The Metabolic Slowdown Thread

[aaron2686]

I just wanted to thank the folks in this thread who corroborated my suspicion that my metabolism had slowed. When I first posted in here, a few months ago, I was eating 1600 kcal/day and not losing any weight. Now, I'm eating about 2500 kcal/day and I haven't gained any weight. Thanks, guys.

[coughs]

I just wanted to thank the folks in this thread who corroborated my suspicion that my metabolism had slowed. When I first posted in here, a few months ago, I was eating 1600 kcal/day and not losing any weight. Now, I'm eating about 2500 kcal/day and I haven't gained any weight. Thanks, guys.

Could you please explain how you resolved your issue mate? Where are you going from here?

[aaron2686]

Could you please explain how you resolved your issue mate? Where are you going from here?

When it became clear to me that my metabolism had stalled, while cutting, I started adding 100 kcal/day/week. After several weeks of that steady increase, I'm now eating almost 1000kcal more per day with almost no weight gain (looking back at old weigh-ins, I realized I'd gained about three to four pounds). My protein and fats were only adjusted slightly and carbs made the bulk of the caloric increase.

From here, I plan on slowly bulking for a few months, possibly well into summer, before slowly cutting.

[lee__d]

I just wanted to thank the folks in this thread who corroborated my suspicion that my metabolism had slowed. When I first posted in here, a few months ago, I was eating 1600 kcal/day and not losing any weight. Now, I'm eating about 2500 kcal/day and I haven't gained any weight. Thanks, guys.

When it became clear to me that my metabolism had stalled, while cutting, I started adding 100 kcal/day/week. After several weeks of that steady increase, I'm now eating almost 1000kcal more per day with almost no weight gain (looking back at old weigh-ins, I realized I'd gained about three to four pounds). My protein and fats were only adjusted slightly and carbs made the bulk of the caloric increase.

From here, I plan on slowly bulking for a few months, possibly well into summer, before slowly cutting.

Good to hear, glad reverse dieting worked for you.

[Wakaaa]

Question: if I'm cutting at 2,200, 5'10 - 5'11 216ish pounds and 18- 20% bf (may be lower cals and bf%), I don't count macros as strictly but I fit pb for fats, butter, and I eat lots of sandwiches. So would I still have to do a carb up day? Considering I eat lots of white bread. I try hitting around 200g protein 90g fat and the rest in carbs, but then like I said I aim for protein the most.

[lee__d]

Question: if I'm cutting at 2,200, 5'10 - 5'11 216ish pounds and 18- 20% bf (may be lower cals and bf%), I don't count macros as strictly but I fit pb for fats, butter, and I eat lots of sandwiches. So would I still have to do a carb up day? Considering I eat lots of white bread. I try hitting around 200g protein 90g fat and the rest in carbs, but then like I said I aim for protein the most.

1. Get an accurate view on your macros
2. Calories may be low.
3. Your given macros leave room for almost 150g cho. To me that is low enough to warrant a refeed
4. I play refeeds by ear, i.e. I don't have a scientific way of determining how many grams of cho to consume. Eric Helms has said in a video it should be near your off season carb amount (which is not relevant to alot of people I know). Personally, I would recommend you to lower fat, lower protein a tad, at least double the cho. I can see you going anywhere from 2500 calories or more for your refeed. Again, you have to experiment.

[Juicehead88]

Possible metabolic slowdown?

Current Stats

198 lb
5'11"
16% BF
36yrs old

Exercise
JasonDB 5x5 workout MWF
Mountainbiking other 3 days for 2 hrs hardcore no stopping

I am pretty religious about counting calories and am at about 2000cal/day

170-190 grams protein, rest filled with mostly carbs.

Upon starting the workout, pants actually got tighter in butt/leg area, but not waist.

I have been on this diet for three weeks with no weightloss, any ideas?

Just a side note, I did a PSMF diet about 18 months ago where I was only intaking 800cal/day

I am tempted to go get a metabolic panel done.

