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A metabolism question. Woo.

I was having a low day today - the sort of, "I feel crappy, I look crappy, I'm so fat, wah" type of days - and more often than not the best way for me to shock myself and remind myself of why I am gaining is to remember how I used to be like, and what I lived off of. So I looked back at old food logs/burn logs and cringed inwardly: I was having days where I lived in the -negatives- (as in, my burn was greater than my intake so much so I'd have a massive deficit) and it's horrible to remember. There is no joy and no boon from slowly killing yourself. ;|

But it got me to wondering. Depending on how great a restriction you imposed, would it ultimately take more calories or longer for your metabolism to stop thinking you're starving? I wasn't restricting for much more than a few months, but I lost the majority of my weight within a month. I'm not sure if I'm wording this in a way that makes sense, really. I ask this simply because I gained about 1.5lbs a week on an average intake (at that time) of about 2500-3000 calories a day, and it struck me as odd. Teen calculators put my burn rate at 1800 or so, so surely I'd only be gaining ~0.5-1lb/week on an intake like that? Gaargh, I'm so confused. My poor metabolism. >__<

This is a little bit of a rant, and I apologise. I just have a little too much thinking time on my hands at the moment.

The longer you restrict or even eat "just under" what your body should need to work normally/gain, and the longer you hold yourself under your ideal weight, the better your body gets at making every calorie count.

The sooner you can eat EXTRA [not just what feels like a lot or is truly better] calories the sooner you can get the energy balance.

This process is counteracted by activity.

That is why it is typically in treatment centers where you see girls struggling to gain on 4-5000 meal plans and not even walking: when forced to consistently eat truly big amounts they get the massive rebound effect [after initially gaining on 2000 levels--the rebound kicks in once you get to true bigtime eating].

Ahh, I see... but I'm still confused why I'd gain the extra 0.5lbs when (assuming my metabolism were actually functioning at a burn of 1800ish when sedentary) my present intake of ~3000 'should' be putting me at a gain rate of 1lb a week. I've been unsure whether I should start pushing for higher as I'm being asked to try and gain at a rate of 2lbs a week when I'm gaining an extra 0.5lb what could be called a lower intake. I know I ought to, but, bah. >__< Surely I wouldn't still be in starvation mode even now? Ha. Who knows. s: Our bodies are strange machines.

hey lala- im pretty much doing the recovery thing alone.  ive restricted for about 3 years having an intake that probably ranged from a low of 600ish at first, and for most of the time around 1100ish im guessing.  i have no clue if im still in starvation mode, how to get out, how long it takes, what to do, it is so confusing!  i feel like the scale is never accurate eventho i only weigh 1/wk and really dont know if im doing it rt or what.  i guess ask your nutritionsit next time.

I've been wondering this too because it takes a ton of calories for me to gain even a minimal amount, not even 1 lb a week on many occasions. I think every body is different and those burn meters are really just an average or guess, they can't possibly measure every individuals metabolisms. My burn meter puts me at 1700 to maintain, which would technically mean 2300 to gain 1 lb a week. But I still lose or just maintain if I don't go over 3000 a day. This might be because our metabolisms are really revved up after all they've been through, but honestly it might just be the way I am because I know before I ever even began counting I ate like a horse and had a fairly stable weight. I'd venture to say I even used to consume more than I do now just because I used to eat a lot more junk and didn't care. so yeah, that was a non-answer because I don't understand my body either :p but I'm in the same boat.

how is the weight gain coming?

Gibbit: It's happening, which is always good, but I'm just not sure why I'm putting on the extra 0.5lbs still when my intake is upwards of 3000 (which should technically only cause 1lb gains a week with an average calculated burn rate of 1800-2000 a day, right?) But I've still managed to gain 3lbs at least over two weeks, and have another weigh in next Friday. [: I just wonder if my body is still clinging to calories through the extra 0.5lbs a week that's going on, ha '_'

Forgive me if i have misunderstood what you are saying but you are wondering why you are putting on approx 1.5lbs a week on an intake of 3000cal/day...?

If to maintain you have calculated you need 2000cal/day at your current activity level then to gain one pound a week you need an extra 500cal/day, to gain 2 pounds a week then add an extra 500cal/day on top of that.

Saying that, when in recovery you usually need more (often a hell of a lot more) calories than those technical estimates. You can be pretty positive that if you stick at your current intake or increase, that your body will soon adjust and you'll find you may need to eat much more to gain even a pound a week.

