How To Reset Your Metabolism After Eating Disorder

Real Life Example Of Metabolic Damage And Acclimation

Here is a real life example: the famous show, The Biggest Loser, had contestants who manipulated their intake and exercise to unattainable amounts in everyday life and subsequently lost weight quickly for the show. Essentially, they went on a fad diet and exercise routines. While, yes, many contestants did initially lose weight many of them regained it and then some.

You can clearly see metabolic damage happening in the data gathered during a 6 year Biggest Loser contestant follow up. Their energy intake was not statistically significant from their baseline intake however their resting energy expenditure , or in other words how much energy their bodies burned, was on average 692 calories less per day. Thats a 27% reduction in the amount of calories their body was able to burn.

In order for contestants to continue their weight loss and/or maintain it they would have needed to increase their physical activity and continue to do so due to the metabolic acclimation that occurred.

The effect of dieting goes beyond just our weight and what our bodies might look like. When we continually weight cycle aka yo-yo diet and have our weights go up an down we are placing our bodies at more risk for chronic disease, high blood pressure, lessening bone density, and relative energy deficiency in sport .

One study showed that even just monitoring your food intake, not necessarily restricting it, can lead to increased stress!

Do Watch Out For Diet Talk

Avoid talking about diets, body image, and food. Dont ask your loved ones to diet with you. Dont talk about the latest diet fads. Dont make comments about your or someone elses body or weight, even if you think you are saying something positive. Seemingly harmless comments like, You are losing weight! orWhy do you have an eating disorder? You look great! can be extremely triggering. DO identify other ideas, hobbies, or interests to talk about. DO shift conversations away from appearance, weight, and body image.

Increase Your Energy Intake

This is by far the most important of these 3 steps! First you must start increasing your intake. There are a few different methods that you can use to do this such as reverse dieting or going all in. Essentially, reverse dieting is a more calculated approach where you gradually increase calories whereas with the all-in approach youre immediately and likely drastically increasing your caloric intake.

I talk more about the all-in approach, which was actually created as a way to treat hypothalamic amenorrhea, in my blog post about how to regain a healthy period.

The way that I teach how to do this in The SociEATy is based on the compound effect. Start by asking yourself what is one thing that I can do today to work towards increasing your intake? Maybe you add some extra peanut butter to your toast. Maybe you go out for the milkshake when your friend asks which you previously would have said no to because you would have thought it was too many calories.

I believe in this snowball approach because it creates sustainability. When I was going through the process of fixing my own damaged metabolism one day I was all excited about eating ALL of the food and then the next day Id be in panic mode and resort back to my restrictive eating patterns. Going from one extreme to the other terrified me and I believe ultimately set me back.

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Stand At Work Three Hours A Day

Ideally, we sleep about eight hours for every 24. Most people spend another seven to ten hours sitting at their desk. That means most of us spend the overwhelming majority of our time sedentary. Our bodies weren’t designed for this level of inactivityâmost of humans’ evolutionary history involved being active, searching for food and fuel. Nutritionist Lisa Jubilee says that one way to burn more calories daily is to stand more and sit less. She cites a British study which found that standing at work burned 50 more calories per hour than sitting. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, consider this: If you stand for just three hours of your day, in one year you’d expend more than 30,000 extra caloriesâwhich amounts to about 8 pounds of fat!

Damaging Mindsets That Fuel Anorexia

All-or-nothing thinking. Through this harshly critical lens, if youre not perfect, youre a total failure. You have a hard time seeing shades of gray, at least when it comes to yourself.

Emotional reasoning. You believe if you feel a certain way, it must be true. I feel fat means I am fat.I feel hopeless means youll never get better.

Musts, must-nots, and have-tos. You hold yourself to a rigid set of rules and beat yourself up if you break them.

Labeling. You call yourself names based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings. Im unhappy with how I look becomes Im disgusting. Slipping up becomes Im a failure.

Catastrophizing. You jump to the worst-case scenario. If you backslide in recovery, for example, you assume that theres no hope youll ever get better.

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Pregnancy Activity And Diet

Take a look at what you did for the preceding few months. Having been heavily pregnant you most likely would have moved around less. Gone were the aerobics, gym or even leisurely stroll around the shopping mall with your friends. Instead you were most likely sitting, lying down and even sleeping for more hours than you normally would before you fell pregnant. All of these activities are actually low metabolic states compared to standing, walking and exercising. Then there was the food. To have a healthy pregnancy you should have been eating a nutritious diet and moderately larger quantities to provide nutrition for both you and your developing baby. You may have continued with this higher calorie intake after pregnancy while you were breastfeeding.