[Retoaded]

Possible metabolic slowdown?

Current Stats

198 lb
5'11"
16% BF
36yrs old

Exercise
JasonDB 5x5 workout MWF
Mountainbiking other 3 days for 2 hrs hardcore no stopping

I am pretty religious about counting calories and am at about 2000cal/day

170-190 grams protein, rest filled with mostly carbs.

Upon starting the workout, pants actually got tighter in butt/leg area, but not waist.

I have been on this diet for three weeks with no weightloss, any ideas?

Just a side note, I did a PSMF diet about 18 months ago where I was only intaking 800cal/day

I am tempted to go get a metabolic panel done.

personally I'd hold steady for 2 more weeks. I don't ever make a judgement call with less than 5 weeks of data...also if you just started the diet its doubtful your maintenance has slowed that much. I was dieting for like 13-14 months before I "stalled" at 2,000cal...and even then I was losing 3 pounds every 4 weeks.

[lynchseb]

Stay the course?

Current states
5'11
215 lbs at about 18% BF so roughly 176 LBM.

Macro is 2026 calories/day with a 17/50/33 split between fat, carbs and protein or 37g fat, 254g carbs, 169g protein. (give or take I'm using an app on my iphone to keep track)

Feb 1st is about when I started this and I had a significant cheat meal on the 18th of February. When I weighed in after coming back from home to school I was 223 lbs and not sure what BF%.

So between January 7th to March 1st I am from 223 down to 215, which is not significant but really my january was not spent at the gym and even less time spent monitoring in the kitchen so 223 to 215 really came in the month of February.

My plan was to keep this diet and routine (3x per week on core training (some weeks cause of school I only make it 1-2 times, but will correct) with 5-6 15 minute skipping rope sessions a week in morning pre breakfast and 2 60 minute ice hockey games (right wing). My core training was to last 6 weeks (I have back problems and core training really helps) and then I'm switching to more substantial strength training again at 3-4 times per week I think.

My end goal is to reach 195lb at 10% BF by July 15th. Any thoughts?

[saw7988]

Curious about a hypothetical situation here (although it does relate somewhat to myself) ...

Let's say someone with a maintenance of about 2500 tries cutting at a large deficit for a while, let's say 1600 for now, and they also have a slowed metabolism, maybe their maintenance is only like 2000-2100 now or whatever. Theoretically, from what I learned from this thread, he'd be able to add 100 cals/day/week and slowly bring his intake & maintenance back up to 2500. Great.

Now what if he jumped straight to 2000 cals/day and stayed there for like a month. Would his maintenance go up at all? Would he lose fat? Or alternatively would his metabolism still be damaged and he'd be sitting at maintenance calories? The implication here would be that the mechanism of metabolism repair is the act of the slow increase in daily intake.

[lee__d]

Stay the course?

Current states
5'11
215 lbs at about 18% BF so roughly 176 LBM.

Macro is 2026 calories/day with a 17/50/33 split between fat, carbs and protein or 37g fat, 254g carbs, 169g protein. (give or take I'm using an app on my iphone to keep track)

Feb 1st is about when I started this and I had a significant cheat meal on the 18th of February. When I weighed in after coming back from home to school I was 223 lbs and not sure what BF%.

So between January 7th to March 1st I am from 223 down to 215, which is not significant but really my january was not spent at the gym and even less time spent monitoring in the kitchen so 223 to 215 really came in the month of February.

My plan was to keep this diet and routine (3x per week on core training (some weeks cause of school I only make it 1-2 times, but will correct) with 5-6 15 minute skipping rope sessions a week in morning pre breakfast and 2 60 minute ice hockey games (right wing). My core training was to last 6 weeks (I have back problems and core training really helps) and then I'm switching to more substantial strength training again at 3-4 times per week I think.

My end goal is to reach 195lb at 10% BF by July 15th. Any thoughts?

Well, I don't really see an issue. You've lost 8lb with inaccurate counting. Get accurate, and see how much you're eating. I think you can lose at a higher amount than 2000.

