Help! Gaining on air. How to fix "damaged" metabolism?
Anthem76
Posts: 81 Member
I'm feeling pretty discourage atm and could use solid advice. I'm a 5'9", mid forties female with CW of 188. GW is 140-150. This summer, I lost 20 pounds eating 1200-1500 calories/day. Then, I was hit with a medical condition, where I didn't diet or exercise for about 8 weeks, but didn't regain during this time. Following a minor surgical procedure September 3rd, I fasted for three days (didn't feel like eating). I weighed in at 184. Over the next several days, I ate 500-800 calories, my weight was back up to 186. On September 7th, I started exercising again, but kept my calories low (800-1200). I know this is too low, but I was hoping to jumpstart loss again, and then increase calories to a sustainable level. For the past couple weeks, I've been exercising (hiking, step aerobics, and arms/ab work) at least one hour per day on 1200 calories. I've been conscientious about increasing TDEE. Scale kept nudging up. Yesterday, I bumped cals to 1450 (but also hiked 2.5 hours and did 40 minutes of strength training) and I woke up this morning at 188lbs . Time of the month is not a factor. I am logging correctly. I don't cheat/binge. (I'm still not feeling all that hungry). Clearly there is something wrong. My weight is going up despite exercise and a restricted diet. I'm so discouraged. It seems all the problems started after my fasting episode at the beginning of the month. I think if I were to stop exercising and just eat my predicted maintenance level of1800ish, my weight would balloon like crazy. Something is up with my metabolism. How can I fix this? I set a goal of getting to a healthy BMI by Christmas. Now, I just want to get out of the 180s.
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Replies
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I wonder if you need more time to tell - a medical issue and surgery could mean lots of water retention due to extra stress on the body, and it may take time for a trend to be detected. I would not be alarmed by one day at a higher calorie consumption and a higher weigh in the next day - that could be due to the food still moving through your digestive system, or extra sodium. It could also be due to higher water retention from the extra exercise as your muscles repair themselves. If you're not cycling, I would suggest giving yourself several weeks to really recover, eat your adjusted calories, and see what happens on the scale. Even if it really is going up, it's not going to shoot up so fast you undo all your hard work thus far.
ETA: I am a little bit concerned that when you increase your calories you seem to be increasing your exercise to make up for it, which seems a bit counterintuitive - you're still netting the same (too low) amount. Your body will definitely be stressed out if you're eating below your BMR (as a 5'9" female 1200 is going to be too low pretty much always, I would think, if you're not in a coma.)
Weight loss can be really annoying because it's the kind of thing that really requires patience in the absence of quick, easily verifiable results. It takes time for changes in behavior to be reflected on the scale, especially the closer you get to goal, and life circumstances like the ones you've experienced may make it harder for a time to observe the trend. Experimentation is sometimes needed, but you shouldn't change all the variables at once or not give it enough time to play out before you introduce something new. Give the math adequate time to work out.
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The goal isn't to eat as little as possible, and lose weight fast. You seem to have messed everything up, so why not simply start over.
If you use a TDEE calculator, at 45 yo, 188, doing moderate exercise ( 3-5 days a week ), your TDEE is 2,421. Heavy exercise ( 6-7 ), would bump daily TDEE to 2,695.
To lose a lb. a week, you only need to cut down 500 calories a day.. so 1,921.. or 2,125.
Try the 1,921 level, and see if you gain weight.. give it 3 weeks, to determine how you weight is affected by that caloric goal. If 1500 is too low. we know 800 IS.. and your metabolism is trashed, you will gain for maybe a week, and then your metabolism will adjust, and you may start losing weight slowly, and then a little faster, which is why you should give it 3-4 weeks to see the effects. Stop thinking about 1 day at a time, and reacting. Your calories shouldn't be changing.. you factor in the exercise, and eat an AVERAGE that replaces the calories you burned. You may lose less on the days you don't work out that way, but you know why, and that is what is important. It makes it simpler than having different calorie levels on workout days, than on non-workout days. Unless I am mistaken, you aren't an athlete, with a team that helps figure all that out. We like to try to emulate athletes, and copy their routines, and habits, but most often, we can't. Keep it simple.. pick a higher calorie level, eat that way for 3-4 weeks, continue exercising, and at the end, you will know if over 3-4 weeks, that caused weigh gain, or loss.
