Metabolism?

hmczettel
hmczettel Posts: 1 Member
edited November 2024 in Getting Started
Hi!
I am new here. Just wondering if someone can help me out.
I am an 5'6.5" tall woman and starting weight was 158lbs. May seem like more than ideal for my height but people always tell me I'm so thin because I'm pretty lean I guess. I am 30 years old. I set a goal weight of 145lbs but I guess just because that's what I weighed like 6-7 years ago (when I was much less active/muscular). My sort of background goal is to attempt to really lean out to see if it's realistic to train for a fitness comp. I live an active life (hiking lots, trail running, yoga, most recently added weight training). I always make sure to get at least 0.8g of protein per pound and I do account for my activity level in my calorie tracker. Usually people tend to balk at the amount I eat, telling me I'm too thin to eat that much, asking if I have a hallow leg etc. Anyways using this app it says I should only be consuming ~1850cals to lose 1lb a week. I've done this for 5 days (keeping my water intake and exercise the same and adding in calories for exercise done) and I've lost two pounds. That is sort of scary/too fast. I also feel like I am eating waaaayyyyyyyy way less than I normally do. The weird thing is the app 'congratulated' me for reaching 210% of my weight loss goal when I updated my weight instead of warning me about dropping so fast. (They should fix that feature in my opinion)

Anyways. I guess my question is really, is it possible that my metabolism is just high and so I should be consuming more calories than the app recommends and still be able to lean out more slowly? I'm wondering if I should do a few days where I just eat whatever I normally would and *then* add it all up after to see what my baseline calorie intake usually is and go from there?
Any thoughts? Any input is appreciated. Thanks! Hope to hear from you!

Replies

  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,174 Member
    You will initially lose a bit of water weight, which is why you have likely seen the 2lb drop, 5 days is not enough time to see a trend for fat loss, you need 4-6 weeks of data to see what is actually happening with your weight as it fluctuates daily.

    My advice stick to what you're doing, review your average weight loss in 4-6 weeks time. Use a trend weight app like Happy Scale or Libra if you want to get a better idea your trending weight.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    its water weight. you only have a little to lose, so you could always decrease your deficit to 0.5lbs per week so you have a few more cals to work with and your weight loss is slower.
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
    Most of it is water weight. The first few weeks are usually a lot of water retention fluctuations, so don't freak out if you lose or gain 5lbs really quickly.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 38,218 Community Helper
    One week is not enough to tell. It takes 4-6 weeks (especially for pre-menopausal women) to see the effect of a new routine, mainly because of water-weight fluctuations (related to hormonal levels, carbs/sodium, exercise, and more).

    That said, it is possible that the calculated value will be incorrect for you. It was incorrect (way too low) for me. The formulas are based on large-scale studies, and the estimate you get is approximately the mean value for your characteristics. Most people are close to the mean, but a few are a little farther from it. Only experience will tell. It's quite rare to be very far from the mean, but can happen.

    FWIW, the difference isn't usually so much "metabolism" (in the form of basal metabolic rate or BMR). It's much more likely to be a difference in NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis: daily activity outside of intentional exercise, anything from job to home life to fidgeting).
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,251 Member
    edited June 2018
    Welcome aboard!

    There is almost no detectable variation in metabolism at a basal level. These are biochemical pathways and rather fixed. If not this doesn't result in high/low metabolism, but in disease and death.

    Stick to the plan for a few weeks and be patient with the process. Your metabolism works much like a fire - add more fuel results in a hotter temporary burn. Tracking this over time looks much like a sine wave with ~5% variance from the median.

    So what is you end goal - is this more for aesthetics, strength, endurance? If you're seriously looking into fitness competition there are a number of competitors on this site. In that case it's not so much a matter of weight, but body composition, which is where progressive lifting programs come into play.

    I'll say that since incorporating progressive lifting into my personal plan, my endurance performance has gained tremendously.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,864 Member
    When you initially cut calories, you are going to have a drop in water weight as well as a drop from less inherent waste in your system from eating less. You really can't judge much from the first couple of weeks...have to give it a few weeks and see if it levels off.
  • mkculs
    mkculs Posts: 509 Member
    Reset your goal to lose .5 lb/week and gain back some of those calories you gave up. Or--and if I were you, I'd do this--figure out how much YOU routinely eat (ignore any cal goals, eat like normal but weigh your food and log it appropriately for a few weeks), and then cut about 250 cals from that amount. The loss will be slow but will happen. If you were doing well maintaining on the volume of food you were normally eating, then perhaps you have more lean muscle as part of your weight than the "average" person has, and don't need to cut as much. It would be counterproductive to give up cals you don't need to cut, just b/c the app said to.
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