Starvation mode - Page 14

m8g8 · #**196** (**permalink**) July 8th, 2008, 11:43 AM

Thank you so much! You have really cleared this up for me

. Are you a personal trainer or something?

I was reading about zig-zagging your calories and it seems like an easy way to delay a plateau.

Steve · #**197** (**permalink**) July 8th, 2008, 11:45 AM

You're welcome. Yes, I am a trainer.

I wouldn't worry about zig zagging calories until you find it necesssary, if ever. No sense in muddying the waters.

m8g8 · #**198** (**permalink**) July 8th, 2008, 12:15 PM

Yea, that's true. Hopefully 1300 will be enough for a while. Thanks for helping me. All of your posts are really interesting. Almost every thread I've read has a reply from you lol.

Steve · #**199** (**permalink**) July 8th, 2008, 12:20 PM

Yea, I have an office job plus I do the vast majority of my personal training over the Internet. My eyes are glued to a screen more often than not, lol.

Mamaz2ndbaby · #**200** (**permalink**) October 11th, 2008, 05:57 PM

Hey Steve,

Just posted this in my journal and wanted to get your thoughts.

Quote:

A little bummed out after the metabolic test this morning. As it turns out I have compromised my metabolism. My predicted RMR was pretty much on point with what I was thinking (1849); however, the test result shows my actual RMR @ 1539. Even those these are all estimates it definitely helps to explain why my weight loss has been slowing down.

So, I plugged this into the HBF and came up with my current maintenance @ 2385 (1539*1.55-moderate exercise) this would mean eating @ around 1885 is where I should be right now.

The question I have is: should my goal now be to get my RMR back up to around 1849? I believe the way to do this is to continue to bump my calories up until I get to my supposed maintenance @ this RMR (2866) park there for about two weeks or so then create the 500 deficit (2366) to continue with weight loss?

I’m gonna continue poking around the board to get more info and DEFINTELY want your thoughts but from what I understand this is the way to go. Last week I ate @ 1800 so I'll be bumping up to 2100 starting tomorrow, the next week 2400, the following 2800.

Of course I know I’ll experience some short term weight gain but the goal is to be healthy right?!? Right, so I’m trying to keep a positive attitude here. I will also be sticking with the strength training which was suggested as a way of improving my metabolism as well.

Any journal articles, resources, words of wisdom etc in this regards is much appreciated!!

Steve · #**201** (**permalink**) October 11th, 2008, 08:40 PM

Age, weight, height, diet history?

Mamaz2ndbaby · #**202** (**permalink**) October 11th, 2008, 09:02 PM

29, 235, 5'5 1\2, lost the first 40lbs in 3 months eating below rmr early 2007- not sure of cals b/c then I was tracking portions not cals. Gained 25 back by end of 2007 so started tracking cals jan this year-pretty much have stayed b/t 1400-1800 this year.

Steve · #**203** (**permalink**) October 11th, 2008, 09:04 PM

First it's important to note that your metabolism might be naturally slow. Or you might want to get blood work done to rule out anything going on hormonally.

The more fat you carry, the less likely you are to have a serious impact on your metabolic rate.

What is your exercise history like?

Mamaz2ndbaby · #**204** (**permalink**) October 11th, 2008, 09:12 PM

I had my thyroid checked aboiut a uear ago- no probs.

I went from no activity to cardio twice a day for about 1.5-2hrs a day total. Been doing this since I started in 2007 minus the break I took from about april-oct'07.

Steve · #**205** (**permalink**) October 12th, 2008, 06:04 AM

Do you know what exactly they tested?

Mamaz2ndbaby · #**206** (**permalink**) October 12th, 2008, 08:13 AM

I looked for the paperwork so I could tell'ya for sure but I don't have it any longer. I remember telling him I was about to start back trying to lose weight and I wanted to rule out any thyroid issues.

Steve · #**207** (**permalink**) October 13th, 2008, 07:46 AM

I forgot to ask...

What test did you have done?

Also, how exactly do you track calories?

Mamaz2ndbaby · #**208** (**permalink**) October 13th, 2008, 10:49 AM

I keep it manually in a paper journal. I use a digital food scale and look at nutrition labels and/or calorieking website for food details.

This past saturday? I had a metabolic test done. Basically, they put a mask on my nose and mouth to capture my breathing. The mask was hooked up to this machine that analyzed the gases I emitted for about 20 minutes in order to determine my rmr. The test also analyzed the amout of protein/carbs I burn. The tech said the protein/carb % was on point.

Mamaz2ndbaby · #**209** (**permalink**) October 14th, 2008, 10:03 AM

Just thought I post this...received this from the wellness coordinator that gave me the metabolic test.

Quote:

Facts on Resting Metabolism and Some Enhancement Strategies

Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is the number of calories that your body burns to maintain its normal basal function. Another way to think about RMR is that it is the number of calories that you would use if you woke up in the morning and then laid in bed all day without eating or participating in any physical activity – not even reading a good novel. For the average individual, their RMR will account for 60-75% of all the calories that they burn in a day.