If you lose, just keep at that level. If you stay at 188, try dropping 100 calories, and giving it 2 more weeks. If you gain a few lbs. maybe you need to cut 250 calories.. your results should determine any change in calories, but you want to start higher, and slowly drop down, until you are losing a lb. a week steadily.. and you will probably find that you do so at closer to 2000 calories, or possibly higher. You may find that your weight loss drops too fast, once your metabolism revs back up, once you stop starving yourself. You'll get more nutrients as well, and that always helps the body run more efficiently.. just make sure you continue eating healthy foods, and just make larger meals, or add a snack...more good food, not just extra calories. Sorry, if that is obvious, but sometimes it's hard to significantly increase calories without some junk creeping in.
For reference. I am a 47 yo guy.. 5'6" 258.4.. heavier, and shorter, and FAR less active. I eat 2100-2500 calories a day, and in the past 21 days, I've lost 22.2 lbs. Your results won't be as fast of course, but you CAN lose weight eating over 2000 calories, or just under, probably.. no reason for anyone to eat 1200-1500 calories, unless they are below 5' tall.
Hope you find your balance, and get to a healthy level of calories, and weight loss can resume, while you eat a lot more calories. It really is NOT that hard.. except the staying on plan part.. that's the issue. Easy enough to find what works, but then you just keep repeating. I find boring is good.5 -
Lots of stresses on your body lately, from surgery to exercise and an aggressive calorie deficit. That can cause water retention.
Furthermore, your weight after three days of fasting is not a good baseline at all to determine if you're gaining weight. Your entire digestive tract was empty and you lost water weight from no food/carbs in your system.
Just eat at a normal level for a month, maintenance or a small deficit, and a moderate level of exercise. And give your body some time to catch up.18 -
I'm feeling pretty discourage atm and could use solid advice. I'm a 5'9", mid forties female with CW of 188. GW is 140-150. This summer, I lost 20 pounds eating 1200-1500 calories/day. Then, I was hit with a medical condition, where I didn't diet or exercise for about 8 weeks, but didn't regain during this time. Following a minor surgical procedure September 3rd, I fasted for three days (didn't feel like eating). I weighed in at 184. Over the next several days, I ate 500-800 calories, my weight was back up to 186. On September 7th, I started exercising again, but kept my calories low (800-1200). I know this is too low, but I was hoping to jumpstart loss again, and then increase calories to a sustainable level. For the past couple weeks, I've been exercising (hiking, step aerobics, and arms/ab work) at least one hour per day on 1200 calories. I've been conscientious about increasing TDEE. Scale kept nudging up. Yesterday, I bumped cals to 1450 (but also hiked 2.5 hours and did 40 minutes of strength training) and I woke up this morning at 188lbs . Time of the month is not a factor. I am logging correctly. I don't cheat/binge. (I'm still not feeling all that hungry). Clearly there is something wrong. My weight is going up despite exercise and a restricted diet. I'm so discouraged. It seems all the problems started after my fasting episode at the beginning of the month. I think if I were to stop exercising and just eat my predicted maintenance level of1800ish, my weight would balloon like crazy. Something is up with my metabolism. How can I fix this? I set a goal of getting to a healthy BMI by Christmas. Now, I just want to get out of the 180s.
You've listed a whole host of reasons why you might be retaining water. See also:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/dietary-restraint-and-cortisol-levels-research-review.html/
...a group of women who scored higher on dietary restraint scores showed elevated baseline cortisol levels. By itself this might not be problematic, but as often as not, these types of dieters are drawn to extreme approaches to dieting.
They throw in a lot of intense exercise, try to cut calories very hard (and this often backfires if disinhibition is high; when these folks break they break) and cortisol levels go through the roof. That often causes cortisol mediated water retention (there are other mechanisms for this, mind you, leptin actually inhibits cortisol release and as it drops on a diet, cortisol levels go up further). Weight and fat loss appear to have stopped or at least slowed significantly. This is compounded even further in female dieters due to the vagaries of their menstrual cycle where water balance is changing enormously week to week anyhow.
And invariably, this type of psychology responds to the stall by going even harder. They attempt to cut calories harder, they start doing more activity. The cycle continues and gets worse. Harder dieting means more cortisol means more water retention means more dieting. Which backfires (other problems come in the long-term with this approach but you’ll have to wait for the book to read about that).
When what they should do is take a day or two off (even one day off from training, at least in men, lets cortisol drop significantly). Raise calories, especially from carbohydrates. This helps cortisol to drop. More than that they need to find a way to freaking chill out. Meditation, yoga, get a massage... Get in the bath, candles, a little Enya, a glass of wine, have some you-time but please just chill.
