Most people believe their metabolism to be one of the most screwable parts of their body (yeah yeah, vagina butthole haha, grow up). They believe that all their fitness failures and shortcomings are due to messing up and “slowing down” their metabolism and success is solely determined by having a “good” metabolism.
And in this deceptive world of health and fitness, nothing is more misunderstood than your own metabolism. It’s a trendy word no doubt, but so-called “fitness gurus” and marketers are throwing metabolism around way too much nowadays with absolutely no meaning or substance.
In reality, most of what you believe about your metabolism is a myth, such as…
Eating 6 meals per day will help stoke the metabolic fire
The theory behind this commonly used phrase is that if you eat 6 small meals per day, your metabolism will never slow down since you’re constantly supplying your “metabolic flame” with more fuel and you’ll be able to burn more fat throughout the day.
And this sounds incredibly sexy on paper, but it’s just that, a sexy sounding theory. It’s also a great marketing tool to help companies sell more food.
From a body composition standpoint, there is no difference between eating 6 smaller meals as opposed to 1-3 bigger meals.
The most important thing to do is to watch your total caloric intake for the day. There’s nothing inherently wrong with eating 6 times per day, but there are no real benefits to it either.
Find the best meal frequency for your lifestyle.
Fasting will slow your metabolism down to a crawl
Continuing from my first point, fasting will not slow down your metabolism unless you take it to the extreme and do something crazy like fast for 1 week straight.
If you skip breakfast everyday and don’t eat until 2pm, you’re going to be just fine. Calm down. You could even go up to 72 hours without food as this study states and not damage your metabolism (I don’t recommend this, I’m simply trying to make a point that fasting won’t hurt you).
For a more realistic approach, you could do a Eat Stop Eat style fast 1-2x per week (read my review here).
Your metabolism slows down as you age
Yes, your metabolism does slow down as you age, but the amount is minuscule and the only reason it does slow down is because you tend to lose a tiny bit of muscle mass as you age.
For example, a 60 year old man is never going to have as much muscle mass as a 25 year old man even if they follow the exact same workout and diet plans.
Older people also tend to carry more fat. So the best thing you can do to protect your metabolism as you age is to build a lean and muscular body and maintain it for the rest of your life.
So yes in this case, the saying “If you don’t use it, you lose it” really is true.
Don’t use your age as an excuse to let yourself go. There’s no reason why you can’t be old and still look fucking incredible. As long as you continue to lift weights and eat right, your metabolism will be just fine.
Eating [insert magical food here] will boost your metabolism and burn fat
Okay people, it’s time to put on your common sense hats. If losing weight was simply a matter of eating “magical” foods like chili peppers, cinnamon, green tea, and unicorn blood then nobody would be fat.
It boggles my mind the amount of people who believe that eating specific foods is the secret behind weight loss.
Yes, there are studies showing foods like green tea and hot peppers increase your metabolic rate, but the amount is so ridiculously fucking little that eating these foods will never produce any noticeable results.
I’ve never heard of anyone who has successfully lost weight because they ate more chili peppers or drank more green tea. It’s absolute nonsense. There’s nothing wrong with eating these foods, but please don’t eat them for the sole sake of trying to lose weight.
Doing intense workouts (like intervals) boosts your metabolism and burns more calories after the workout
A lot of people these days are doing workouts that are focused around EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) or the calories burned after the workout. Some workouts claim that it’s able to significantly boost your metabolism up to the point that you’ll be burning more calories post-workout than the actual workout itself.
And while this sounds great, the calories you burn post-workout aren’t as significant as you think.
In fact, a 2006 study done on EPOC concluded that the majority of calories burned when exercising are burned during the actual exercise itself. Things like high intensity interval training can boost EPOC a tiny bit more than traditional running, but the amount is nothing significant. This is why people are able to get results with slow, steady-state cardio – because the majority of the calories are burned during exercise.
Quick note: Here is a smart cardio routine that really goes in-depth on how to use cardio to get as lean as you desire.
Gaining muscle will shoot your metabolism though the roof
Muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue but the extra calories it takes to maintain muscle mass is nothing to write home about. For whatever reason, the media loves to say that gaining one pound of muscle will boost your metabolism by an extra 10-15 calories, with some going as high as 50 calories.
