Permanently Slow Your Metabolism

[InfinityBeyond]

Is it possible to permanently slow your metabolism due to long periods of ridiculous dieting, or is this solely an excuse that fat people use for not being able to lose weight?

[Trillios]

From my experience it definitely is possible to slow down metabolism but it isn't permanent. I went through this before when consuming too little calories and too much activity for a prolonged period of time. Best medicine is to slowly eat more over time and not diet strictly for a long time.

[SuffolkPunch]

Muscle loss can do this

Dieting to very low BF% can also do this because the metabolic hormone leptin is mostly produced by your fat stores.

[InfinityBeyond]

Muscle loss can do this

Dieting to very low BF% can also do this because the metabolic hormone leptin is mostly produced by your fat stores.

I was more specifically talking about the slow down of a metabolism due to under-eating drastically for a long period of time. Thanks though.

[SuffolkPunch]

I was more specifically talking about the slow down of a metabolism due to under-eating drastically for a long period of time. Thanks though.

That could cause you to lose lean mass not so?

Leptin does drop due to an acute calorie shortage but will not be permanently decreased - a few days with plenty of carbs should do it.

[BXR99]

Leptin does drop due to an acute calorie shortage but will not be permanently decreased - a few days with plenty of carbs should do it.

really only would slow down for a few days thats all?

[Holly2710]

Im in the same boat...after I dieted for my show, it seems as though my metabolism just isnt where it should be. I've been supplementing with caffiene too long, restricting cals and over doing cardio, not to mention the full out binge cheat meals! how would one restore their metabolism due to adrenal fatigue? To be honest I have been all over the map with my diet, low carbs, no carbs and carbs. How long and what would a person need to do to repair this? Thx guys

[juliacheh]

Im in the same boat...after I dieted for my show, it seems as though my metabolism just isnt where it should be. I've been supplementing with caffiene too long, restricting cals and over doing cardio, not to mention the full out binge cheat meals! how would one restore their metabolism due to adrenal fatigue? To be honest I have been all over the map with my diet, low carbs, no carbs and carbs. How long and what would a person need to do to repair this? Thx guys

But competing was worth all of this, right? LOL

Start adding calories back slowly, deal with the bloating, consistent macros, do not do stupid diets anymore (low carb, low fat) gain muscle mass (at least one year on a solid routine + eating in a slight surplus). BTW adrenal fatigue is broscience.

[InfinityBeyond]

But competing was worth all of this, right? LOL

Start adding calories back slowly, deal with the bloating, consistent macros, do not do stupid diets anymore (low carb, low fat) gain muscle mass (at least one year on a solid routine + eating in a slight surplus). BTW adrenal fatigue is broscience.

So you can't permanently slow your metabolism?
I was more asking because my Mum keeps telling me that she ruined her metabolism for life. I was wondering if that was true.

[sawoobley]

So you can't permanently slow your metabolism?
I was more asking because my Mum keeps telling me that she ruined her metabolism for life. I was wondering if that was true.

I've read quite a few stories on the hypothyroid forums where people have severely under eaten for 10-30 years and got their metabolism to return to "normal". It took up to one year but they did it. Only anecdotal evidence though.

[2canman]

i wish i could permanently speed up my metabolism. brb eating everything in sight and not gaining weight.

[misterguyx]

Metabolism isn't so much a "thing", rather it's a term we use to describe the sum total of the body processes. Thinking of it like a thing makes it easier to assign blame or assuage guilt, but it flat out isn't. Nothing "slows your metabolism" or "speeds your metabolism", with the topic of hormonal disorders being somewhat seperate. You can accelerate or decelerate processes in the body that burn and create energy, but the process of being "alive" is your metabolism. Thyroid disorders are something else entirely, and should be checked if symptoms arise.

Put more concretely, saying you're increasing or decreasing your metabolism is somewhat misleading for these purposes, because yes, you can slow the processes of digestion and protein synthesis and all that, but it generally recovers almost immediately when you supply sufficient food and is more a product of the lack of the correct chemical catalysts from your nutrition. What most people ACTUALLY mean when they talk about metabolism is how much energy your body burns at rest, and that's what thermogenics and stimulants are trying to modify. They make you "increase your metabolism" by raising your resting heart rate, constricting blood vessels so your heart has to work harder, increasing your body temperature, breathing, etc, etc.

It's all a big balance. How much you eat affects how easily you can be active affects how much energy you burn resting. Undereating will cause lethargy, which has the TEMPORARY effect of slowing metabolism MOSTLY by demotivating YOU, not your body. You slow your overall metabolic processes by undereating and sitting around. Recovering from this state takes effort, because you need to balance the food increases with activity increases (ie "clean" bulk), and the worse off you are, the harder it'll be, both in terms of pain, time to recovery from injury. You can have excessively atrophied muscles, particularly supporting muscles, that make you prone to injury when you start training and difficult to maintain correct form.

Still entirely fixable.

