Crashed metabolism?

danielwillis22
danielwillis22 Posts: 43
edited November 2014 in Health and Weight Loss
So a year ago i decided it would be a good idea to drop my calories to 700 per day, don't ask me why I thought this was a good idea. I lost all my muscle and ended up with a skinny fat body whereas before i was pretty lean. I started going to the gym after 6 months of this and have put on about 12kg in the last 6 months. Ive been told a lot of this will be muscle memory because i was fairly muscly before.

Ive taken my body fat with cheap callipers and it say im around about 14-15% bf.

My worry is that with this low calorie (700 calories a day) diet, i have slowed my metabolism. im currently eating 1200 a day and then having a day of between 2-3000 calories every 2-3 days. Will my metabolism be back to normal, if not, how long does it take for your metabolism to recover back to normal. I just want my lean body back so that i can maintain it. I also have a little belly and love handles which annoy me because most of my body looks fairly lean. (my legs are really lean, can faintly see my top 2/4 abs, back is lean just around my love handles and belly is where the fat is stored, probably due to so much weight gain in a short period of time.
My diet isn't clean, I really just go by macros from any source, as long as they fit.


I really just want to be back to being lean so i can maintain it through diet and weight training.

Thanks
Any advice on what to do would be appreciated greatly.

Replies

  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
    Good thing about metabolism is that it will bounce back. Give it a few weeks at each caloric increase until you are at your goal/eating TDEE if you want to maintain. Don't increase all at once, from the 1200, you can go up by about 100 every week or 2, which should let your body get used to the increase and start burning again. If you're trying to gain muscle you do need to eat slightly more than maintenance but don't be too shocked if you gain for a month or 2 because of the increase in calories. If you need to, stick at a number for a few weeks to let your body even out. Good luck and I'm glad you're working on getting healthy now!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,430 MFP Moderator
    First, there is no way you packed on 26 lbs of muscle in a year. If you were doing a progressive compound lifting program then you could probably hit around 9-14 lbs of mass, especially since you are young. Second, If you want your metabolism to heal, then why are you eating low calories again most day? At this point, even during a cut, you should have a small deficit (like 250-500 calories max).

    But to answer the direct question, to get your metabolism back to where is used it be, it could take 6 month or a year or two. But since you didn't have a baseline RMR test prior to where you used to be, it would be hard to tell. I can tell you the women I work with that did something similar, it's taken her a year of heavy lifting and eating at maintenance for that year to get things to work right.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    so you're eating 2 - 3000 every 2-3 days plus 1200 other days
    -
    - you're averaging 1540 to 1970 calories per day per week

    but you are on a bulk cycle where you should be eating over maintenance before you cut

    so the question is what's your maintenance level, how many calories should you be averaging a week?

    eat enough to fuel your bulking then cut to lower body fat
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  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    wus58prjwws2.gif
    Dude, eat normal, not in a deficit.
  • danielwillis22
    danielwillis22 Posts: 43
    I never said the 12 kg was muscle... i was saying in general ive put on 12 kg, whether its fat, muscle, water weight. I can assure you that a hell of a lot of it is muscle though.

    No, im eating 1200-1500 for 2-3 days then ill have a day where i eat from 2-3000.

    Ive read quite a few journals that state you can cut fat and gain muscle at the same time.
    Protein is all thats required for muscle growth, and a calorie deficit is whats needed to lose fat.

    Im sure my metabolism has recovered, is it possible it could have recovered in 6-8 months?
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  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    danielwillis22 wrote: »
    I never said the 12 kg was muscle... i was saying in general ive put on 12 kg, whether its fat, muscle, water weight. I can assure you that a hell of a lot of it is muscle though.

    No, im eating 1200-1500 for 2-3 days then ill have a day where i eat from 2-3000.

    Ive read quite a few journals that state you can cut fat and gain muscle at the same time.
    Protein is all thats required for muscle growth, and a calorie deficit is whats needed to lose fat.

    Im sure my metabolism has recovered, is it possible it could have recovered in 6-8 months?
    \

    Believe when I say I have tried this approach. Where are these journals you read? lose fat and gain muscle mass are opposite goals with increasing muscle mass taking way longer than lose fat. I am sure I could have got better results if I actually counted calories.

    Also which day are you eating 2-3000 calories? I will guess not a rest day where muscle is in more of a healing process than exercise days.
  • danielwillis22
    danielwillis22 Posts: 43
    yea my high calorie days tend to be a day ive worked hard in the gym. maybe after 3 days hard work in the gym ill have high calories followed by a rest day
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    danielwillis22 wrote: »
    I never said the 12 kg was muscle... i was saying in general ive put on 12 kg, whether its fat, muscle, water weight. I can assure you that a hell of a lot of it is muscle though.

    No, im eating 1200-1500 for 2-3 days then ill have a day where i eat from 2-3000.

    Ive read quite a few journals that state you can cut fat and gain muscle at the same time.
    Protein is all thats required for muscle growth, and a calorie deficit is whats needed to lose fat.

    Im sure my metabolism has recovered, is it possible it could have recovered in 6-8 months?

    yes - I read that - and if you average that out over the week you are eating 1540 to 1970 calories per day per week

    it doesn't matter when you consume them - that's what you're eating

    not knowing your stats - but that doesn't sound enough for bulking in general - unless you are very small
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    danielwillis22 wrote: »
    yea my high calorie days tend to be a day ive worked hard in the gym. maybe after 3 days hard work in the gym ill have high calories followed by a rest day

    So you rest days are not above maintenance for muscle mass gain? I made the same mistake too before.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,430 MFP Moderator
    danielwillis22 wrote: »
    I never said the 12 kg was muscle... i was saying in general ive put on 12 kg, whether its fat, muscle, water weight. I can assure you that a hell of a lot of it is muscle though.

    No, im eating 1200-1500 for 2-3 days then ill have a day where i eat from 2-3000.

    Ive read quite a few journals that state you can cut fat and gain muscle at the same time.
    Protein is all thats required for muscle growth, and a calorie deficit is whats needed to lose fat.

    Im sure my metabolism has recovered, is it possible it could have recovered in 6-8 months?

    So you are calorie cycling to provide greater available energy on lift days? Either way, it is very difficult, if not impossible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Generally, the only people who can do both are obese individuals, completely untrained athletes or those on steroids. Since you are lean and have trained before, it's doubtful you will be able to do both. Now, you can get stronger, but you will not develop new muscle mass.

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