rebuilding a broken metabolism

jacksonpt
jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
edited October 5 in Food and Nutrition
I assume that the principles of healthy weight loss (well rounded diet, sufficient calories/macros, appropriate exercise, plenty of sleep) also apply to someone with a broken metabolism that is trying to get healthy? Obviously things like calories and exercise are scaled to fit the situation, but the principle still holds?

My girlfriend has been netting well under 1000 calories for the better portion of the last year. She has put on weight, which causes her to exercise more, which causes the deficit to increase... You see where this is going.

I just want to make sure I'm giving her good advice.

Replies

  • kelkir
    kelkir Posts: 20
    I would also like to know how to rebuild a broken metabolism. I was eating around 1000 cals or less for about a year, just due to being so busy, and I am convinced I have wrecked my metabolism. Now that it's gotten that low, I don't know what to do. I just started carb cycling in hopes that might break a plateau but I'm not sure if it will work. What kind of advice do you give your girlfriend?
  • 2youngatheart
    2youngatheart Posts: 338 Member
    bump
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Leigh Peele has an excellent e-book called the Metabolic Repair Manual. the basic jist of it, is a full diet and exercise break for at least a month and some other things
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    http://livewell360.com/2008/09/the-metabolic-repair-manual-by-leigh-peele/

    www.fatlosstroubleshoot.com/
  • cxdyer
    cxdyer Posts: 105 Member
    I went through a similar situation, ate less than a 1,000 calories a day, did my yoga and was still gaining weight. I finally went to a wellness center to see a doctor about my hormones. I am on progesterone cream and adrenal supplements and FINALLY am losing the weight.
  • SPheonix22
    SPheonix22 Posts: 90 Member
    Eat to maintain for about a month or two and then decrease calories slowly. You shouldn't decrease any calories under 500 of what your maintenence is.
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
    I'll see if I can find the link but I think Lyle McDonald did an article about this subject that basically says you cannot permanently screw up your metabolism. All you need to do is start eating the right amount of food and/or increase activity and it will fix itself.
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    I did this last year. I had been dieting for a year with no success. What worked for me was to stop eating at a deficit (2 months), stop all strenuous exercise (I still did walks and yoga), increase my sleep by 1 hour, and take adrenal/metabolism supplements. I made a focused effort to reduce stress and just relax about my weight/health.

    When I started back on a calorie restricted diet on Jan 4, I weighed and measured and logged every bite, I ate a minimum of 1200kc a day, I used a Fitbit to measure my energy burns, and I did not allow cheat meals/days. I did give myself 1 week of eating at maintenance every 3 months to help restore my leptin levels. I lost an average of 1 pound per week the first 7 months of this 2011.
  • amycal
    amycal Posts: 646 Member
    Dr. Mark Hyman has an excellent book called UltraMetabolism. He has a website with a lot of free information too.

    I have heard repeatedly that strength training is essential to build muscle and your body burns more calories with more lean tissue than fat. Also you can eat/drink things that help - the capascin (sp?) in hot peppers has a thermogenic effect and so does green tea. I think there are few other too.

    Also it takes more energy to digest protein than carbs (so you burn more calories just digesting it). I know when I cut my carbs under 100 grams per day I lose weight easier than when I eat more carbs and sugars.

    Good luck!
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    I went through a similar situation, ate less than a 1,000 calories a day, did my yoga and was still gaining weight. I finally went to a wellness center to see a doctor about my hormones. I am on progesterone cream and adrenal supplements and FINALLY am losing the weight.

    Did you make any dietary changes too, in addition to the progesterone cream and adrenal supplements?

    .
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    http://livewell360.com/2008/09/the-metabolic-repair-manual-by-leigh-peele/

    www.fatlosstroubleshoot.com/

    Thanks, I'll give that a read tonight.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Dr. Mark Hyman has an excellent book called UltraMetabolism. He has a website with a lot of free information too.

    I have heard repeatedly that strength training is essential to build muscle and your body burns more calories with more lean tissue than fat. Also you can eat/drink things that help - the capascin (sp?) in hot peppers has a thermogenic effect and so does green tea. I think there are few other too.

