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Metabolism

I hope nobody minds me posting as anonymous but I dont want some of my friends identifying me on here. I have had an eating disorder for about 4 years and as a result my weight has gone from very low to normal in a yo-yo kind of way. I went from being ill to getting help and gaining weight.

One thing I've never been able to understand is metabolism. If your metabolism slows down when you starve yourself, why do you still lose weight? It doesnt seem to make sense to me. Can someone explain? :confused:

Also, how can I speed up my metabolism in a safe way? I just want to live a healthy, balanced life with a balanced diet etc. Thanks for any help.
Reply 1
Avatar for supertramp
supertramp
9
You still lose weight because your metabolism slows, but it can't stop altogether. Your body still expends more calories just by living (internal bodily processes) than are absorbed from food.

Exercising and eating plenty of healthier food will increase your metabolism over time. Just make sure you are eating enough to compensate for the exercising.
Reply 2
Avatar for Barny
Barny
17
The extent of your metabolism slowing is only in the region of 200-300 calories, and thats after long periods of low calories, its not like if you don't eat for 1 day your metabolism slows, it takes weeks and weeks.
Yeah it is a long term thing like the above poster said.

Also bear in mind that if you are losing weight on a low calorie diet, almost all of it will be muscle rather than fat because your body senses it is being starved so goes into 'starvation mode', holding onto fat at the expense of muscle in order to survive (it is an evolutionary mechanism).
Reply 4
Avatar for FireDeuce
FireDeuce
14
x.narb.x
The extent of your metabolism slowing is only in the region of 200-300 calories, and thats after long periods of low calories, its not like if you don't eat for 1 day your metabolism slows, it takes weeks and weeks.


That's good to know. If I miss one meal in a day (say breakfast, if I've slept through it) I always think I'm going to put on weight the next meals because my metabolism slowed down.

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