So if you gained an 20 pounds of muscle, your metabolism could technically increase by up to 1000 calories, meaning you would get to eat 1000 extra calories per day just to maintain your weight. Sounds awesome right?
Well… the truth is that gaining 1 pound of muscle will only increase your metabolism by approximately 5 calories. This is why gaining muscle in hopes of increasing your metabolism and losing fat isn’t the smartest thing to do.
Gain muscle to be strong and look awesome, not to boost your metabolism and lose fat.
You can’t lose weight because you have a slow metabolism
Put bluntly, people who claim they can’t lose weight because they have a slow metabolism are simply lazy and ignorant.
These people have become so brainwashed by the media that all their failures are due having a shitty metabolism and that it’s “not their fault” that they can’t lose weight.
But in reality it is their fault.
Try not losing weight on 1000 calories per day.
People who blame their metabolism are people who don’t even bother with tracking their food intake.
These are people who say they got fat after college because they’re getting older and their metabolism isn’t what it used to be. Oh please! I’m sorry buddy, but you’re not fat because your metabolism slowed down, you’re fat because you eat like shit and stopped exercising. Too crude? Perhaps, but with obesity rates skyrocketing, now is not the time to kiss your ass.
Take action. Actually make an effort to track the amount of food going into your mouth. Get your ass to the gym and train with a purpose – lift weights and train with intensity. Do this for a few weeks, and I guarantee your metabolism will magically fix itself.
You can’t gain muscle because you have a fast metabolism
Yes skinny guys have problems too and one of the most common problems they have is that they can’t gain muscle because the believe that their metabolism is too fast.
And it’s true – some guys (especially younger ones) have faster metabolisms, but more often than not, the real reason skinny guys can’t gain muscle is simply because they’re not eating enough consistently.
Skinny guys who say that they eat a lot typically make one or more of the following mistakes:
- They don’t track calories. Most skinny guys don’t have a very big appetite and stop eating the moment they feel full. If you’re trying to gain weight and you’re simply gauging the amount of food you eat by “hunger” and “how you feel” then you’re not going to make much progress. I suggest all aspiring skinny guys to track their calories. Start by adding 500 calories to your maintenance calories and scale appropriately depending on whether your gain or lose weight.
- They eat big on occasion, meaning they’ll eat a ridiculous amount of food a couple times per week (and tell everybody they eat a ton and can’t gain weight), probably on weekends but then they’ll go right back to eating like a bird during the week. If you want to grow, you need to eat big consistently.
Some skinny guys really do have fast metabolisms, but that’s not the reason they can’t gain weight. Instead, most skinny guys lack appetite, have no idea on what it truly means to eat a lot, or don’t even make the effort track their calories.
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And if you guys could spread the word and ‘LIKE’ and share this post on Facebook, that would be awesome 🙂
Yes, I’m asking for a shameless ‘LIKE’ but it’s easy and it’ll (maybe) shut up that annoying friend you have that always complains about their metabolism.
What do you guys think? Drop a comment below with the most ridiculous metabolism myths you’ve heard.
What food and things can you do to loos the rolls over you pants (belly fat I think its called). .
eat less, overall cal deficit is most important.
Thank you. This was a good kick in the ass. I have been wondering why I haven’t been losing any weight and been lounging in self pity these days. I eat healthy (except on weekends) exercise and drink lots of water, but in reality I haven’t been doing EVERYTHING in my power to lose weight. The truth is that I want to have fun and indulge while losing weight and in reality it just isn’t so. I really need to get strict in my eating patterns otherwise the scale won’t stop. Great read, thanks again.
Great article. I wish I knew the truth behind the saying that if your deficit is too large that your metabolism will slow and you will gain weight from less calories… And if you lower your intake further your metabolism will keep dropping until apparently you no longer have to eat at all but you still get very fat. But you will also get very skinny and your hair will fall out. This is just a jumble of everything I’ve read but it sounds insane all together. But each idea separately sounds plausible.
There is some slight truth to that. If you all of a sudden drop to 500 calories per day, then yes, that will damage your metabolism.
See, you fall into the hype.
