Is my metabolism dead?

As a personal trainer, I can't recommend eating breakfast enough. It kick starts your metabolism for the day. Absolutely essential, your coffee in the AM is not a meal.

Holy Broscience Batman, you should spend some time researching then, because this myth was busted a long time ago by the NIH. Congrats.

I have the same problem. I stick to my calories but my weight doesn't budge. Adding extra calories ends up with me gaining. It's terribly frustrating.

As a personal trainer, I can't recommend eating breakfast enough. It kick starts your metabolism for the day. Absolutely essential, your coffee in the AM is not a meal.

Holy Broscience Batman, you should spend some time researching then, because this myth was busted a long time ago by the NIH. Congrats.

really? from the NIH website

Myth: Skipping meals is a good way to lose weight.
Fact: Studies show that people who skip breakfast and eat fewer times during the day tend to be heavier than people who eat a healthy breakfast and eat four or five times a day. This may be because people who skip meals tend to feel hungrier later on, and eat more than they normally would. It may also be that eating many small meals throughout the day helps people control their appetites.

bump

As a personal trainer, I can't recommend eating breakfast enough. It kick starts your metabolism for the day. Absolutely essential, your coffee in the AM is not a meal.

Is it me or did the brozone go up in here?

If we are trying to get her to eat regular meals and more of them then cool!
Breakfast is a good start.

However, some of us choose to sleep in and eat around 1 or 2pm to take advantage of the insulin sensitivity and nutrient uptake of our first meal...after say...a 16hour fast.


Good stuff on this page, with studies highlighted in orange.

Enjoy!
http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

Look for the meal frequency part.

Good post helloitsdan. It seems on this site that everyone makes everything so black and white. Although it is mostly calories in vs. calories out, there are a lot of other factors to take into consideration. Weight loss isn't one size fits all.

To OP, I would definitely incorporate lifting weights into your program and track your calories on this site. Eat your allotted calories each day and you should see a difference in your body. It will take awhile and you may not see the difference in the scale for awhile.

Without all the bickering...

To get your metabolism working at its full potential you need to do things to speed it up. Exercise will do it, especially weight training as it will help build your muscles. The more muscle you have the more energy (calories) your body requires to function.

Eat plenty of food. Try eating healthy fats found in nuts, cottage cheese, olive oil, peanut butter, avacados (plenty more).

Not a proven science but I always start what ever I do with a drink of water. I may get shot down now but I have found that water helps clear me out, and enables me to loose weight. Something to do with the lynphatic system I went to a seminar about. If I'm not drinking enough water then I my body is not working at loosing weight it is trying to nutralise the build up of acid in my lyphatic system.

So water
Exercise
Eat enough calories
Healthy Fats.

Also try and eat as cleanly as possible, just a general weight loss tip. If it doesn't come straight from the ground or sea its been mollested and has loads of toxic chemicals in which again your body struggles to get rid of slowing your weightloss down.

Hi. I'm new to MFP and am really discouraged and looking for any input/advice.

I'm 42 and about 4 yrs ago I lost 20 lbs (170 to 150) and have kept it off with no dieting or excercise, only fluctuating 3lbs, up or down. I decied in March to lose the next 25 that I need to be at a good weight for my height (about 5' but built thick/curvy). I did the Advocare 24 day challenge and ate perfectly while following their advised menu. I had no sugar, processed food, no eating out - nothing. I went from 153 to 150. I was so disappointed because I wast eating so healthy but saw no change, no inches, nothing.

I started back last week walking/jogging and tracking my calories (Thurs/Fri that I've logged is basically what I would eat normally). I'm seeing that I'm barely eating 1100 calories and to eat more, I'm going to have to eat on purpose for calorie sake and not because I'm hungry. I have one cup of coffee in the morning, but that's it. Other than that, it's water constantly - always. (and yes, yesterday was a really sucky day.)

I'm so discouraged. It seems no matter how good or how bad I eat, my weight literally NEVER changes...and that would be cool - if I was at my goal weight of 125.

I plan to start Jillian's 30 Day Shred tomorrow to see if I can at least shed some inches.

Any advice?

Thanks.

Hi. You do get to a point where your weight plateaus. Here is an article from about.com:

Almost everyone reaches a weight loss plateau at some point in their fitness lives. The reason is that the human body works hard to keep energy intake and output in balance. In other words, your body does not like to lose weight (not a revelation, huh?). After your initial weight loss, your progress will slow down and eventually stop even though your exercise and food intake is consistent. The bottom line is that the very efforts you make to burn more calories may eventually slow it down.
Problem 1. Lowering your calories too much
Fact: It takes calories to burn calories. When you decrease your food intake, your body simply lowers its metabolic rate in response. This still allows the body to function properly, but ultimately your body requires fewer calories which creates hunger and prevents you from losing fat.

Solution:
Keep your calories slightly below your maintenance calories so that your energy and metabolism remain high. A deficit greater than 500-700 calories makes it much more difficult to maintain your lean body mass. To determine your approximate daily caloric needs, use this formula:


Men
kg (body weight) x 24 = kcal/day
Women
kg (body weight) x 23 = kcal/day

note: kg = pounds divided by 2.2 (i.e.: 180 lbs / 2.2 = 81.8 kg)

You can also calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate to determine how many calories you need to function, and then use a calorie calculator to add in calories you burn through out the day and with exercise.

Thank you, and that's good to hear. Don't let the negativity on here get to you, some of these people are just keyboard bullies and won't listen to anything that doesn't fit into their idea of what is right. Keep trucking, keep tracking what you eat, and it will come off.

I should maybe breakdown what I mean by that ---- and thanks for getting all butt-hurt about it fellas, chill out.


My personal experience, with my clients, is that those who are the most successful find a way to get something more subtantial than coffee in the morning. Oftentimes it's some instant oatmeal, or a scrambled egg.

I try to describe "ramping up" your metabolism like building a fire. If you keep it fueled with clean foods at predictable times, the fire will burn strong and long.

Breakfast is NOT the be all, end all of nutrition. But I do find that my people are more successful with their weight losses when they are able to squeeze in something.

You're right. I used to skip breakfast, coffee was my breakfast until recently. I find if I eat something in the morning I'm not as hungry until my next meal and I can eat a small lunch afterwards.

some of these people are just keyboard bullies and won't listen to anything that doesn't fit into their idea of what is right.

The irony is too much, I can't stand it.

As a personal trainer, I can't recommend eating breakfast enough. It kick starts your metabolism for the day. Absolutely essential, your coffee in the AM is not a meal.

Quick question, Is coffee with a scoop of protein powder considered a meal? I am new to this and have been doing that for the last two months and counting it as breakfast.