Tricking metabolism

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  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    edited September 2017
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    tammystarren wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    tammystarren wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    tammystarren wrote: »
    garber6th wrote: »
    tammystarren wrote: »
    PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »
    tammystarren wrote: »
    You guys your body senses weight loss and when you are eating a reduced calorie diet to lose weight your metabolism slows down! Its a protective mechanism so yes you can trick it by not staying the same everyday. That way it helps your metabolism stay revved!

    I was asking how you guys do this but sounds like you stay the same.

    Am I missing something? I thought you were the one who came in with questions. If you find that The Obesity Code is helping you, go for it. We should all do what brings us success as individuals. But it's not for the reasons you think.

    Yes you are missing something! Going back to my original question....mfp sets your daily calories to eat every day .... do you guys fluctuate from that to try and work better with your metabolism (since you dont like the word tricked) ? Or do you consistently go by your daily calories as set on mfp ?

    I am switching over from ww which obviously does things differently! We are given a range to eat in!

    Your metabolism cannot be manipulated, tricked, scared into submission, etc. etc.

    Really so you have the same metabolism rate since birth then ? Did you know increased muscle mass speeds metabolic rate ? Decreased caloric intake slows it ? Being a bigger person increases it vs being a smaller person which is why bigger people have higher caloric needs

    People of different sizes have different calorie needs. Adults have higher calorie needs than children. Nobody denies this. This has nothing to do with "tricking" your metabolism.

    Exactly but we CAN purposely affect and change our metabolism! Okay so forget about tricking as you know what I mean!!!! I guess i should say purposely altering! We can do this by changing our body mass increasing exercise and by changing our caloric intake for example! Thats my point! Would our metabolism be more revved up and effective at weight loss if we put more of a range in our caloric intake than by staying the same every day!

    Its a simple question! I was asking about those who do this and how they do that with mfp so that i can proceed with this program!

    I am unaware of any evidence demonstrating that our metabolism is more effective when we vary our day-to-day intake.

    That said, many people here do vary their intake day-to-day so that they can do things like eat more on the weekends or fuel their higher activity days. If you log your activity calories and eat those back, it's likely that you're going to be eating a different amount on different days. And if you go by a weekly calorie goal, you'll probably be doing the same thing.

    I am unaware of it too but if you look at people who plateau I find it very interesting the methods they use to get going again. Its fine I will just try and adjust things as I see fit and will eventually figure out how my body responds. I was just curious if people have had more success varying their calorie intake vs staying the same everyday! With a huge community like this I was thinking some people have come across this.

    Their degree of success will be influenced more by their own preferences rather than the approach they take. As previously mentioned, if they'd rather eat a bit less during the week so they can eat more on the weekends, then that's what works for them... and their success comes from finding a method they can maintain long term, not from the action of varying their daily calorie intake.

    Regarding plateaus, most people will break a plateau because something causes them to better adhere to a plan rather than some direct impact of that change (correlation vs causation). Example: Say I diet for 6 months eating 5 smallish meals per day, have some initial success, then stall out. I decide to try intermittent fasting in order to help break the plateua, and after a week or so I start to see the scale move again. IF didn't suddenly make me lose weight, it caused me to refocus on my logging which put me back in a calorie deficit which caused me to lose weight.
  • tammystarren
    tammystarren Posts: 32 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    I think an unfortunate word choice has led to a lot of harsh criticism for the OP. Obviously there's no way to "trick" one's metabolism, but adaptive thermogenesis is real, hunger and leptein fluctuations can be manipulated with increases in caloric intake (refeeds). Instead of dismissing her, maybe trying to understand what she's asking and trying to say might help explain things better.
    So to help answer your question OP, many people use refeeds, and alternating intakes, not necessarily to trick one's metabolism, but to make long term dieting easier to handle.

    I am not familiar with refeeds but will look it up.

    Ok i am done with this post lol. If anyone else wants to comment on how dumb it all sounds be my guest :-)

    I am off to start my wonderful day and will look into some of the suggestions here !!

    Thanks
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
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    tammystarren wrote: »
    You guys your body senses weight loss and when you are eating a reduced calorie diet to lose weight your metabolism slows down! Its a protective mechanism so yes you can trick it by not staying the same everyday. That way it helps your metabolism stay revved!

    I was asking how you guys do this but sounds like you stay the same.

    Metabolic adaptation doesn't work the way you think it does. Your metabolism does not slow down so much in response to a caloric deficit as to actually offset the deficit.
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/761810/the-starvation-mode-myth-again/p1
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    stevencloser wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    I think an unfortunate word choice has led to a lot of harsh criticism for the OP. Obviously there's no way to "trick" one's metabolism, but adaptive thermogenesis is real, hunger and leptein fluctuations can be manipulated with increases in caloric intake (refeeds). Instead of dismissing her, maybe trying to understand what she's asking and trying to say might help explain things better.
    So to help answer your question OP, many people use refeeds, and alternating intakes, not necessarily to trick one's metabolism, but to make long term dieting easier to handle.

