Will this lower my metabolism?

[ThaiDie4]

Alright, so I've been improving my eating habits for the past week in hopes of losing some fat and improving my health overall.

I think I've been doing well, but the past two days for some reason I have not been hungry much at all. I pretty much had to make myself eat. I don't count calories, but if I had to estimate I'd say I had maybe about 1000 calories yesterday and 700 today.

Well naturally I was kinda psyched about that since I've been trying to cut out excessive snacking and whatnot, but I was talking to my friend about it who is an RN and she said that drastically cutting your calories from one day to the next lowers your metabolism! She explained that the body will hold onto the food you eat rather than burning it off because you go into "starvation mode".

I'm sure by tomorrow or the next day my appetite will come back, but for days like this where I just don't feel like eating will that fuck me over in terms of my metabolism?? Is it anything to worry about?

 

[Coolio]

No, it's not. Cutting calories from one day to the next is the best way to lose weight. It's maintaining a constant caloric deficit that would cause your body to adjust whatever metabolic 'variables' change over time. Avoiding a constant routine is the best way to go when it comes to dieting or exercise - you have to mix things up a lot.

 

[ThaiDie4]

oh wow, well thats good to know! thank you!

So, would it be good to have like a high calorie day followed by a low calorie day for best results??? and like keep going in a cycle?

 

[Coolio]

Yeah, you'll want to maintain a caloric deficit long-term, but not on any specific day. I don't know enough to tell you what kind of cycle would work best for you, but some kind of cycle is definitely the way to go if you don't want your body to adjust its natural hormone production rates.

 

[mrs_mia_wallace]

Coolio-- I don't have any evidence to put forth but that's not what I've heard.

However, it really depends HOW drastic you're changes in calories are-- are we talking 700 one day and 2500 the next, or 700 one day 1500 the next? I can tell you that (and pretty much disregard everything you know about me from reading my posts haha this is from my nutrionist) eating 700 is not efficient; the lowest you should go is 1500. That's pretty much considered a severe diet by most nutrionists. If you go online you can look up your BMR-- it varies depending on weight and gender, but it will tell you how many calories you burn just sitting on your ass (it's a lot!). If you want to get really calorie specific, you shouldn't be losing more than two pounds a week and a pound is approx. 3500 calories so you shouldn't be lower than 1000 calories a day. With my low weight my BMR is still 1275, yours is most likely higher, so that's 1275 to maintain if I never left the house. But the body is never that predictable unfortunately...

Dieting wise I don't think going back and forth is effective; it pushes you towards a binge-starve mode and you'll actually end up eating more. You won't really lose weight from a couple days here and there not eating much and it'll push you to eat more in the following days.

You really want to establish a lifestyle you can maintain and that is healthy, my opinion would be generally the same caloric intake for that. I also think that would be the best for your metabolism because it will regulate itself most easily. What WILL slow down your metabolism is going long periods of time without food; you should be eating something, even if it's a small snack, a minimum of every four hours. Three snacks and three meals spread throughout the day is the optimal metabolism-booster.

 

[Coolio]

If you are counting calories, which is essential to any diet, then you can't "end up eating more". You eat what your diet has planned for you, to the calorie.

 

[Mehm]

Cutting calories will make you lose weight. I wouldn't try to read much more into it. You will lose even more weight if you cut calories and exercise.

 

[mrs_mia_wallace]

Coolio-- you can say you're going to eat x but doing so is another story. Being too hungry leads to binging and overeating.

Also, I don't think the OP is measuring out her food to the exact....

 

[Lysis]

Buy a good brand of multi-vitamin. I am a horrible eater, but I take a good multi-vitamin daily so I feel well. I actually feel sluggish now if I don't take my vitamin.

One thing, though, is that the cheap vitamins you can buy in the grocery store made me feel even more sluggish for some reason. I don't like those at all. I use Solarray and they really help me feel good and my mind feels sharp throughout the day.

 

[ThaiDie4]

Thank you guys for the advice!

You bring up a good point, Mia. I don't want to start developing unhealthy eating habits just to try to lose weight. I'm more interested in a lifestyle change than quickly dropping lbs. I mean, if it was as easy as guesstimating my caloric intake and varying it every few days, then sure, I'd try it, but I'm not going to follow some really specific plan- not my thing.

And you're correct, I don't measure my food or count calories. I used to be on Weight Watchers and I've recently taken a Health 200 class at my university, so I have a pretty good idea of correct portion sizes and how to eat balanced. I just can't handle that kind of lifestyle, of reading the label on everything I eat, no offense to anyone who does because it's obviously effective... but it's just not for me.

And thank you Lysis, I'll give a vitamins a try!

 

[An Iz]

The trick to losing weight is the calorie deficit. A new study just came out showing how the american weight gain phenomenon can be entirely explained by an increase in the quantity of food we eat.

My friend has a cool powerpoint lecture from his class in med school he was showing me, it had graphs showing how eating a small percent more calories than you need leads to a certain amount of weight gain over the course of months and years.

What makes that cool is if you've been keeping track of how much you've gained, you can tell exactly what you need to do to lose the weight, and it almost certainly won't fuck with your hunger or metabolism.