Curious about a hypothetical situation here (although it does relate somewhat to myself) ...

Let's say someone with a maintenance of about 2500 tries cutting at a large deficit for a while, let's say 1600 for now, and they also have a slowed metabolism, maybe their maintenance is only like 2000-2100 now or whatever. Theoretically, from what I learned from this thread, he'd be able to add 100 cals/day/week and slowly bring his intake & maintenance back up to 2500. Great.

Now what if he jumped straight to 2000 cals/day and stayed there for like a month. Would his maintenance go up at all? Would he lose fat? Or alternatively would his metabolism still be damaged and he'd be sitting at maintenance calories? The implication here would be that the mechanism of metabolism repair is the act of the slow increase in daily intake.

It would still get repaired, but making a big jump will lead to more fat gain (until maintenance gets back to normal) if there is in fact a depressed metabolism.

[saw7988]

In my example though he's never going over maintenance at any point in time, either at 1600 or at 2000 calories.

[lee__d]

In my example though he's never going over maintenance at any point in time, either at 1600 or at 2000 calories.

The things is, you really don't know what the maintenance of a depressed metabolism is. Thus the recommendation of the conservative approach. Theoretically, if he stayed under (even the slowed) maintenance, then no there shouldn't be fat gain.

Usually these cases are extreme (like we see with contest preppers), with the body adjusting to the low intake.

[saw7988]

Ok I think I follow you. The reason I brought it up is because I was cutting at 1600 calories for a while (although not really, weekends are always 2400-2800, averaging my weeks to ~1 lb loss/week). Then weight loss slowed dramatically. I happened to injure my shoulder while slipping on ice, preventing me from going to the gym. So it was recommended I get on maintenance ASAP to heal quicker and prevent muscle loss. So I bumped those weekdays up to 2000-2200 (maint should be like 2400-2500). So I was wondering if maybe I was killing 2 birds w/ 1 stone by also helping to fix my metabolism. Seems like this is the case.

[Grendizer]

Updating: I currently am eating 2100 and I should increase 100 by tommorow (wednesday), but I think im losing at this rate, so if im losing why increase? unless I plateau again then I will keep increasing and monitor progress, im gaining huge strength gains, Right now i have a headache and muscleache, call that whatever you call, but i feel like my muscles are so full and want to kill the weights, my squat is now 130KG x 5 reps, I could increase it to 140KG today, but will go on slowly (135~), same for all other muscles, pump is much bigger, and vascularity is better.. I will see what happens to my weight next friday so curious, and still sticking to 2100..

[anatomie88]

I've been reverse dieting. Before I was only eating 1000 and now over a few weeks I'm at 1600 (I'm female).. i gained 2-3lbs with the increase but i don't think any fat and I seem to be looking the same. Wondering if I will gain anymore lbs or lose. I'm hoping to lose about 5-7lbs eventually. not sure how high in cals I need to go before I can do that. I'm pretty sedentary apart from lifting weights. no cardio for now

[ccerrito1]

So I have been dieting and exercising for 8 weeks and have lost 4 lbs total. I count calories and they are accurate. Everything I eat is weighed etc. I train 3 days per week. MWF. Monday is Chest/Tris Wednesday is Back/Bis and Friday is Shoulders/Legs. All lifting sessions are followed by cardio either steady state or HIIT. Steady state is 60 mins at about 7-8mph on eliptical. HIIT is 30-35 mins with 30 sprints every 4 mins. I have dropped my cals down to 1600 per day with 55 grams of carbs, 220 grams protein, and 45 grams fat. I have completely stalled and cannot drop fat at all. I am 32 year old male. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[lee__d]

Updating: I currently am eating 2100 and I should increase 100 by tommorow (wednesday), but I think im losing at this rate, so if im losing why increase? unless I plateau again then I will keep increasing and monitor progress, im gaining huge strength gains, Right now i have a headache and muscleache, call that whatever you call, but i feel like my muscles are so full and want to kill the weights, my squat is now 130KG x 5 reps, I could increase it to 140KG today, but will go on slowly (135~), same for all other muscles, pump is much bigger, and vascularity is better.. I will see what happens to my weight next friday so curious, and still sticking to 2100..

