slowed metabolism on low/extremely low cals?

[lionelxxl]

I've been hearing 'your metabolism will slow to a crawl' and things like 'metabolism would be shot' if you diet on too extreme cal deficits. What i'd like to know is what contributes to a 'slowed metabolism' IN YOUR OPINION? Decreased sweating? Less appetite? Less hunger?

Would love to hear competitors comments on this and how low is too low and how low did you go during your prep.

[Cytrainer913]

Lionel,
Your body basically figues out what you are doing and when there are not enough cals, the body will try and figure out ways to SURVIVE, and with such low cal days, the body will survive as long as it can by making things come to slower pace, especially your metabolism, this way the body will not just wither away. So by adding in refeeds it makes the body think that you are feeding it more foods, thus increasing the metabolic rate and continuing to lose bodyfat. Have to make sure it is not falling off too fast, it should be slower process if more than 2 lbs per week is coming off.

[lionelxxl]

Originally Posted by Cytrainer913

Lionel,
Your body basically figues out what you are doing and when there are not enough cals, the body will try and figure out ways to SURVIVE, and with such low cal days, the body will survive as long as it can by making things come to slower pace, especially your metabolism, this way the body will not just wither away. So by adding in refeeds it makes the body think that you are feeding it more foods, thus increasing the metabolic rate and continuing to lose bodyfat. Have to make sure it is not falling off too fast, it should be slower process if more than 2 lbs per week is coming off.

Like what kinda 'symptoms' would you get when your metabolism is slowed?

Slowed fat loss? Lethargy? Decrease in strength/performance in the gym?

Also craig, how low is too low and how low have you gone? As i diet, i feel one should pay more attention the his/her lean muscle mass (bodyweight-bf%) and calculate cals from there rather than total bodyweight right off the bat.

I find this especially true for people 15% and above.. maybe even 2-3% below that.