This is because your body, after having been depleted of nutrients, will, in early recovery, cling to every calorie but when it realizes the intake of nutrients is steady and it doesn't need to be in starvation mode it begins to 'rev up' (sorry if i'm repeating what others have said).

I hope what i have rambled about has helped a bit :)

ps I'm not a nutritionist or anything btw; simply someone who knows quite a bit about this sort of stuff.

I failed my Maths GCSE first time around <<! Whoops.

Haha, thankyou though, for pulling me up on that AND for your advice, sj247. I'm a doofus. XD

Original Post by sj247:

Forgive me if i have misunderstood what you are saying but you are wondering why you are putting on approx 1.5lbs a week on an intake of 3000cal/day...?

If to maintain you have calculated you need 2000cal/day at your current activity level then to gain one pound a week you need an extra 500cal/day, to gain 2 pounds a week then add an extra 500cal/day on top of that.

 

Saying that, when in recovery you usually need more (often a hell of a lot more) calories than those technical estimates. You can be pretty positive that if you stick at your current intake or increase, that your body will soon adjust and you'll find you may need to eat much more to gain even a pound a week.

 

This is because your body, after having been depleted of nutrients, will, in early recovery, cling to every calorie but when it realizes the intake of nutrients is steady and it doesn't need to be in starvation mode it begins to 'rev up' (sorry if i'm repeating what others have said).

 

 

I hope what i have rambled about has helped a bit :)

 

 

 

 

 

ps I'm not a nutritionist or anything btw; simply someone who knows quite a bit about this sort of stuff.

 sj247: is actually very on key with this, ive spoken to quite a few nutritionists over the course of five years, and have seen it happen first hand.

Original Post by lalabanana:

I failed my Maths GCSE first time around <
Haha, thankyou though, for pulling me up on that AND for your advice, sj247. I'm a doofus. XD

 also lalabanana ive had the privlege to talk to dr.walter kaye who has done studies in the refeeding process and it shows that post-ed individuals DO require more calories even if seredenetary than non-ED individuals. even years after recovery.so dont be afraid to eat more and rev that metabolism back into gear

hear are some links to his publications:

1. http://eatingdisorders.ucsd.edu/KayeIJED1986C aloricConsumptionAN.pdf

2. http://eatingdisorders.ucsd.edu/WeltzinAMJPsy ch1991AbnormalCaloricAN_BN.pdf

3. http://eatingdisorders.ucsd.edu/OtherPublicat ions.html

remeber these are only to educate, and it applys to not only anorexics but to those that have overly-restricted themselves while overexcercising aswell. i have also seen this happen first hand.eating more is good for you.kicks your metabolism back into gear and provides you with more nutrients especially when you really need it now in recovery

Hmmm...so, if i haven't gained in my first two weeks of actually eating (i actually lost a pound), does that mean my calorie intake needs to be even higher? I kind of assumed that my body was just confused about the amount i was eating and that i should just stay at the same amount. I've been eating 2500 calories a day, and my burn meter says i burn about 1700. Does it need to be upped even higher for results?

MEESH-Thanks for posting.  only a few things confuse me, im a recovering anorexic btw, and its the age factor.  im 25, not old, but older than many of the posters here.  im still struggling to figure out my caloric intake.  its just so confusing.

wow me toooooo!!!!

im 22 and have no idea???

i would love some help too..... i worry so much that i will eat more now and once ive gaIned have to cut of a whole heap???

Good question.  I'm kind of in the same situation.  My daily burn rate is supposed to be 1800.  At 1800, I will gain weight.  At 1400, I maintain current weight, so as far as I'm concerned, 1400 is my burn rate.  I don't put much faith in the calculators.  There are too  many variables. 

Original Post by adelephant:

Hmmm...so, if i haven't gained in my first two weeks of actually eating (i actually lost a pound), does that mean my calorie intake needs to be even higher? I kind of assumed that my body was just confused about the amount i was eating and that i should just stay at the same amount. I've been eating 2500 calories a day, and my burn meter says i burn about 1700. Does it need to be upped even higher for results?