Well, I'd rather see you fully reverse diet out of a cut to fully repair yourself. But if you're losing again and are happy...

I've been reverse dieting. Before I was only eating 1000 and now over a few weeks I'm at 1600 (I'm female).. i gained 2-3lbs with the increase but i don't think any fat and I seem to be looking the same. Wondering if I will gain anymore lbs or lose. I'm hoping to lose about 5-7lbs eventually. not sure how high in cals I need to go before I can do that. I'm pretty sedentary apart from lifting weights. no cardio for now

Well, since your regular maintenance is probably lowered, I would eat up to you're bmr (use an online calculator) to begin with, then continually add in calories slowly to an estimated maintenance

So I have been dieting and exercising for 8 weeks and have lost 4 lbs total. I count calories and they are accurate. Everything I eat is weighed etc. I train 3 days per week. MWF. Monday is Chest/Tris Wednesday is Back/Bis and Friday is Shoulders/Legs. All lifting sessions are followed by cardio either steady state or HIIT. Steady state is 60 mins at about 7-8mph on eliptical. HIIT is 30-35 mins with 30 sprints every 4 mins. I have dropped my cals down to 1600 per day with 55 grams of carbs, 220 grams protein, and 45 grams fat. I have completely stalled and cannot drop fat at all. I am 32 year old male. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Well the cardio is definitely excessive.

Age, weight, height?


Make sure you're being accurate because 1600 is crazy low, even without knowing your stats.

[anatomie88]

My BMR is ~1350 . 1600 is about 13x my body weight.

[Grendizer]

Well, I'd rather see you fully reverse diet out of a cut to fully repair yourself. But if you're losing again and are happy...



Well, since your regular maintenance is probably lowered, I would eat up to you're bmr (use an online calculator) to begin with, then continually add in calories slowly to an estimated maintenance



Well the cardio is definitely excessive.

Age, weight, height?


Make sure you're being accurate because 1600 is crazy low, even without knowing your stats.

I will probably keep on reverse dieting, will update next friday about what im going to do.. =)

[lee__d]

My BMR is ~1350 . 1600 is about 13x my body weight.

I'll assume your female. Since you're ~123lb If you're not short, I would rethink cutting, and repair your metabolism with a long-ish reverse diet. And even think about sloooow bulking, or at least staying at maintenance while lifting heavy

[ccerrito1]

Well, I'd rather see you fully reverse diet out of a cut to fully repair yourself. But if you're losing again and are happy...



Well, since your regular maintenance is probably lowered, I would eat up to you're bmr (use an online calculator) to begin with, then continually add in calories slowly to an estimated maintenance



Well the cardio is definitely excessive.

Age, weight, height?


Make sure you're being accurate because 1600 is crazy low, even without knowing your stats.

Hey I'm 32 y/o male 5'8" 188lbs @ approx 16% BF. The cals are slightly higher on training days by about 150 cals

[anatomie88]

I'm 5'6. I want to get leaner but maintain my muscle then possibly slow bulk.
Would calorie cycling be a good option after reverse diet? Having lower and higher days?

[lee__d]

So I have been dieting and exercising for 8 weeks and have lost 4 lbs total. I count calories and they are accurate. Everything I eat is weighed etc. I train 3 days per week. MWF. Monday is Chest/Tris Wednesday is Back/Bis and Friday is Shoulders/Legs. All lifting sessions are followed by cardio either steady state or HIIT. Steady state is 60 mins at about 7-8mph on eliptical. HIIT is 30-35 mins with 30 sprints every 4 mins. I have dropped my cals down to 1600 per day with 55 grams of carbs, 220 grams protein, and 45 grams fat. I have completely stalled and cannot drop fat at all. I am 32 year old male. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hey I'm 32 y/o male 5'8" 188lbs @ approx 16% BF. The cals are slightly higher on training days by about 150 cals

While you may or may not have slowed your metabolism in two months, there is absolutely no reason for you to start (well 8 weeks in) a diet so low (ESPECIALLY with all the cardio).