[musikguy72]

There are articles written by doctors (I found several on the Mayo Clinics website) that talk about how metabolism is usually steady through out ones life. Diet and exercise are more the culprits for obesity and inability to lose weight.
One article mentions that you can, over time, affect your metabolism but once normal eating habits resurface, your regular metabolism will stabilize at around 3 months.

People who actually have seen their metabolism permanently change may suffer from a condition such as Cushings syndrome. Only a doctor could tell you for sure.

I can't post links yet but google metabolism Mayo Clinic and you can read several articles on the subject.

[adean1989]

People are forgetting just how imprecise medicine may be. Do the majority of people recover from a decrease in metabolic rate caused by a chronic and aggressive caloric deficit? Possibly. Is it that plausible that some may develop further complications/conditions, which can result in a permanent reduction in metabolic rate? Yes. No one however can unequivocally state their metabolism has been permanently damaged without the diagnosis of a qualified physician.

Simple example: insulin resistance and type II diabetes is frequently characterised with obese/sedentary populations. Chronic insulin resistance however may permanently disable pancreatic beta cells preventing full recovery.

[sawoobley]

Sometimes when people talk about "messing up their metabolism" in relation to weight loss they are referring to the adaptive changes their body goes through to adjust to a very large calorie deficit which often times leads to fat loss stalls. Anecdotally, after being in a large calorie deficit for a long period of time some people need to eat at maintenance for several days to months before they can start losing weight again even in a small calorie deficit. I've never see any research on the subject one way or the other. However, that is what many people report as they work with their doctor or whatever to become "healthy" again and try and get their weight loss back on track. I would love to see any research on it one way or the other.

Perhaps the semantics of slowing down your metabolism isn't correct but what else would you call it?

[misterguyx]

Sometimes when people talk about "messing up their metabolism" in relation to weight loss they are referring to the adaptive changes their body goes through to adjust to a very large calorie deficit which often times leads to fat loss stalls. Anecdotally, after being in a large calorie deficit for a long period of time some people need to eat at maintenance for several days to months before they can start losing weight again even in a small calorie deficit. I've never see any research on the subject one way or the other. However, that is what many people report as they work with their doctor or whatever to become "healthy" again and try and get their weight loss back on track. I would love to see any research on it one way or the other.

Perhaps the semantics of slowing down your metabolism isn't correct but what else would you call it?

Well, frankly, there's a huge difference between undereating so you feel tired so you sit on your ass versus eating a healthy balanced diet and having your body react oddly to the food. The biggest difference being culpability. If YOU don't eat properly so YOU are tired so YOU decide not to exercise, then your fatness is YOUR PROBLEM. However, if your thyroid is to blame, you have a real medical problem. However, if it isn't your thyroid, and you don't want it to be you, it has to be "your metabolism". Right? If you lower your calorie, you MUST either A) lose weight, B) retain fluids and some time in the near future you'll lose weight, or C) reduce activity. Most people either won't admit, or aren't consciously aware they choose C. Plenty of people who are fat alternate between severely under eating and splurge binges where they put on weight. A lot of them don't realize how severely the addition of exercise affects their daily dietary needs. Just adding a basic weightloss routine of cardio can add several hundred calories a day of calorie expenditure, causing your calorie balance to be much larger than you realized, resulting in soreness and lethargy.

Sometimes, fitness is like a 12 step program, and we all know step one is being honest with yourself.

[MarkVI]

Bro....you didn't permanently slow your metabolism. You're only 135lbs...eating 3.5-4kcals everyday is not appropriate unless you're a cyclist or something.

If you're very worried then go get a hormone panel (get testosterone and thyroid checked specifically)

[sawoobley]

Well, frankly, there's a huge difference between undereating so you feel tired so you sit on your ass versus eating a healthy balanced diet and having your body react oddly to the food. The biggest difference being culpability. If YOU don't eat properly so YOU are tired so YOU decide not to exercise, then your fatness is YOUR PROBLEM. However, if your thyroid is to blame, you have a real medical problem. However, if it isn't your thyroid, and you don't want it to be you, it has to be "your metabolism". Right? If you lower your calorie, you MUST either A) lose weight, B) retain fluids and some time in the near future you'll lose weight, or C) reduce activity. Most people either won't admit, or aren't consciously aware they choose C. Plenty of people who are fat alternate between severely under eating and splurge binges where they put on weight. A lot of them don't realize how severely the addition of exercise affects their daily dietary needs. Just adding a basic weightloss routine of cardio can add several hundred calories a day of calorie expenditure, causing your calorie balance to be much larger than you realized, resulting in soreness and lethargy.

Sometimes, fitness is like a 12 step program, and we all know step one is being honest with yourself.

No one is talking about being tired. We are talking about huge calorie deficits and the body's response to them.

[misterguyx]

No one is talking about being tired. We are talking about huge calorie deficits and the body's response to them.

