day, I would recommend that you bin that idea right away, you will become malnourished at that rate. Please don't do that :-(.

Hope that explains things a bit more for you.

I agree with everything said here. 500 is way to low. Low Carb Diets also known as the Atkins was not designed to be a way to sustain a lower weight loss. Dr Atkins designed that program because he is a cardiologist and with the morbid obesity rates he needed a way for his patients to loose weight quickly so they can have Heart Surgery. When everyone started seeing how fast you could loose he marketed it to them. If you are not going to have heart surgery and your are obviously NOT overweight then why would you ever want to put that kind of stress on your body. IN fact just for proper nuerological function you need some carbs. Your nerves actually uses those carbs not only for energy for your muscles when you exercise and move but also to help the nerves talk back and forth to each other. 500 calories will put your body in to what is commonly termed "Starvation Mode". You as a female are designed to carry a child full term in the event a famine was to occur. At low calories your body sees that you are in a "famine" and will horde anything you put into your mouth. SO basically you are doing the complete opposite of what you actually thought you were doing. A typical human being requires 1200 calories just for those that are not doing any exercise and are sitting at the a desk or in a chair all day. I doubt you do that. Even our macros when we log, if you go under 1200 calories for the day will tell you that you are not eating enough calories. Bring it up to about 1300 -1500 eating fresh veggies/lean meats/healthy fats (avocados) and see what happens.

My main concern is that you are worried about your weight. I am 5'7 and a healthy weight for my size and age group is between 145 and 155. SO for you to be at 133 and worried about your weight makes me wonder why. Especially since you have expressed concern about eating over 1000 calories. To eat under that you would typically be skipping out of at least one meal OR you are not making enough food in a meal to get the necessary calories for that meal. You can typically eat up to 400 calories per meal and till maintain the 1200 calories limit if that is what you want. Don't be concerned of your weight. go to the gym and lift weights see if you cant tone rather than just cutting the calories and loosing the muscle mass. As you build more muscle mass your metabolism will increase.