[ccerrito1]

While you may or may not have slowed your metabolism in two months, there is absolutely no reason for you to start (well 8 weeks in) a diet so low (ESPECIALLY with all the cardio).

I originally started closer to 1900 cals and have come down due to lack of results. What would you suggest I do at this point?

[lee__d]

I originally started closer to 1900 cals and have come down due to lack of results. What would you suggest I do at this point?

If you're truly eating 1600 calories I really think you should reverse diet to a normal amount. Your BMR should be almost 1900 calories http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ There's no reason to cut below it. Starting a cut so low will leave you with no where to go (like now) when you stall.

I would cut down on the cardio by a lot, and reverse diet as discussed ITT, and reintroduce a modest deficit.

[creepa200]

Think this method would work for me? I'm 5' 6" 156 pounds and been stuck between 150-160 for over a year now. I cut on 2000-2100 for a year and went from 240/250-160 and then weight loss stopped. So then I dropped my cals to 1600 and that worked down to the 150lbs. Then weight loss stopped and has been stagnent since then. I legit have tried refeed weeks and some up to 2 weeks. Gone 2000-2500 during them with no luck at all.

I'm still eating the 1600 in hopes of some day it will work but it's really not. As a former extreme fatty upping my calories makes me nervous. I have to force myself to eat more sometimes. Like those 1-2 weeks of refeeds I'm on edge just thinking I'll get fatter.

I'm on my second run through of the Kris Gethin 12 week program. I did it back to back and I'm on week 5 now. Before this program I was just doing a program I made up with all the excersises that had the highest rating on bodyspace.

I weigh myself and write it down everyday. I legit can look at last years calendar in January and see 155lbs. So for over a year now I've been in this diet funk. 2 years of dieting hurt me?

I went to the doctor just yesterday and had blood work done. Everything seemed normal and thyroid function was in range. That was the main reason I even went to the doc. I thought for sure I burnt my thyroid out lol

Shoot I ate 2 boxes of girl scout cookies in 1 day last week and my weight didn't even budge. That was a 3500 calorie day. Haven't had one of them in years now.

What would you recommend for me? Cause honestly I feel refeeds don't help me at all. If I try this what calorie intake would you suggest?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[lee__d]

Think this method would work for me? I'm 5' 6" 156 pounds and been stuck between 150-160 for over a year now. I cut on 2000-2100 for a year and went from 240/250-160 and then weight loss stopped. So then I dropped my cals to 1600 and that worked down to the 150lbs. Then weight loss stopped and has been stagnent since then. I legit have tried refeed weeks and some up to 2 weeks. Gone 2000-2500 during them with no luck at all.

I'm still eating the 1600 in hopes of some day it will work but it's really not. As a former extreme fatty upping my calories makes me nervous. I have to force myself to eat more sometimes. Like those 1-2 weeks of refeeds I'm on edge just thinking I'll get fatter.

I'm on my second run through of the Kris Gethin 12 week program. I did it back to back and I'm on week 5 now. Before this program I was just doing a program I made up with all the excersises that had the highest rating on bodyspace.

I weigh myself and write it down everyday. I legit can look at last years calendar in January and see 155lbs. So for over a year now I've been in this diet funk. 2 years of dieting hurt me?

I went to the doctor just yesterday and had blood work done. Everything seemed normal and thyroid function was in range. That was the main reason I even went to the doc. I thought for sure I burnt my thyroid out lol

Shoot I ate 2 boxes of girl scout cookies in 1 day last week and my weight didn't even budge. That was a 3500 calorie day. Haven't had one of them in years now.

