What is happening to my metabolism?

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BlooQKazoo
BlooQKazoo Posts: 56
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay, here's the deal: I started out my weight loss journey at 270 pounds, and I'm currently 192. Until about 210 pounds, I was losing about 3 pounds a week.

After I hit 210, the weight didn't come off as easily. I sort of freaked out (despite what I thought I knew about nutrition and all) and started eating less and exercising more so that I was getting under 500 cals a day total, sometimes even getting negative calories. This carried on for about two months or so, and I realized that, at about 192, the weight stopped coming off.

I read around some topics on here, and though I had convinced myself that starvation mode didn't exist, I'm afraid that that's exactly what may have happened to my body, so I'm trying to up my calories to 1200 a day while still burning however many calories I want to in the gym. However, I weighed myself today (after not having budged a half a pound for the entirety of the last week), and I actually gained over two pounds. Just today. (I did, however, pay attention to drinking lots of water - could that be it?)

Am I crazy? Is my metabolism ruined? Will I gain those 75+ pounds back? Should I eat back my exercise calories? If I do, what's the point of working out (I read several articles saying that muscle doesn't burn that many calories...)? What am I to do?

Replies

  • Anayalata
    Anayalata Posts: 391 Member
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    From what I've read about starvation mode...

    Your metabolism has basically gone into "hoard everything" mode since you've basically starved yourself. You're going to have to eat a healthy amount of calories (as in your BMR + exercise calories) and you WILL gain weight until your metabolism stabilizes itself again so that you can begin losing weight healthily.

    I read a similar story where a girl would only eat 800 calories a day and not lose any weight. A nutritionist put her on a 1800 calorie/day diet and she had to gain 10 pounds before she was able to start losing weight.

    If you keep heading down this path you'll end up in the hospital due to malnutrition most likely.
  • EroseT23
    EroseT23 Posts: 74 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing
  • luvmybaby333
    luvmybaby333 Posts: 241
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    The point of eating back your calories is to prevent what you're experiencing right now. Exercising beyond what you've accounted for in your activity level on here can leave you with a calorie deficit that is too large. For a while this may not matter. But eventually your metabolism is going to adjust to that extreme lack of fuel. It will slow down and do what it can to preserve the fat you have left on your body. It's still about calories in and calories out. The problem is that your body is smarter than you think. It wants to survive, and if it thinks that it's survival is being threatened by lack of nutrition, then it will take measures to counteract that. At which point, you can still be taking in a small amount of food, but your body has slowed it's calorie burning potential down so much that it can be hard to find the right calorie deficit, since your body isn't burning calories at nearly the rate it should be for your activity level and size.

    Your metabolism is not ruined. But clearly something's got to give. You can't continue to drop your calorie intake down to match your dwindling metabolism. So you need to do what you can to build it back up. Eat a proper amount of calories for your size and goals. Eat your exercise calories back if they haven't been included in your activity level on here. Try to understand that your body needs fuel. Eating too few calories is not doing you any favors in the weight-loss department. Exercise to be fit, not to lose weight. Let a modest calorie deficit do that for you. Also, understand that it may take a few weeks to get things moving in the right direction again. Don't get discouraged.
  • rutkowsm
    rutkowsm Posts: 43 Member
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    Not to worry, your metabolism isn't ruined, but I do think you would benefit from eating more. Try to find out your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and your BMR. I've found that the Military Body Fat Calculator on fat2fit radio website is a great tool for this (take your body fat percentage to the BMR calculator on the website to see what your TDEE and BMR are). I know it sounds counter productive to eat more, but it can be good to give your metabolism a boost!

    I don't fully understand the science of it, and I'm sure there are others that could explain it better than I can, but my understanding is this: Your BMR is the number of calories you would burn in a day if you were in a coma. It is the bare minimum to maintain the healthy functioning of your body. Your TDEE is what you burn in a day that you're NOT in a coma. Chronically eating below your BMR can (as I understand it) cause your body to eliminate muscle (in addition to some fat, I'm sure) in order to lower your BMR (as more muscle=higher BMR) and therefore maintain the healthy functioning of your body on a lower caloric intake.

    Like I said, you're metabolism isn't ruined. Your body is more adaptive than you give it credit for. Try eating more for two or three weeks and just see what happens. Worst case scenario: you won't lose weight. And if you're already not losing weight it might be worth a try!

    And don't worry about those two pounds! It's physically impossible to gain fat in a caloric deficit. It IS water weight.
  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
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    No you wont gain all your weight back, but the likelihood is that a prolonged period of eating significantly below your body's basic caloric requirements has slowed your metabolism to some degree.

    You can and will still lose weight, but it is important to be patient. From what I understand it is a sensible approach to slowly and steadily increase your caloric intake to the level it should be (eg as prescribed by MFP). During this time you are very likely to gain some weight, but once you are eating at a proper level again you will function better and the weight will again start to come off.

    :flowerforyou:
  • knrob
    knrob Posts: 65
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    Luvmybaby, said it best, exercise to be fit, not to lose weight! You are doing an AWESOME job of working out, and making better choices with food! You are actually getting small enough, that you may NOT continue to lose 3 lbs a week, regardless of what you do. Time to change mind sets, and feel good about where this journey has taken you. Sometimes a plateau can give your body time to adjust to all of the changes!


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