    Also it takes more energy to digest protein than carbs (so you burn more calories just digesting it). I know when I cut my carbs under 100 grams per day I lose weight easier than when I eat more carbs and sugars.

    Good luck!

    Am I misunderstanding your advice, or does it not apply to my question? I'm not asking about losing weight. At least not directly.
  • LisaKyle11
    LisaKyle11 Posts: 662 Member
    I went through a similar situation, ate less than a 1,000 calories a day, did my yoga and was still gaining weight. I finally went to a wellness center to see a doctor about my hormones. I am on progesterone cream and adrenal supplements and FINALLY am losing the weight.

    did a similar thing... wasn't even realizing the full extent of my undereating.

    i am now eating quite a bit more, but still have to work on closing my deficit even more. advise your girlfriend to gradually eat more...like to up her calories a 100/200 for a few weeks. then a little more the next few weeks. she will likely want to keep working out pretty hard. the thing is i bet should would begin to lose if she backed down on her workouts. maybe advise to cut the in half. her body needs some repair and rest time i would imagine.

    the idea of gaining while eating at a large deficit has been a hard one for me to really buy into. i have experienced it though.

    best of luck.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    First thing - have her go to a doctor and find out if her metabolism is really broken.

    Then, go from there with what the doctor says.

    I ate around 1000 cal or less or the better part of a year because I didn't know any better and thought I was eating how I should. But when I got a BodyMedia Fit, my at rest caloric burn is exactly on average with all of the BMR calculators I compare it to. Since those assume an average metabolism, and I was hitting right on those numbers, it's safe to assume that my metabolism is average/functioning as well.

    From most of what I've read it takes a lot more than that to truly damage a metabolism that was healthy to start with. So get the tests done first, before you start trying to fix something that might not be broken. :)
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
    Why do you think her metabolism is "broken".

    I've never found anything that shows that a low calorie diet causes any issues, much less "breaking" someone's metabolism.

    Just by chance, I came across this:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11063433?dopt=Abstract

    It doesn't specifically deal with VLCD's, granted, but it's a data point.

    Another interesting read:
    http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35501&sc=801

    Personally, I ate 800 to 1k NCD and I can't imagine having a better weight loss experience. I lost 95 pounds in 7 months and started maintenance on July 1. I no longer take meds for BP or anything else, I ran a half-marathon in August with one coming up in December, and I'm extremely healthy, according to extensive bloodwork, two MD's, two EKG's, and a V02 uptake test.

    My diet was modeled after the diet that Lindora uses - low calorie and about 50% protein. Lindora has been around for 40+ years and has helped hundreds of thousands of people lose weight (they figure 10% loss in a 10 week program).

    If there were problems that correlate directly to that calorie level, it's impossible for people to have the outcomes that Lindora patients* achieve.


    *Folks who sign up for Lindora have bloodwork done to make sure that they're healthy enough to go on a diet. And they're addressed as a patient because there's medical info involved.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Maybe "broken" was too strong of a word... but clearly her metabolism has adjusted to such a high caloric deficit.
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
    Maybe "broken" was too strong of a word... but clearly her metabolism has adjusted to such a high caloric deficit.

    Well, the metabolism does adjust a bit and will slow some but you can just up calories and it will fix itself. She may see a temporary weight gain after upping calories. The weight gain is normally due to being in a state of glycogen deplettion from not eating enough carbs (as is normally the case on very low calorie diets) and once you up the calories (probably carbs too) her muscles will soak up more glycogen and glycogen holds a lot of water. After a few weeks it should level off.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
    Maybe "broken" was too strong of a word... but clearly her metabolism has adjusted to such a high caloric deficit.

    "My girlfriend has been netting well under 1000 calories for the better portion of the last year. She has put on weight, which causes her to exercise more, which causes the deficit to increase... You see where this is going. "

    There's something else in the equation.

    If someone is below their BMR, net cals, and they're gaining weight, they're not gaining weight because of their diet. If we run a calorie deficit, we have to lose weight over the long term. If not, our body would be creating energy from nothing.