 If you're not gaining on that intake, then yes. D: It is possible, though. I think Gibbit and ohtobethinagain are right in that we probably shouldn't pay attention to calculators for the time being '___'

Meesh: Ooh, those links are very interesting. Thank you for posting them! <3

agruskin-25 isnt that old at all for your metabolism to slow down.as a matter of fact those that are recovering from eating disorders ages 19-30 are required to eat more than younger eating disordered people. once you hit 31-50 though it does decrease.

spek-the cool thing about eating more is that once your body gains on a higher amount of calories it also MAINTAINS on a higher amount. for example before i went IP last year i was maintaing around 800-1000 calorie range and it was so pathetic.my nutritionist started me on a 2500-3000 calorie meal plan (this is baseline,the lowest they will feed you to gain.and most if not all the other patients were gaining on higher much numbers)i didnt have much to gain,because i didnt need to, the first week my weight shot up though,freaked me out.but it must have been water weight because i was very puffy and it went away. in about 2 and a half weeks and three pounds heavier(at still a low weight=[ ) i left the facility and suprisingly so my maintenance was 1950-2250 when SEREDENETARY crazy stuff huh?

thank you MEESH.  so ive been hovering at 1850 for a wk probably out of fear of eating 2000.  the wk b4 at about that i gained 2.5, then this past wk i lost 1.5, i only weigh 1/wk so im not really srue how accurate it all is.  this wk im aiming for 2000 so planning my day so that im over 2000 just in case theirs a fluke w/ my calculations and to ensure that i hit at least 2000.  any advice?  im just under 5'4 and btwn 92-94.5lbs, not really sure.

thanks!

Original Post by agruskin:

thank you MEESH.  so ive been hovering at 1850 for a wk probably out of fear of eating 2000.  the wk b4 at about that i gained 2.5, then this past wk i lost 1.5, i only weigh 1/wk so im not really srue how accurate it all is.  this wk im aiming for 2000 so planning my day so that im over 2000 just in case theirs a fluke w/ my calculations and to ensure that i hit at least 2000.  any advice?  im just under 5'4 and btwn 92-94.5lbs, not really sure.

thanks!

 aiming for a little over 2000 is a good start.how much do you want to gain?i would add 200 every 2 days till you are around 2500-2600 (but really aim for aorund 2600-2700 if you can) .are you excercising at all?also dont be afraid to have a 2900-3000 day every few days or so to really get your metabolism going. the reason why you need to add calories by the 200's every two days or so is that we dont want to put your body into a hyper-metabolic mode which will make it extremly difficult to gain without eating ridiculously high numbers(3,400-4-500+ calories)which also unfortunatly is also the reason why many recovering eating disorder individuals relapse because they feel bad about eating so much food and it does bloat them.

have you read the story one spoonful at a time?

here is the link so maybe you can get an idea of how:

http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/06/061 126.legrange-nyt.html

MEESH-i just read the article, thank you.  still, and im sure its the ED, that girl was only 14, more than 10 yrs younger than myself.  i have gained on low amounts, i guess bc my body was clinging to any cals that it got?

so if im about 94 now, i want to aim for 2lbs /wk-i think thats ok, rt?  i do weight lifting-pretty moderate, 2/wk.  i think that my eventual "happy weight" is closer to the 130s if not mroe, since before the ED i was mostly around there if not more and only lost weight w excessive excercise and restriction.  i did initially increase my cals by about 500 tho, woops?  that was about 1 month ago tho.

thank you so much

meesh-You do a lot better job of explaining this than me! I think I am too wordy and confusing.

agru-The metabolic rebound has to do with your body getting the signals that it has plenty of resources and can stop trying to conserve [then it gets careless and does the opposite], NOT your age.  That said, it also doesn't happen until you actually get those extra calories.  Your body my adjust to calories in the 2000 levels, but the extreme metabolic rebounds are typically seen in treatment centers where the recovering victims have no choice but to consistently eat not just "more" but actually quite high amounts--usually once they hit 3000+.

Until your body gets those signals it will be able to gain off less. 

Meanwhile, the cuts it has to make in order to conserve calories cause you to feel worse, worry more, and not even realize you full zest for life, passions, and potential.

TUFFSTUFF- thanks!  i dont understand what you worte-about the body being careless or doing the opp?  i dont understand hyper-metabolic mode i guess, how do i know that im giving my body enough?  youre rt about zest for life, not realizing and all, each day that i eat more i want to shout it from the rooftops, as cliche as that may sound!