Suddenly dropping to 500 cals won’t kill your metabolism……At least not from temporary VLC. If you are on a Very Low Calorie diet for too long yes………It is however a myth that your metabolism will keep dropping until you can no longer eat anything. There is no such thing as dropping to 0………At most, you can screw your metabolism by 30-40%, – starvation mode is not a process that happens overnight. There are clever ways to do low calorie diets…… there are many ways you can fool your body by alternating low and high calories. But probably the best way is to do a smaller deficit…. Anything below 1200 calories is not healthy. I don’t recommend people exceed 40% of their daily maintenance levels…..SO for example if your base line is 2100 calories, don’t go below 1260, and so forth. Also as you lose weight regardless, your metabolism WILL lower, it’s FACT……. A 600 pound tub of lard will have a higher resting metabolism than a person weighing 150!!! whether he packs the fucking muscles or not…….Proof of concept as to why it is easier for a fat person that caliber to lose insane amounts of calories from fat in short periods of time in the beginning. Why most diets stall and plateau ? Low fucking calories………that’s the trap people fall for.
4 biggest mistakes in losing weight:
1) Draconian diets based on very low calories
2) Quack based diets that tell you to cut all the fats and tell you fat makes you fat This results in low fat high carb diets……… 😀
3) The fucking QUACKS who tell you all carb is evil and carb makes you fat!!!
4) Long term low carb diets
People don’t lose weight and are fat because they listen to the motherfuckers on TV,
the QUACKS in magasines, infomercials and the dieticians who were fed lies and spread the lies back to you. And also to the morons who listen to celebrity doctors on TV spreading utter nonsense not based on scientific facts (you know who are !).
I completely agree, 500 cals per day for a few days is fine for extremem fat loss, but it’s absolutely stupid to do in the long run.
Hey,
I still have a little question. What about people who were dieting and trained excessively and just got 15 Pounds back on the scale within 6 weeks?
There must be truth to that?!
How do they manage to get back in shape?
gain 15 pounds in 6 weeks? Not sure if i get the question.
Hia, i’ve been dieting for 6 wks n exercising everyday n only lost 3lbs, I weigh 10,11 n 5’5. Is it coz of dieting then having binges? I diet for 5 wks then ill go to cheating at wkends til I put on n around we go!
are you tracking your calories? Make sure you’re eating in a calorie deficit.
I follow the weight watcher points plan n have for yrs, but it’s as if my body is so used to the plan it’s stopped working! Like I said 6 wks of eating right n exercising every day n a 3 lb loss! It’s driving me nuts! Surely if I start eating ‘normally’ I’ll put on more! I eat about 1200 cals a day n do half hour skipping n an hour walking my dogs per day, also my job is energetic work.
Hi. I have a question can you please tell me how someone can only eat about 800 cal a day and work out doing LISS cardio each and every day and not lose weight?
Is this person just lazy and not trying hard enough?
And yes… The food intake is real and the amount of exercise is real. Please elaborate.
because 800 cals is too little and it absolutely wrecks your body and metabolism.
so even when you are in a deficit its possible not to lose weight ? because in a later comment to me you on which i adressed to the problem people didn’t lose weight beeing in a constant deficit you denied this .
you also state :
“Oh please! I’m sorry buddy, but you’re not fat because your metabolism slowed down, you’re fat because you eat like shit and stopped exercising. Too crude? Perhaps, but with obesity rates skyrocketing, now is not the time to kiss your ass..”
so what is it ? seems to me you contradict yourself. eating 800 kcal is a serious deficit and according your statements should lead to weightloss .
maybe metabolism is more important and a more difficult subject than you want to admit or can explain !
if losing weight was so easy , millions of people working there butt of and dieting like hell would lose massive weight . it isn’t so simple as saying “you eat to much and exercising to less”.
you seem to think obese people are stupid and can’t do the math ,you seem to think they are lazy , the problem is many of them are desperate and have absolutely no benifit listening to this kind of prejudices .
luckily there are more well educated people nowedays who want to look further then these prejudices and seek for real solutions to help the Obese people then just saying stop eating !
I am very aware that metabolic damage exists. Not denying it, which is why I told this person to not eat 800 cals for a prolonged period of time.
