Why do people blame a decrease in metabolism to be the root cause of weight gain?

I posted a controversial image on Tumblr which sparked a lot of debate amongst those who didn't agree. It stated that you don't get fat by eating at night. The majority of their opposing arguments were, "you get fat when you eat at night because your metabolism slows down."

You don't gain weight because your metabolism slows down, you gain weight because you consume more calories than you burn. Why is it so for people to get that when it's clearly explained to them?

Oh, another funny response was: "your body converts more calories into body fat at night". LOLOLOL

Facepalm.

You don't get fat from eating at night.  You get fat from eating more than you burn and often times, the people who stay up at night and eat, also ate plenty during the day, thus they ate too much.  If I ate all of my calories after 6PM, I wouldn't magically gain weight.

Eating at night and having a slow metabolism are like ice cream and wood chippers.  They don't have anything to do with each other.

You are right, that you don't get fat by eating at night. People who argue with this just don't understand calories.

Now, the title of your thread "a decrease in metabolism to be the root cause of weight gain" - that is often the case. As people get older, they because more sedentary, they often lose muscle, and their metabolism drops. If they keep eating the way they did as teenagers, they will gain weight. They aren't eating more than they used to, but they are now eating more than they burn because they burn less.

But if that's not what your tumblr post was about, and it was just about night eating... yeah, the people arguing with you are wrong.

There are hundreds of diet myths and with the Internet the myths spread faster and farther than ever before.  It's hard to tell someone that what they believe to be true isn't when it supported by 100s or even 1000s of articles that are just one Google click away.

The metabolism does slow down while you sleep.  It also increases right after eating.  It also increases while/after exercising.

Daily changes in metabolism dont effect the net of the whole day, is what shes getting at.

This arguement arises often here, when people bring up the eating 3 meals/vs 6 meals/vs w.e u want.  The theory being that eating 6 meals keeps the metabolism higher, which is bogus because the metoblism is only higher due to digestion and so when you eat less food you finish digestion faster.

We all know that when you eat does not effect net in/net out.  But I do believe that eating at night can cause weight gain because of increased total consumption, especially with those who have a tendency to over eat. 

I do oftern hear people blame metabolism for weight gain because it is just easier than admitting personal mistakes.  Many of these people actaully believe it too. 

Original Post by carolally:

Ok so I kind of get your argument. Your body does not burn less at night time. But you fail to note that a slow metabolism means your body burns less calories. So while someone same height same weight burns let's say 2000 calories at rest, another person same height same weight but with a lower muscle mass and perhaps a history of yo yo dieting or ED may burn only 1600 calories at rest. So both eating 2000 calories the 1st would maintain or even lose the 2nd will gain, both eat same but because of low metabolism they don't burn the same.

But that's subjugating that Person A and Person B should be consuming an identical 2000-calorie diet to begin with because they have the same stats. That isn't the case. Generally speaking, no two people are completely alike. Blaming a "slow metabolism" for Person B's weight gain is silly. It's not their metabolism's fault they're gaining weight. It's their fault for shoving more calories down their throat than they expend REGARDLESS if their metabolic rate is higher/lower than someone else's, or higher/lower than the year before.

Calorie intake should be adjusted relative to one's metabolic rate--not given a prefixed number to work around and then blame their metabolism when they gain weight because they overate.

Original Post by jenpaxton:

I do oftern hear people blame metabolism for weight gain because it is just easier than admitting personal mistakes.  Many of these people actaully believe it too. 

Precisely.

I read a research article a while back that actually demonstrated that people who are fat have a faster metabolism, and that is why they eat more and become fat/obese.

I wish I could find it again!

I don't know if they have a faster metabolism.  From what I remember, fat people's bodies typically release more hormones telling them they're hungry (before eating) and fewer hormones telling them that they are full (after eating).  This effect remains after they lose weight and become a healthy size, which is one of the many reasons it's easy to regain lost weight.  I have also read that someone who is at a healthy weight and has always been at that weight, e.g. 5'6 136 has a higher metabolism than a similarly sized person who was once 186 and lost 50lbs.  I don't know if this is hormone related or body composition or something else.

Very interesting.  Wouldnt that mean they *used to* have a faster metobolism. 

Still can't find the actual research article, so this is the best I could do.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/health y_living/your_weight/medical_myths.shtml

Original Post by armandounc:

I read a research article a while back that actually demonstrated that people who are fat have a faster metabolism, and that is why they eat more and become fat/obese.

I wish I could find it again!

I didn't read the link you posted below. But logically this makes sense. Under normal circumstances people with more body mass have a higher metabolic rate. We all know it takes more energy to lug 300lbs up one one flight of stairs than it does to lug 110lbs up the same flight of stairs. The alternative holds true as well: a person who has more muscle mass but weighs less can have an equal metabolic rate to someone who has a lower muscle mass% and weighs more. Never heard of the second part though. But that's interesting.

Original Post by carolally:

"Calorie intake should be adjusted relative to one's metabolic rate--not given a prefixed number to work around and then blame their metabolism when they gain weight because they overate."

So someone with an ED trying to repair their metabolism on a normal amount of calories and subsequently gaining .... It's them over- eating? No.

Someone recovering from an eating disorder isn't typically trying to lose weight. Hence why this topic is posted in the Weight Loss section, and not one of the other sections. If you want to get technical about it, if by overeating you mean they're consuming more calories than they are expending (in excess), then yes they are overeating. Otherwise how do you expect them to gain weight if their calorie input is less than their calorie output?? Your implication of the term "overeating" is taken completely out of context.