It may not always be this simple but it is the first step one has to take before blaming the changes in body weight and metabolism on pregnancy. It is possible to return to your pre-pregnancy body weight or at least close to it. Many women have done it. For most women it is not an easy task to achieve but before starting on the weigh loss supplements and metabolism boosters, just stop and take a look at your eating and activity at this point in time.

How Athletes Can Fix Metabolic Damage

Metabolic damage, starvation mode, and weight loss resistance are interchangeable terms used to describe a slowed metabolism. Some active adults and athletes struggle with losing weight and changing their body composition . Regardless of how much they exercise or how they change their diet, for some, reducing body fat seems impossible.

To fix a slowed metabolism or overcome a weight-loss plateau, you likely need to cut back on exercise and eat more instead of less. This approach may seem counter-intuitive, but slow and steady wins the race when it comes to working with your metabolism instead of against it.

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Even Folks Whose Bodies Resist Fat Loss Or Muscle Gain Can Accomplish These Goals

All physiological changesincluding weight loss or gain, fat loss or gain, and muscle loss or gainrequire different efforts and amounts of time for different people.

But even if your body does resist weight loss, you can still lose fat, gain muscle, and dramatically change your body.

Our Precision Nutrition Coaching mens and womens Finalist Halls of Fame are clear evidence of that.

Metabolism : What It Is

By definition, metabolism means: the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.

Metabolism is divided into 2 main functions:

• Catabolism

• Anabolism

In laymens terms: Your metabolism is all about energy! Your metabolism basically means the energy that your cells require to thrive.

Every individual has a BMR which equals to the amount of energy your body uses in a given day for all life processes . Your BMR also equals the amount of energy you need to consume in order to keep a steady fuel supply for all bodily functions to work properly.

A slew of factors determine your individual BMR and metabolic rateincluding:

• Your genetics
• Your stress levels
• Andeating disorder recovery

Hence, the slower your metabolism, the lower your BMR, the less energy you have and the less efficient your bodily processes work. Your digestion is slower. Your thyroid is slower. Your brain feels fuzzy or slower. You feel sluggish or tired. You require coffee to function. You struggle to see results in the gymtone, muscle, anything.

On the flip side, the faster your metabolism is, the more efficient your body is at using foods you eat and energy stores for all life processesat least if you are healthy. Your bodys functions of nutrient digestion and absorption, hormone balance, immune balance, detoxification and cellular energy production work betteras long as your metabolism is not too fast.

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What Causes Metabolic Damage To Happen

Metabolic damage, or rather acclimation, can happen any time that our bodies dont get enough energy for long periods of time such as if were stranded in the desert, are experiencing food insecurity, or most commonly, from placing ourselves on diets.

When we go on a diet, detox, cleanse or lifestyle, yes, there is likely short term success . However, as our bodies begin to realize that the decreased resources are not going away our bodies begin to adjust our metabolism to burn fewer calories and save as much of the energy that they do have as possible.

Ever wonder why you start a diet and see results at first but then hit a plateau? This metabolic acclimation is why. Your body is literally trying to save you!

In an effort to keep you not only surviving but also thriving, your body will not only try to keep as much energy on as possible but it will try to store MORE. Why? Because it wants to be sure that should a period of decreased resources happen again that its prepared and has enough reserves.

This is why most dieters not only gain back any lost weight but actually gain back MORE and in the long run wind up weighing more after the diet than they did before. As frustrating as this can feel in the moment its not out of spite or due to a lack of willpower. Your metabolism works this way to protect you to keep an adequate amount of fuel for times of need.

A Nutritionists Guide To Incorporating Cheat Days Into Your Diet

When it comes to healthy eating, the key to following the rules may be in breaking them. The notion of cheat days has recently garnered popularity for those dieting or wishing to sustain a healthy lifestyle. While incorporating a periodic cheat day has proven to help dieters stay on track, if you dont indulge the right way, you could find yourself back at square one.