No, we're talking about the effect of your activity level on the amount of calories you burn at rest. That's the problem with laymen's terms. The original poster is talking about his mother's claim she's permenantly modified her metabolism. It's a near certainty what she ACTUALLY means is she's lowered her resting heart rate, depleted glucose stores, etc, so when she attempts to begin exercise she gets a massive blowback from her body, like MOST people do when they say, "My metabolism runs slow." That is a function of her activity levels AND her diet, and both need to be addressed in conjunction.

For example, someone maintaining their weight at their current eating level, by definition, only needs to increase exercise and eat the same in order to lose fat (not necessarily weight, however). Most people who suddenly decide to diet, however, accidentally create massive deficits by increasing activity AND lowering calories. Most people can also maintain that for a while, they just exhibit the misery that people associate with dieting.

[MikeK46]

Is it possible to permanently slow your metabolism due to long periods of ridiculous dieting, or is this solely an excuse that fat people use for not being able to lose weight?

Lyle has some info on this you might want to check out...

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...damage-qa.html

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...owdown-qa.html

[InfinityBeyond]

Bro....you didn't permanently slow your metabolism. You're only 135lbs...eating 3.5-4kcals everyday is not appropriate unless you're a cyclist or something.

If you're very worried then go get a hormone panel (get testosterone and thyroid checked specifically)

Haha. I'm not talking about myself.
My metabolism is perfectly on track.
My Mum keeps saying that she can't lose weight because she ruined her metabolism through dieting. She's not fat by the way, she's beautiful. Haha.

[SuffolkPunch]

Haha. I'm not talking about myself.
My metabolism is perfectly on track.
My Mum keeps saying that she can't lose weight because she ruined her metabolism through dieting. She's not fat by the way, she's beautiful. Haha.

Then there is insulin resistance too. I think both my mother and mother-in-law have this as they are both overweight and "cannot lose weight".

[spicyprice]

Lyle has some info on this you might want to check out...

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...damage-qa.html

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...owdown-qa.html

On the first link, there is a post at the bottom by Leigh P. to an interesting abstract regarding previously obese patients having a much lower than expected cal requirement than non-obese. Its a really interesting topic and im sure the full text would be a nice read.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...26049584901306

[spicyprice]

Im in the same boat...after I dieted for my show, it seems as though my metabolism just isnt where it should be. I've been supplementing with caffiene too long, restricting cals and over doing cardio, not to mention the full out binge cheat meals! how would one restore their metabolism due to adrenal fatigue? To be honest I have been all over the map with my diet, low carbs, no carbs and carbs. How long and what would a person need to do to repair this? Thx guys

Its not just about raising cals and carbs, there can also be a fluid balance and inflammation component. I highly recommend leighpeele.com and browsing through her forums (requires becoming a paid member.) She also puts out podcasts and downloads free to members. She actually just put one out called The Water Manual regarding fluid balance and also steps for depleting for making weight or for competitions. Her forums have some good repair info but I reaaaaalllly felt like the phone consult was worth every cent (actually, worth much much more.)

[sawoobley]

On the first link, there is a post at the bottom by Leigh P. to an interesting abstract regarding previously obese patients having a much lower than expected cal requirement than non-obese. Its a really interesting topic and im sure the full text would be a nice read.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...26049584901306

Here is a more recent article that references the article you posted and is relevant to the discussion.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=19198647

Basically, this paper found that sedentary people (BMI 25-30) who try and lose weight by a calorie restriction (~25%) or a low calorie diet (~890 calories/day) in the absence of physical exercise show a lower than expected TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) after losing weight due to both a metabolic adaptation plus a reduction in activity-related energy expenditure and reduced levels of physical activity. On the other hand those people who lost weight through calorie restriction (12.5%) + an increase in structured aerobic exercise to give a total calorie restriction of ~25% did not see the a lowered TDEE. This suggests that people who try and lose weight through calorie restriction alone may will have more difficulty keeping the weight off due to metabolic adaptations and a spontaneous lowering of physical activity.

Anyone interested in the topic should check out the paper. They ran a pretty sophisticated experiment to tease out all the variables and used state of art methods including DEXA.

Edit: So when people say you don't need to exercise to lose weight they maybe right, but to keep the weight off you probably would be better off with some sort of physical exercise whether it be cardio or weightlifting.

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Insufficient sleep undermines dietary efforts to reduce adiposity

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20921542

Results
Sleep curtailment decreased the fraction of weight lost as fat by 55% (1.4 vs. 0.6 kg with 8.5 vs. 5.5-h sleep opportunity, P=0.043) and increased the loss of fat-free body mass by 60% (1.5 vs. 2.4 kg, P=0.002). This was accompanied by markers of enhanced neuroendocrine adaptation to caloric restriction, increased hunger, and a shift in relative substrate utilization towards oxidation of less fat.

Conclusions
The amount of human sleep contributes to the maintenance of fat-free body mass at times of decreased energy intake. Lack of sufficient sleep may compromise the efficacy of typical dietary interventions for weight loss and related metabolic risk reduction