At the same time, you can’t say that all weight loss is caused by metabolic damage and you also can’t say that weight loss is not achieved via a calorie deficit. Losing weight is not easy because changing your lifestyle to eat less is not easy.
Sure women who suffer from metabolic damage will need to eat more INITIALLY to “restore” their metabolism but after that they need to be in a deficit to lose weight. Period.
If you don’t understand the concept of a calorie deficit, then I think we are done here.
While I do agree with MOST of this article, there are a few things people do need to be careful with if they do decide to do a very low calorie diet (880 or less). Things such as gallstones or vitamin deficiencies that can lead to health issues and put a damper on the weight loss. You should always tak a multi-vitamin when on a lower cal diet to avoid any short comings.
The other problem with the “A calorie is a calorie” mindset is that your overall health and body composition has a much better chance of getting where you want to be and not sickly if you are getting your cals from lean protein and veggies to help to minimize lbm loss, than if you are getting your 100 cals from doughnuts,,,Also, people on low carb diets arent feeding their bodies the first used energy option for their body so potentially they can tap into their fat stores quicker.and they will drop water weight faster because carbs hold onto more parts water than fat or protein.
Just a few SMALL things, nothing that would change any of the KEY points of the article but I wouldnt want anyone dropping to 500 to 800 cals a day and thinking that their are NO possible health issues if they dont take proper precautions…
No idea where you got the number 880.
A calorie is a calorie. A macronutrient is not a macronutrient.
the most important reason people don’t lose weight isn’t because the eat to much ,its because they have done crash diets there whole life damaged there metabolisme and have learned wrong wayes to exercise .
i now lot of women who want to lose weight , the eat mostly healthy foods ,they exercise healthy, have a healthy lifestyle without smoking and alcohol in excess and still can’t lose weight and are Obese. ..
i find it disturbing to adress the problem they don’t lose weight back to there face to say that its there own fault and they have to start reallly counting calories and make sure they are in a deficit .
they are already in a constant excess deficit which is one of the main problems !
when i look what the Women ,i counsil ,are eating per day they mostly are around the 1000-kcal a day , while there calorie intake should be since they exercise a lot ( 5 times a week at least an hour)around the 2000-2500 kcal at least.
yes your metabolisme can be damaged and slowing down if you are in a constant deficit , your body wil adapt , just eating even lesser and lesser wil damage your health ! sure when your keep doing it you wil lose weight to the point you body is totally wrecked.
the only way to get these people back on track is to teach them what really eating healthy is ,to make sure they take in all the essentiel Nutrients , learn them to do the right kind of exercise and get them of the excess calorie restrciting diets.which damage there whole physical system. even is this means the have to gain first a few pounds to reset there body .
only when they get the balance in there body again they wil get the result they want after a periode of time depending on how long the abused there body .
however as a consultant its also your job to make sure they have a good selfimage to make sure the don’t turn on be anorexia !.
Metabolic damage is a problem but you also can’t say overeating is not the cause being fat.
You can’t lose weight without a calories deficit. Period.
Yep, old rule: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy
in many cases the Overweight is caused in earlier periods of excess calorie intake follewed by crash diets .which damaged the metabolism time after time after time. .
i have many cases of especially women between 30 and 60 years old eating now for a very long periode just about 1000 to 1500 kcal while they should eat about 2000 – 2500kcal at least depending on there level of activity and weight .
they don’t lose weight any more but still are obese…the foods they are eating are overall healthy or promoted as healthy. .i keep track on there calories weekly since they don’t counted them and thought they were overating in the first place and wanted even to lower the amount of calories .
that would mean the even wanted to skip more food under the 1000 kcal .which of course can’t be considered healthy anymore .
after pushing them , the also believe only a calorie lowering causes losing weight since that is what they have learned at the doctor ,dietists etc etc , to choose to eat more healthy whole foods ( less refined ,no light products ) the love and all the vegetables the want to eat and love but at least 3 times a day as a rule with every standard meal time to a amount of at least 500 to 1000 grams a day . so now hungry feelings and cravings eating whole healthy foods they love and even once i a while the possibility for some unhealthy food days .
they started to lose weight again after a periode of time dependend how long and how much the done there unhealthy crash diets..
i am not promoting a certain kind of diet and just to try to seek a healthy lifestyle dependend on most of there food choises .
thats the case in practise not theorie !