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kshama2001 wrote: »I'm feeling pretty discourage atm and could use solid advice. I'm a 5'9", mid forties female with CW of 188. GW is 140-150. This summer, I lost 20 pounds eating 1200-1500 calories/day. Then, I was hit with a medical condition, where I didn't diet or exercise for about 8 weeks, but didn't regain during this time. Following a minor surgical procedure September 3rd, I fasted for three days (didn't feel like eating). I weighed in at 184. Over the next several days, I ate 500-800 calories, my weight was back up to 186. On September 7th, I started exercising again, but kept my calories low (800-1200). I know this is too low, but I was hoping to jumpstart loss again, and then increase calories to a sustainable level. For the past couple weeks, I've been exercising (hiking, step aerobics, and arms/ab work) at least one hour per day on 1200 calories. I've been conscientious about increasing TDEE. Scale kept nudging up. Yesterday, I bumped cals to 1450 (but also hiked 2.5 hours and did 40 minutes of strength training) and I woke up this morning at 188lbs . Time of the month is not a factor. I am logging correctly. I don't cheat/binge. (I'm still not feeling all that hungry). Clearly there is something wrong. My weight is going up despite exercise and a restricted diet. I'm so discouraged. It seems all the problems started after my fasting episode at the beginning of the month. I think if I were to stop exercising and just eat my predicted maintenance level of1800ish, my weight would balloon like crazy. Something is up with my metabolism. How can I fix this? I set a goal of getting to a healthy BMI by Christmas. Now, I just want to get out of the 180s.
You've listed a whole host of reasons why you might be retaining water. See also:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/dietary-restraint-and-cortisol-levels-research-review.html/
...a group of women who scored higher on dietary restraint scores showed elevated baseline cortisol levels. By itself this might not be problematic, but as often as not, these types of dieters are drawn to extreme approaches to dieting.
They throw in a lot of intense exercise, try to cut calories very hard (and this often backfires if disinhibition is high; when these folks break they break) and cortisol levels go through the roof. That often causes cortisol mediated water retention (there are other mechanisms for this, mind you, leptin actually inhibits cortisol release and as it drops on a diet, cortisol levels go up further). Weight and fat loss appear to have stopped or at least slowed significantly. This is compounded even further in female dieters due to the vagaries of their menstrual cycle where water balance is changing enormously week to week anyhow.
And invariably, this type of psychology responds to the stall by going even harder. They attempt to cut calories harder, they start doing more activity. The cycle continues and gets worse. Harder dieting means more cortisol means more water retention means more dieting. Which backfires (other problems come in the long-term with this approach but you’ll have to wait for the book to read about that).
When what they should do is take a day or two off (even one day off from training, at least in men, lets cortisol drop significantly). Raise calories, especially from carbohydrates. This helps cortisol to drop. More than that they need to find a way to freaking chill out. Meditation, yoga, get a massage... Get in the bath, candles, a little Enya, a glass of wine, have some you-time but please just chill.
This. ^^^
You really were not all that overweight to start, just about 20 pounds above the normal BMI range. I get that you don't want to be there, want to lose fast, but that's not a zone where extremely fast loss is a healthful choice. Shooting for that is a huge physical stress, and you're stacking that on top of numerous other stressors in your life (surgical recovery, even if minor; increasing exercise).
I agree with @russellholtslander1 here, that with the exercise your maintenance calories would be more like 2200 (at minimum) and likely more. At 188, losing 2 pounds a week (1000 calorie deficit) is very aggressive, and that's where you'd be at 1200, if not more extreme. Adding more exercise, more calorie restriction . . . that just makes the stress worse. Stop. Don't do that.
Your metabolism isn't damaged. If it were, you'd be hospitalized. At most, it's a little downregulated. If it is, it will perk up again if you go to a more sensible calorie level, and stay there for a while without expectations or stress. (Maintenance calories would be a good choice, and I do mean maintenance calories with whatever level of activity you're actually doing - what the post I quoted says.)
I can't speak for you, @anthem76, or what your personal attitudes or psychology are. But, as a generality, adopting extreme regimens to lose weight can signal implicit assumptions that weight gain, or being overweight, is a sin, and we need to suffer to expiate that sin. It's just not true.
The smart, sensible thing is moderate loss, excellent nutrition, a manageably challenging but enjoyable exercise routine, plus time and patience.
FWIW, I started about your weight (I was 183), but shorter (5'5") and much older (59 at the time), and lost at a good rate on 1400-1600 calories *plus* all exercise calories, so up to 1900-2000 a lot of the time. I admit, I'm mysteriously a good li'l ol' calorie burner, but there is no way in the world you should be eating 800, or even a flat 1200 with exercise in the picture. Be kinder to yourself. It'll work.