For instance, if you gained 5lbs over the past year, that means you're probably like .75% over your maintenance Calorie level. Then, all you'd have to do to fix it would be to find out how many calories you eat on average, and then subtract .75% of that from your daily routine. In most cases it would mean a can of pop a day, or one fewer packets of sugar in your coffee. It would be a change you could hardly feel, but thanks to the miracle of time your body would lose the weight itself.

I'll see him later this week and see if I can grab the slides.

 

[mrs_mia_wallace]

An Iz- yes, but bodies are not that reliable unfortunately. From my many periods of gaining weight in treatment I can say it is pointless and frustrating to rely on the body to work like a machine does when it comes to calories. I was eating measured out meals and spent hours going over the numbers trying to predict my weight on weigh days, and was correct about 50% of the time, baffled the other. I remeber once losing a pound in four days at x calories, getting a 200 calorie increase, and getting weighed three days later and gaining two pounds. Makes no sense, but the body is unpredictable and there are so many external factors that go into it as well.

ThaiDie4- it's good that you don't count calories or measure out your food (becomes obsessive and is not a normal way to live). Calories don't mean anything, they're just numbers. Have you ever heard of the exchange system?

It was made for diabetics but has been incorporated into a lot of diet plans (and used in eating disorder centers). Basically it works on the principle of separating food into five categories; starches, fats, proteins, dairy, and extras (jello, honey, random foods). Some foods obviously cross over (beans are a starch and lean meat) and there are variations (proteins have very lean, lean, low fat, high fat depending on the type of meat) and one exchange is broken down into a common and reasonable serving size (one dairy, 90 calories, 8 oz).

I LOVE the exchange system-- it's been very difficult for me because I prefer to just think in calories (more exact), but it's pushed me to start thinking of food as nutrients, not just numbers that relate to weight. I think it's also the best way to make sure you are getting the nutrients you need and reasonable portion sizes in the long term. If you look online, or even go to Barnes & Noble you can see the general portion sizes for most foods and see what a breakdown for your meals at different calorie levels should be. IMO, it's an easy and healthy way to regulate your calories without having to grab the nutriton facts all the time, and easy to eat out and whatnot. It's also relaxed and simple so it becomes second nature easily and you're not going to become obsessive, counting out calories and weight watchers points and whatnot... that is a horrible way to live and to look at food (I want to get out of it!)

 

[Heuristic]

700 calories per day is a very low amount, and will probably cause your body to reduce its rate of metabolism, though the reduction will only last until you start eating a normal amount of calories again.

That said, I think a better strategy to eat a healthy amount of calories each day, and augment with exercise. It'll feel like more work initially, but after a week or two, it'll feel awesome.

 

[An Iz]

MMW- yeah, but I don't think thaiDie4 is on any really strong drugs to fuck with her metabolism and stuff like that, which make our bodies unreliable.

They've really proven that a small increase or decrease, over time, changes your weight! We tend to forget how things add up day after day.

 

[mrs_mia_wallace]

An Iz- I was not on any drugs....

But whatever, don't believe me. Try treating the body like a machine and see how it goes.

 

[An Iz]

Well I was assuming she'd use crystals or yoga to regulate energy flows too...





OK but seriously this bugs me. Weren't you the one just posting about being addicted to meth, and then not having any place to live and saying you were gonna sleep in your car? What I'm talking about is if you have a completely regular schedule, like I think thaiDie was living in an apartment going to school full time, then you can make a tiny change in that schedule and see results over time. If I'm misremembering you for another poster I apologize.

 

[Heuristic]

Incidentally, I don't think anyone mentioned anything about raising metabolism.

The key to this would be 1) eating in the morning, 2) working out in the morning, and 3) cardio.

And remember, as An Iz mentioned, that this is a process. Change happens incrementally. Focus on establishing healthy habits about food and exercise, and changes in your body will come in due course.

 

[mrs_mia_wallace]

Well I was assuming she'd use crystals or yoga to regulate energy flows too...





OK but seriously this bugs me. Weren't you the one just posting about being addicted to meth, and then not having any place to live and saying you were gonna sleep in your car? What I'm talking about is if you have a completely regular schedule, like I think thaiDie was living in an apartment going to school full time, then you can make a tiny change in that schedule and see results over time. If I'm misremembering you for another poster I apologize.

An Iz-

OK, first of all:

I work a full time job. In general, 40+ hours 7 days a week.

I go to school part time.

I am not living in my car, I'm living with my parents and paying rent. I can afford to live on my own, I have chosen not to because I do not want to live by myself.

So please don't refer to me like I am some homeless hopeless drug addict.... and I really see how that fails to have ANTYHING to do with my metabolism.


Second of all, the instance I refferred to was before I ever started using drugs....

 

[An Iz]

Please don't think I'm trying to get at you or that you have to defend yourself to me! We wouldn't be on this site if we didn't use drugs, and we wouldn't have The Dark Side if we didn't have problems. I have tons of problems in my life, so don't feel like you have to prove you're an upstanding citizen here- that would be ridiculous. Sorry that I came across as accusing you - that would be the most ridiculous...

also when i was always posting about how "responsible" I was a few years ago (and I was working ≥90 hrs a week ) it was because I was really worried about that issue! (with just cause) So to me you'ra bluffing baby still