Knowledge of RMR is a critical component of an overall energy balance equation. This is true whether you are attempting to lose a couple of pounds or whether you are a high performance athlete attempting to take in precisely the right number of calories to fuel high volume and intensity training while remaining weight stable.

The more active an individual is in their occupation, lifestyle and purposeful exercise, the lower percentage of their overall calories that will be attributed to RMR.

There are a number of factors that influence your RMR, and although there are prediction equations that can be used to estimate RMR, the potential errors for an individual can approach 500 kcals/day.

Performing an RMR test is easy and painless. You will be tested while sitting or lying in a quiet, relaxed state and breathing into a device that collects the air you are breathing. The device, called an indirect calorimeter, will measure the amount of oxygen that you consume. Because your body only uses oxygen to convert the food you eat into energy, if we know the amount of oxygen you are using we can exactly calculate your metabolic rate.

There are numerous factors that can affect RMR. A few of these are listed below:
• Height. Taller individuals will tend to have a higher RMR.
• Body weight. Heavier people will tend to have a higher RMR.
• Age. RMR tends to decrease with age, especially after middle age. Rough estimates are the rate is about 3%/decade.
• Gender. Males tend to have a higher RMR.
• Medical Conditions. Low thyroid function or hypothyroidism causes a resultant low RMR.
• Cyclic Caloric Restriction. Known as “yo-yo dieting”, this eating style over a period of time will lower your RMR significantly.
• Body composition. Other factors being equal, a leaner individual will tend to have a higher RMR than a person with more fat tissue. Some research indicates that 1 pound of muscle gain increases RMR by 75 calories per day
• Lean body mass or muscle mass. Research indicates that 50-80% of the variability in RMR among individuals can be explained by the amount of muscle mass present. The impact of several of the factors above can be explained in part by the relationship to lean muscle mass.
• Medications and drugs. Pharmaceuticals can have varying influence on RMR – some will increase it and some will depress it. For example, a beta blocker or certain antidepressants will lower RMR, while green tea extract will increase RMR.
• Time of day. RMR follows a daily cycle and is higher in the afternoon and early evening than first thing in the morning or at night. Clinically, RMR is usually measured first thing in the morning.
• Acute exercise. Immediately after exercise, there is a transient period of recovery and restoration that occurs; during this time, metabolic rate is elevated above basal or resting level. This will occur for both aerobic, endurance, and resistance or weight training types of exercise and may last several hours depending on the intensity and duration of the activity. Contrary to many beliefs, this acute elevation of metabolic rate after exercise appears to be longer lasting after resistance training.
• Chronic training. Surprisingly, regular aerobic training does not appear to exert a significant direct impact on RMR. In contrast, individuals who regularly do resistance training and have a resultant increase in lean muscle mass may have a slight increase in RMR.
As you can see from this list, RMR is very individualistic and depends upon a wide range of genetic, personal and lifestyle factors. If you are interested in maintaining a healthy weight and/or improving your athletic performance, learning your personal RMR is an important piece of information in learning how to be able to adequately match caloric intake to caloric expenditure.

Some Strategies for Metabolic Enhancement
1. Green Tea. 200 mg of green tea extract about 1 hour before exercise seems to increase calorie burn rates, enhance fat utilization, and increase RMR.
2. Hypertrophy based weight training. Weight training increases lean muscle mass and in turn metabolic rate, but it must be intense enough to add mass. Lifting a weight that fatigues you on the 10th to 12th lift is necessary for this to occur in most individuals. Of course, you should progress to this point. 2-3 weight training sessions per week are necessary.
3. Adequate sleep. Individuals who get 8 hours of sleep have faster metabolisms.
4. Add protein to your diet. In the era of low fat, we had a tendency to throw out quality protein. If you can’t eat it, try adding one of two scoops of whey protein to your diet daily.
5. Drink water. One liter of water daily increases metabolism.

The following supplement list is less understood and studied, but there is some evidence that these supplements may help metabolism. While we take a conservative approach to nutritional supplements, we present this option for those who wish to try them. If you are taking any other medicines, you should consult your physician before trying any nutritional supplements and they may interact and/or decrease the effectiveness of a prescribed medicine.

While the jury is out on this strategy – there are some convincing studies that this routine may enhance metabolism and increase fat utilization during exercise

• 1000 mg of calcium per day – make sure your multivitamin also has Vitamin D

• 450 mg of magnesium glycinate or asparate (not in combination with calcium but as separate supplement) before bedtime

• Chromium Picolonate – 200 mcg twice per day with meals

• Coenzyme Q10 – 100 mg before cardiovascular exercise – try to take with a handful of almonds (dry roasted) as this may help absorption

• Green Tea Extract – 200-300 mg taken about an hour before exercise

Steve · #**210** (**permalink**) October 21st, 2008, 10:04 AM

Geez, I entirely forgot about this thread until I saw you posting in another today!

Sorry.

If I were you I'd focus on resting a bit and bumping your caloric intake up gradually over time. Chronically eating in a deficit and exercising can do some wacky things, primarily hormonally, which tend to do all sorts of crazy things that can impact metabolism.

Taking a week off of exercising and working your way up toward your supposed maintenance would do you some good.