Wishing you success, and more importantly, good health.19 -
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Good thing is: your metabolism isn't broken. That's not possible. There are metabolic diseases (and I have one of them), but those are usually genetic conditions and don't simply come out of nowhere. And you still lose weight like everyone else. Other than that: What the others have said.6
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You might want to look into reverse dieting. Layne Norton has written a book on it, (The Complete Reverse Dieting Guide) but there's plenty of information available free on line. Here is a reasonable introduction to it from a RD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7DmwYkkpiESomething is up with my metabolism. How can I fix this? I set a goal of getting to a healthy BMI by Christmas. Now, I just want to get out of the 180s.
Reverse dieting is no magic panacea. It doesn't work for everyone. And when it does, it's a long process. In other words, you won't weigh 150 by Christmas, but it may help you in the long run. Best of luck to you.5 -
I just want to thank all of you who weighed in on this thread. You people are all awesome. You've given me much to contemplate. kshama2001 and AnnPT77 hit the nail on the head. While chill on the outside, a somewhat "high stress individual" lurks within. I also like physical challenges, and when I take them on, tend to lose my appetite. A couple years ago, I backpacked the 500 mile Colorado Trail, often doing 20+mile days with 5000-8000 feet of elevation change/day. Again, not eating much and putting my metabolism through the wringer.
So going forward I'm going to work on gradually getting my calories up to maintenance and ensure my net isn't regularly below 1500 (and never below 1200). So far, I've eaten 1700 today, so that's a start. I'm going to balance excellent nutrition with eating enjoyment. I'm retaining exercise (because I like it and because I enjoy feeling stronger), but take deliberate rest days and swap out some cardio for stretching routines (which I suck at). Maybe some Enya in the bathtub as well
... I've mentally prepared myself for some weight gain while my body readjusts to higher calories. If I'm honest, I realize now that the exercise also gives me a small feeling of control. I may not be able to control my weight loss, but I can work on and meet fitness goals. I think that's Ok, as long as it's in balance with everything else. I'll keep y'all posted on how it goes. 14 -
You might want to look into reverse dieting. Layne Norton has written a book on it, (The Complete Reverse Dieting Guide) but there's plenty of information available free on line. Here is a reasonable introduction to it from a RD:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7DmwYkkpiESomething is up with my metabolism. How can I fix this? I set a goal of getting to a healthy BMI by Christmas. Now, I just want to get out of the 180s.
Reverse dieting is no magic panacea. It doesn't work for everyone. And when it does, it's a long process. In other words, you won't weigh 150 by Christmas, but it may help you in the long run. Best of luck to you.
This video was helpful. Basically, my metabolism has slowed from too low of calories and I need to gradually increase them to achieve a higher rate of burn. Protein and resistance training over cardio may help as well.0 -
I just want to thank all of you who weighed in on this thread. You people are all awesome. You've given me much to contemplate. kshama2001 and AnnPT77 hit the nail on the head. While chill on the outside, a somewhat "high stress individual" lurks within. I also like physical challenges, and when I take them on, tend to lose my appetite. A couple years ago, I backpacked the 500 mile Colorado Trail, often doing 20+mile days with 5000-8000 feet of elevation change/day. Again, not eating much and putting my metabolism through the wringer.
So going forward I'm going to work on gradually getting my calories up to maintenance and ensure my net isn't regularly below 1500 (and never below 1200). So far, I've eaten 1700 today, so that's a start. I'm going to balance excellent nutrition with eating enjoyment. I'm retaining exercise (because I like it and because I enjoy feeling stronger), but take deliberate rest days and swap out some cardio for stretching routines (which I suck at). Maybe some Enya in the bathtub as well ... I've mentally prepared myself for some weight gain while my body readjusts to higher calories. If I'm honest, I realize now that the exercise also gives me a small feeling of control. I may not be able to control my weight loss, but I can work on and meet fitness goals. I think that's Ok, as long as it's in balance with everything else. I'll keep y'all posted on how it goes.
This sounds like a really good plan . . . and something I haven't much seen people take on, under similar circumstances. It makes me think well of you, TBH, that you'd do something different than your (seeming) reflexes, as a trial anyway. I hope you may be willing to report back on this thread, once in a while, let us know how it's going?
Wishing you excellent results, of course!6 -
as someone who truly DOES have a slower metabolism, i dont really think this is your issue. We are roughly the same age (I'm 43) and you have a solid 7 inches of height on me. To lose a pound a week (roughly) I have to eat around 1100 a day.
i think stress and increased cortisol due to chronic undereating, water retention due to increased and inconsistent exercise, and water retention due to increased food intake after fasting, are the likely culprits of the scale fluctuation.
And without being able to see your diary, I will always say that there is the possibility of inaccurate logging (generally not realized)1
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