A recovering anorexic shouldn't be limiting themselves to how many calories they eat because you deemed it as "overeating" and place the term in such a negative light. That just sounds so demoralizing and quite frankly I'm not sure why you even used that as an example.

Carolally's point, I believe, is that you are treating metabolism as an unchangable thing. However, it is not constant.  How much we burn is based on a number of things including our size, our body composition, our activity level, and our food intake.

So yes, if you are gaining weight, it means that you are eating more than you burn. But that doesn't necessarily follow that you need to eat less. It might mean that you need to burn more.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Carolally's point, I believe, is that you are treating metabolism as an unchangable thing. However, it is not constant.  How much we burn is based on a number of things including our size, our body composition, our activity level, and our food intake.

So yes, if you are gaining weight, it means that you are eating more than you burn. But that doesn't necessarily follow that you need to eat less. It might mean that you need to burn more.

Of course our metabolic rate isn't static. I'm not really sure which part of my posts indicated that it was. Metabolism fluctuates just as much as the number on the scale dependent on several variables. And nowhere did I say overweight people need to "eat less". I'm saying that the reason people are gaining weight is because they're consuming more calories than they burn. This does not necessarily translate into "they need to eat less" to lose weight.

Original Post by inspiremethin:

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Carolally's point, I believe, is that you are treating metabolism as an unchangable thing. However, it is not constant.  How much we burn is based on a number of things including our size, our body composition, our activity level, and our food intake.

So yes, if you are gaining weight, it means that you are eating more than you burn. But that doesn't necessarily follow that you need to eat less. It might mean that you need to burn more.

Of course our metabolic rate isn't static. I'm not really sure which part of my posts indicated that it was. Metabolism fluctuates just as much as the number on the scale dependent on several variables. And nowhere did I say overweight people need to "eat less". I'm saying that the reason people are gaining weight is because they're consuming more calories than they burn. This does not necessarily translate into "they need to eat less" to lose weight.

You wrote: "Calorie intake should be adjusted relative to one's metabolic rate."

That's what carolally was responding to, as was I.

You are getting very defensive, when people are mostly agreeing with you, just not quite with some of your wording.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Original Post by inspiremethin:

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Carolally's point, I believe, is that you are treating metabolism as an unchangable thing. However, it is not constant.  How much we burn is based on a number of things including our size, our body composition, our activity level, and our food intake.

So yes, if you are gaining weight, it means that you are eating more than you burn. But that doesn't necessarily follow that you need to eat less. It might mean that you need to burn more.

Of course our metabolic rate isn't static. I'm not really sure which part of my posts indicated that it was. Metabolism fluctuates just as much as the number on the scale dependent on several variables. And nowhere did I say overweight people need to "eat less". I'm saying that the reason people are gaining weight is because they're consuming more calories than they burn. This does not necessarily translate into "they need to eat less" to lose weight.

You wrote: "Calorie intake should be adjusted relative to one's metabolic rate."

That's what carolally was responding to, as was I.

You are getting very defensive, when people are mostly agreeing with you, just not quite with some of your wording.

Nah, just clearing up people's misunderstanding. Afterall, I'm only responsible for what I write and not what others interpret. But yes, one's caloric intake would need to be adjusted relative to their metabolic rate. Again, this does not translate to "they need to eat less calories." For example, it would be insensible for someone already on an 800-calorie diet who isn't losing anymore weight to just tell them to "eat less". They would need to adjust/increase their intake to regulate their metabolism and then create a deficit through increased activity if they wanted to continue losing weight. Hope this makes more sense. :)

I think why this issue is controversial is because there are those who have to work harder because of their slow metabolism or thyroid problems for example, and those who use metabolism as an excuse as to why they CAN'T lose weight. This post is more for the latter people, because we all know metabolism can make things more difficult. But I've heard lots of people use metabolism as an excuse. The mom of one of my friends from highschool has got to be over 300 lbs, and she talks about it sometimes and she said her weight is due to low thyroid. Then once she was heavy for so long it messed up her knees, and now she can't exercise because her knees are bad but she won't change how she's eating either. So it's a terrible circle. Me knees and hips were starting to mess up, but I've lost a chunk of weight and they're 90% better:)  My mom and grandma both basically have non existent thyroids and my mom has lost a ton of weight and my grandma is doing pretty well too.  My thyroid is on the really low end but when I stick to my calories on this site I lose weight. Metabolism definitely does play a role, and it's something that you have to work with but it's probably more for people who aren't on this site that are using it as an excuse. 

Also love the topic, because even now I have this instant guilt associated with eating past 8 pm, haha! It's hard not to feel that way when you've been told for so long! And yes I think the problem often with night eating is that it's in addition to probably the 3+ meals that have been eaten in the day. 

Yeah thyroid issues present a completely different problem when it comes to losing weight. A friend of mine has hypothyroidism and is trying to lose weight, but none of the conventional weight loss "rules" apply to her. So it's a challenging battle to figure out exactly what works for her body.

But I'm glad to hear you and your family are doing well with your weight loss journeys! :) 

It's not completely different, your thyroid controls the rate of your metabolism so if you have problems with your thyroid then you most likely have problems with your metabolism. For people with thyroid problems it isn't simply calories in and calories out, but tith thyroid medication the hormones can hopefully be balanced out and if thats the case, then it does become calories in and calories out. But it does make it harder and if the hormones aren't balanced then even cutting calories is not going to help. But if it's treated right (which it can be hard to get the right dose) and people are dedicated and work even harder to overcome it then it's not an excuse anymore either. I just thought it was relevant to the no excuses chain that was popping up, in my mind its right there with metabolism being an excuse, cause they're pretty related. 

And thanks, I don't know what your personal journey is on here but hopefully you're doing well, and good luck!