Dead Metabolism?

Hey all! Hope you all had a great New Years, and good luck with all your resolution! ^_^

I had a quick question, and I was wondering if you guys could help me.

This year at college I decided to go major-all-out-dieting, and skipped a lot of meals, to the point that I was eating about 4 or 5 meals a week. Since coming home for the holidays, I've been eating a much more, probably a normal amount everyday.

But I'm gaining a whole lot of weight. I've been reading a lot online about how eating very little is actually not a good way to lose weight, and that it will mess with your metabolism.

I'm worried that I've destroyed my metabolism to the point where it might not come back. I've been trying to find out more information, but I'm kind of hitting a wall.

Anyone know how I can make my metabolism better? And whether or not metabolism can actually die? I'm kind of worried about this. Thanks for any help you can give me ^_^

[RWF]

Hi there...

You're right, eating such small amounts has meant your metabolism has basically stopped working effectively because you were eating such a small amount.

Here's what you can do to repair it...

1. Start eating frequent meals. You should aim to eat a minimum of 5 meals per day, but 6 would be better. These meals only need to be small. The idea is that you try to keep your metabolism working constantly all day. Each meal needs to contain complex carbs (essential!), protein and fats.

2. Start exercising. Ideally you'd start weight training and cardio, but if you can't do that you should start doing some cardio. Start off with 2 sessions a week and work up to 3-4. If you need help with ideas let me know.

If you start doing this you'll be surprised at how quickly you can turn it around. Weight training is also important, so if you have access to gym equipment you should definitely train with weights. The more muscle your body has the more calories it will burn, 24 hours a day. This means you metabolism will work harder and you'll lose weight easier. You can't lose with weights!

Any other questions just post em up!

Hi,

RWF is right on. The idea is to eat about every three hours (small meal ie turkey on whole wheat ,even half is fine depending on timing).I take a sandwich or 2 to work cut up and eat at regular intervals.It keeps your metabolism running .I also found a tall glass of ice water in intervals is very helpful.Good luck.

jeannie

[teamplayaa]

Well, I think we are in almost the same boat here, since coming to college I went on a massive diet and ate virtually nothing. However, upon hearing about the metabolism process I stopped starving myself and instead tried to eat smart. Although the result of starving is much mroe satisfactory than eating right, in the long run this is not the way to go. I got back to a comfortable weight by doing weight lifting and eating multiple times but a small portion which consisted of healthy foods such as celery sticks, carrots, lettice, some diary and a bit of fat. A consistantly healthy meal is much better than no meal!!

[5kgLifter]

RWF is spot on, exercise increases metabolism as does eating, so eating 6 small meals a day and exercising will start the metabolism up again, you can also increase the calories slowly this way too until you get the calories back up to where they should be, at a sensible level, in case they have been cut drastically through dieting.

[WolfLady]

Some women find eating so many small meals rather daunting. They think it involves a lot of kitchen time and often resort to using pre-packaged heat-n-eat meals which are high in fat and salt.

An easier way around this is to make the freezer your best friend. Cook your brown rice once a week and store it in portion sized plasticware. Microwave for two minutes and add some tuna and/or vegies for a clean, simple meal. Keep boiled eggs in the fridge so whenever you need a protein lift you can simply peel and slice into a sandwich with lettuce and avocado. There is a whole range of simple things you can do to make eating healthier part of your lifestyle, and it really isn't as hard as some believe.

Good luck with the nutrition. Let us know how you go.