    Since we're dealing with a female, is it possible that her period is causing her some issues or, hang on to your hat, is it possible that she's pregnant?
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    Leigh Peele has an excellent e-book called the Metabolic Repair Manual. the basic jist of it, is a full diet and exercise break for at least a month and some other things

    When Me or my wife stall in weight loss we take a break and eat at maint calories.
    also anything below 1500cals is too low.
    I suggest you check out bodybuiulding.com forum under losing fat.
    One of the best sources in my opinion.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Maybe "broken" was too strong of a word... but clearly her metabolism has adjusted to such a high caloric deficit.

    "My girlfriend has been netting well under 1000 calories for the better portion of the last year. She has put on weight, which causes her to exercise more, which causes the deficit to increase... You see where this is going. "

    There's something else in the equation.

    If someone is below their BMR, net cals, and they're gaining weight, they're not gaining weight because of their diet. If we run a calorie deficit, we have to lose weight over the long term. If not, our body would be creating energy from nothing.

    Since we're dealing with a female, is it possible that her period is causing her some issues or, hang on to your hat, is it possible that she's pregnant?

    Considering she's been gaining weight for the better portion of a year, I'm going to guess its not her period, and I think we'd know by now if she was pregnant.

    I'm sure stress is part of the equation, but period/pregnant? No.
  • i_love_vinegar
    i_love_vinegar Posts: 2,092 Member
    Maybe "broken" was too strong of a word... but clearly her metabolism has adjusted to such a high caloric deficit.

    "My girlfriend has been netting well under 1000 calories for the better portion of the last year. She has put on weight, which causes her to exercise more, which causes the deficit to increase... You see where this is going. "

    There's something else in the equation.

    If someone is below their BMR, net cals, and they're gaining weight, they're not gaining weight because of their diet. If we run a calorie deficit, we have to lose weight over the long term. If not, our body would be creating energy from nothing.

    Since we're dealing with a female, is it possible that her period is causing her some issues or, hang on to your hat, is it possible that she's pregnant?

    That is what I was thinking. ^^ Hmmm...she is gaining weight, but how much? And does it LOOK like she is gaining weight? Maybe she is working out so much, shes simply building muscle ^^
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
    I'll see if I can find the link but I think Lyle McDonald did an article about this subject that basically says you cannot permanently screw up your metabolism. All you need to do is start eating the right amount of food and/or increase activity and it will fix itself.

    Links are here:
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/permanent-metabolic-damage-qa.html
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/permanent-metabolic-damage-followup-qa.html
  • Malissas
    Malissas Posts: 64 Member
    Does she log what she eats, drinks and when she exercises?
    Is it possible she is miscounting? Just a couple of drinks can be 500 cals easy.

    I have pretty much been on 800 -1000 cals for a few of years and gained 35 pounds in this year. I thought my metabolism was broken too as I finished a duramine treatment two years ago and I thought that had killed it.
    I think my problem was that I stopped logging and started guessing which obviously wasn't right.

    My first week of logging everything and I have lost 4lbs after consistantly gaining every single week. We'll see what subsequent weeks bring but clearly my metabolism is working!
  • kappyd
    kappyd Posts: 199 Member
    I did the same thing. When I started I was eating around 1000 to 1200 calories a day. After 2 months I had gained around 6 pounds so I stopped tracking and went back to being fat thinking that was it for me. A friend talked me into trying again but eating more calories so I started at around 1440 calories a day and have dropped every week. I am now down 52 pounds since July and eating around 1350 a day. Still losing and hope to lose another 20 pounds or so before I am done. I have seen on here several times were people say that going into starvation mode is not possible unless you were just eating 200 to 300 calories a day, but for me they were way wrong, and yes I ate healthy both times. So after all that maybe she needs to eat more to lose the weight.
  • timothycarey7549
    timothycarey7549 Posts: 7 Member
    Sorry to revive an old thread, but this interesting article talks about "broken" metabolisms (not the best news, but the brain's "plasticity" is encouraging)

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2013/09/04/the-6-weight-loss-tips-that-science-actually-knows-work/
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