What would you recommend for me? Cause honestly I feel refeeds don't help me at all. If I try this what calorie intake would you suggest?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Like I tell everyone, be sure of accuracy.

You're going to want to reverse diet and stay out of a deficit for a little bit imo. Slightly above maintenance, lift heavy, get things 'back to normal'.

[Retoaded]

Just wanted to update everyone.

I was about 180/181 this morning (its a dial type scale, not digital)...so a little over 3 weeks since coming off the reverse diet and I am way below 184/185 which is where I started. At the end of the reverse diet I was around 187...so certainly some was water weight, but without a doubt I am losing fat again much easier than I was before. TDEE is now tracking at 2800-2900, where it was 2400 or so before, although I think at the end it was actually less because the 2,400 was a running average of about 8-10 weeks...I bet if I only averaged last 4 weeks it would have been 2,300 or worse. I have some thoughts that the weight loss will slow down some because initial couple weeks had a pound of water or two, but TDEE will still probably settle in at 2700 or a little more for a while...which was exactly the goal I was going for.

so...it worked...it works...its easy. I have not had a 3 week period like this since I was 200+ pounds. I'd also add I am not feeling worn down about the cut anymore, I am re-energized and ready to finish it after having several weeks eating at a higher calorie range.

Summary of what I did so you don't have to search through the thread:

Had been cutting for 14 months or so from 270 pounds (fatass yes), slowed down in the 190s, got very slow from 190-185, TDEE dropped down to around 2400, maybe less at the end because it was a running average...which was getting me less than a pound a week at 2,000/day. I was getting about 0.6 pounds/week at 2,000/day, which is not acceptable.

Started reverse diet that went something like this:

Week 1: 2,200
Week 2: 2,350
Week 3: 2,500
Week 4: 2,650
Week 5: 2,700 (and some change)
Week 6: 2,700 (and some change)

Next week back to 2,300 then on down to 1,900-2,000ish again.

For these first 3 weeks TDEE has been 2,850, but I think will settle to 2,700 due to some water weight coming back off.

[lee__d]

Just wanted to update everyone.

I was about 180/181 this morning (its a dial type scale, not digital)...so a little over 3 weeks since coming off the reverse diet and I am way below 184/185 which is where I started. At the end of the reverse diet I was around 187...so certainly some was water weight, but without a doubt I am losing fat again much easier than I was before. TDEE is now tracking at 2800-2900, where it was 2400 or so before, although I think at the end it was actually less because the 2,400 was a running average of about 8-10 weeks...I bet if I only averaged last 4 weeks it would have been 2,300 or worse. I have some thoughts that the weight loss will slow down some because initial couple weeks had a pound of water or two, but TDEE will still probably settle in at 2700 or a little more for a while...which was exactly the goal I was going for.

so...it worked...it works...its easy. I have not had a 3 week period like this since I was 200+ pounds. I'd also add I am not feeling worn down about the cut anymore, I am re-energized and ready to finish it after having several weeks eating at a higher calorie range.

Summary of what I did so you don't have to search through the thread:

Had been cutting for 14 months or so from 270 pounds (fatass yes), slowed down in the 190s, got very slow from 190-185, TDEE dropped down to around 2400, maybe less at the end because it was a running average...which was getting me less than a pound a week at 2,000/day. I was getting about 0.6 pounds/week at 2,000/day, which is not acceptable.

Started reverse diet that went something like this:

Week 1: 2,200
Week 2: 2,350
Week 3: 2,500
Week 4: 2,650
Week 5: 2,700 (and some change)
Week 6: 2,700 (and some change)

Next week back to 2,300 then on down to 1,900-2,000ish again.

For these first 3 weeks TDEE has been 2,850, but I think will settle to 2,700 due to some water weight coming back off.

Awesome, bro.

Perhaps moving forward try to incorporate refeed days. Maybe once weekly. bring your calorie total up to that 2700, low fat, low-mod pro, hiiiiigh carbs. Perhaps the refeeds will allow you to diet longer/more easily without the need to reverse diet for a while.