The first rule of integrating cheat days into your diet? Dont think of them as cheating, more so a meal that you earned and should enjoy without the guilt. By following this advice on how to incorporate cheat days into your diet, youll come to think of them less as cheating, and more as part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

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Eating Disorders And Metabolic Rate: How To Heal The Damage

It’s not exactly a shock that eating disorders can wreak long-term havoc on how the body functionseven as the behaviors subside and a healthy weight is achieved. But did you know there is a correlation between eating disorders and issues with metabolic rate? When I first began my own recovery process, it did not occur to me just how much deterioration a 15-year battle with anorexia can inflict on the metabolism. As I have since learned, though, it is not only possible to heal the damage caused but also to restore balance to the metabolic rate. And like with all aspects of eating disorder recovery, I maintain that if I can do this with success, then you can too.

Can Eating Too Little Actually Damage Your Metabolism Exploring The Truths And Fallacies Of Metabolic Damage’

Theres a lot of discussion in the fitness industry about whether crash dieting can cause metabolic damage. In this article, well take on this interesting topic and separate fact from fiction. Well also teach you exactly why crash diets might be linked to struggling to maintain your weight in the future.

• Want to listen instead of read?

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Despite working out consistently and intensely, plus eating carefully, youre not losing weight .

Or you were losing weight consistently until recently. Now youre stuckeven though youre working as hard as ever.

Or when you were younger, you were super fit. Maybe you did fitness competitions. Maybe you did some crash diets. But now, even when you put in the same effort, you just cant seem to get as lean.

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Try Hiit Workouts To Build Muscle Mass

When it comes to the best workouts for weight loss, neither weights nor cardio can completely move the needle on their own. Interval training is the best way to shed pounds, increase your metabolism, and improve insulin sensitivity. One International Journal of Obesity study found that 20-minute HIIT workouts helped women lose 5.5 more pounds and gain more lean muscle mass over the course of 15 weeks than women who did long, steady cardio workouts.

At the gym, sign up for a HIIT class, or turn your favorite aerobic exercise, into an interval workout by adding periods of intense speed followed by periods of rest for the same amount of time. Do this six to 10 times to complete a fat-slashing workout. As you get better, slowly increase the amount of time of increased intensity.

Anorexia Recovery Tip : Understand This Is Not Really About Weight Or Food

The food and weight-related issues are in fact symptoms of a deeper issue: depression, anxiety, loneliness, insecurity, pressure to be perfect, or feeling out of control. Problems that no amount of dieting or weight loss can cure.

In order to overcome anorexia, you first need to understand that it meets a need in your life. For example, maybe you feel powerless in many parts of your life, but you can control what you eat. Saying no to food, getting the best of hunger, and controlling the number on the scale may make you feel strong and successfulat least for a short while. You may even come to enjoy your hunger pangs as reminders of a special talent that most people dont possess.

I feel fat

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Metabolism Is Only One Factor For Weight Maintenance

Our bodies are influenced by many hormones, like ghrelin and leptin, that dictate our appetite and hunger levels. Ghrelin triggers hunger and leptin signals when you’re full. So your body releases a certain amount of ghrelin when you need to eat and then replaces it with leptin when it’s time to stop eating.

However, when you lose weight, researchers have found that your body releases more ghrelin and less leptin meaning you feel hungrier when it’s time to eat and less full after you’re done.

These hormones and the way they contribute to weight control is totally separate from the role that metabolism plays. Plus, these hormones likely play a larger role in whether or not you keep the weight off that you lost.

In other words, relying on your BMR to keep the weight off for you is a bad, and likely unsuccessful, game plan.

Drink Less Alcohol To Increase Fat Burn

While drinking in moderation every so often won’t do too much harm to your waistline, making it a habit can slow down your metabolic rate. Why? When your body has a cocktail to break down, it takes precedence over any food that you’ve already eaten that’s waiting to be digested. This slows down the entire metabolic process. On the occasions that you decided to indulge, stick to low-calorie drinks. Alternate your alcohol with water to slow your pace, and cut yourself off after two drinks. Avoid ordering high-cal bar food like fries and burgers. An important note: Wine in moderation can have numerous benefits, including weight loss!

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Always Opt For Organic Beef Eggs And Dairy

“Hormones dictate how our body utilizes the energy we give it,” says nutritionist Lisa Jubilee. “Between our reproductive, thyroid and growth hormones, appetite, insulin, and hunger hormone leptin and ghrelin, our bodies have to perform a tricky balancing act to keep us lean, energized and viable reproductive beings.” Those tasks have become much more difficult because of the hormone residues we consume via cage-raised foods. If you want to give your metabolism a leg up, Jubilee says, switch to organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised beef, eggs, and dairy products, thereby avoiding those nasty hormones at mealtime.