    Adaptive thermogenesis is largely insignificant and hunger and leptin isn't your "metabolism being revved up". Eating more or less calories every few days does not change your weight loss outcome vs. having the same average intake over the time period.

    It can be significant enough, especially for high deficits over a long term. I'm not even saying that it applies here, but it does exist.
    I also never claimed those things are revving up your metabolism, nor that it will make a difference versus eating the same amount each day. But it could make a HUGE difference to a person's ability to adhere to their diet over an extended period of time. Someone who can do that, is going to have a much better weight loss outcome than someone who bales after 3 weeks.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    Regarding plateaus, most people will break a plateau because something causes them to better adhere to a plan rather than some direct impact of that change (correlation vs causation). Example: Say I diet for 6 months eating 5 smallish meals per day, have some initial success, then stall out. I decide to try intermittent fasting in order to help break the plateua, and after a week or so I start to see the scale move again. IF didn't suddenly make me lose weight, it caused me to refocus on my logging which put me back in a calorie deficit which caused me to lose weight.

    I still think a lot of it is confirmation bias, in that changing something worked once out of 8 times so it must work. And they ignore the times the stall just ended without them doing anything at all, just because weight loss happens that way. Not saying what you suggest doesn't happen, but I think it can't be pegged down to one thing unless someone is very diligent in their tracking the ins and outs.



  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    Sigh. 80 lbs down, just eating in a deficit and adjusting calories downward as I got lighter. Not to trick my metabolism, but because a 254-lb body needs more calories than a 174-lb one. But sure. I stay the same*. Go with that.


    *So long as we're talking about a knack for dry observation.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    Tacklewasher wrote: »
    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    Regarding plateaus, most people will break a plateau because something causes them to better adhere to a plan rather than some direct impact of that change (correlation vs causation). Example: Say I diet for 6 months eating 5 smallish meals per day, have some initial success, then stall out. I decide to try intermittent fasting in order to help break the plateua, and after a week or so I start to see the scale move again. IF didn't suddenly make me lose weight, it caused me to refocus on my logging which put me back in a calorie deficit which caused me to lose weight.

    I still think a lot of it is confirmation bias, in that changing something worked once out of 8 times so it must work. And they ignore the times the stall just ended without them doing anything at all, just because weight loss happens that way. Not saying what you suggest doesn't happen, but I think it can't be pegged down to one thing unless someone is very diligent in their tracking the ins and outs.



    Agreed. The subjective nature of all this makes the waters really muddy.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,677 Member
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    My exercise varies a bit every day, so my calorie goal changes. I try to meet my daily goal, but am not always successful. On a day I run long I may have leftover calories; on a day I exercise less or go out to eat I may go over my goal. I try to average 1600 net (maintenance for me) and seem to be successful as I've stayed below 125 for about 6 months. By maintaining a fairly active lifestyle, with daily walking, running, backpacking, etc., my metabolism is higher than it would be for most women my age.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,555 Member
    edited September 2017
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    tammystarren wrote: »
    You guys your body senses weight loss and when you are eating a reduced calorie diet to lose weight your metabolism slows down! Its a protective mechanism so yes you can trick it by not staying the same everyday. That way it helps your metabolism stay revved!

    I was asking how you guys do this but sounds like you stay the same.
    You can't "trick" it. Yes, metabolic rate absolutely reacts to calorie deficit by slowing down a bit, but it's not instantaneous nor is it so large that weight loss stops completely.
    Diet breaks do help, but one would have to be on a CONSISTENT same intake in a pretty moderate deficit for some time. Like a few months.
    A plateau is 6 weeks or more of no weight movement IF one has been consistent each week with NO CHANGES. If there was any change in diet or exercise, then it's NOT a plateau because the consistency changed. That's why plateaus are actually rare.
    Now stalls do happen, but that's just how the body works.
    So before changing anything, be honest with yourself first and ask "have I been 100%?" If not, that's where you start.

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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,394 MFP Moderator
    edited September 2017
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    buffgrl wrote: »
    There is a technique called "Calorie Cycling" that you can google, works phenomenally. You alternate higher calorie days with lower calorie days, while maintaining an overall calorie deficit target for the week. After about 3-4 weeks of a set number of calories, your body will "figure it out" and slow down your metabolism accordingly. It will also at the same time RAISE levels of hormones in your body that make you feel hungrier and want to be less active. Periodically including strategic higher calorie days will help avoid this common problem that many dieters experience.

    Calories and/or carb cycling do not work like that. Dont' get me wrong, proponents of that diet will say that crap, but it's unfounded. The main reason to calorie cycle is adherence or to support a training regime.

    The fact is, the metabolism is a set of biochemical processes that run your system. And while things like adaptative thermogenesis does exist, it's not to the extent that many people think, especially in those who are not lean. Very lean people will experience AT at lot quicker but its not a permanent adjustment. In fact, Menno Henselman has some good information on it (the video is really good in the below link).

    https://bayesianbodybuilding.com/metabolic-damage-science/

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