I’m curious because of: “Fasting will slow your metabolism down to a crawl
Continuing from my first point, fasting will not slow down your metabolism unless you take it to the extreme and do something crazy like fast for 1 week straight.”
Could you show any source to confirm that? Seems my body prefers 2-3 bigger meals per day, following advice from Internet I transform my diet into 5-6 smaller meals per day without any results. I prefer to fast one or two days per week, but don’t have any confirmation it wouldn’t be the worst way.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1812308
I had a question. I’m in a slightly less usual situation – I’m just about a healthy weight at 101lbs for my height (and it’s roughly the weight I’ve always been) and most of the excess fat I do have manifests itself in belly fat upon belly fat (I’ve never been a big eater, I tracked my intake before dieting and I was about 200 calories over estimated maintenance) which I guess is why this belly fat took years to really manifest itself and “catch up” with me. I think it also had a lot to do with WHAT I was eating which was basically everything I shouldn’t and none of what I should.
I’m confused though, would the fact I’m tiny all over except for, I’d guess no more than 7lbs extra fat despite eating rubbish (especially sugar and simple carbs) for 15 years mean I have a fast metabolism? In which case doesn’t a BMR of 1,014 seem too low? Oh I’m so confused!
It might just be that you don’t have enough muscle which is why you only have a “little bit” of fat to lose but still don’t have your desired body.
Youre awsome thanks for the piece it added some laughs in my day. What keeps you motivated? Keeps you from grabbing that sugar filled cookie when u drink tea ?hahaha
Who says I don’t eat a cookie?
No one.. I kinda just wanted to know how I could ignore a bad craving. Since I wont be able to only eat one. But ja i guess its just a choice.
Okay so this is slightly off topic but I have an eating disorder and haven’t went above 800 calories in a good few months, more recently I’ve been at about 300 or 400kcal/day yet I haven’t lost any weight, I know I’ve completely wrecked my metabolism but I’m petrified to eat any more because I’m scared of gaining weight, if I was to increase to say 1000kcal a day, do you believe there would be a big weight gain at first? Or would you be able to suggest the best way of re-feeding to bring my metabolism up to where it should be? I’m fascinated with this article and it has motivated me to try and eat normally again so thank you for that:)
you will definitely gain weight once you start eating more, that’s guaranteed, but that’s your goal, right?
I’d begin to slowly increase calories by 100 or so per day until your up to maintenance levels for your weight, which is typically around 15x your bodyweight in pounds at that point you can start lifting weights and putting on even more weight but in the form of muscle.
Your article was good but then comment that less than 500 calories or less is going to damage your metabolism.
Statvation only applies to people at 5% body fat because then your body starts metabolizing your muscles and your vital organs.
There is no metabolic “damage” that magically appears once you eat 500 calories for a long time.
Its the mass of your body and how much of it can be turned i to energy. If you are fat, even if you dont eat for days you will be fine.
Wow seriously? Sorry but you’re very misinformed.
Please watch this – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHzie6XRGk
Sorry Keith but Dude is indeed correct about being overweight and going on a VLCD. Many doctors put morbidly obese individuals on such diets @ 500 kcal a day for long term. And guess what? It works! Other studies include The Minnesota Starvation Project in which healthy males ate around 1500 kcal a day and did regular excercise. They all lost weight and lots of it. None of them suffered any ill affects aside from not being able to concentrate at times. Also, as one person mentioned the Law of Thermodynamics, which also supports my reasoning. You see, W = Fd. Work is force times distance, you move a heavy body around you need energy. You think that someone who weighs 300 lbs and needs 3000 kcal to maintain that weight plus any “work” he/she does isn’t going to need or burn more calories because they “damaged” their metabolism? What kind of mickey mouse mechanics have you been studying? Even in the harshest of studies, people who ate NOTHING for weeks only dropped their metablic rate by 10-15% in “starvation mode. Which means BMR of a 300 lb man eating nothing would be 2800 Kcal. But guess what? that means eating nothing still gives him a 2800 kcal deficit! And don’t post Youtube videos as evidence; show us some per reviewed articles from science magazines. Here is my evidence below if you want to enlighten yourself. Sorry, but your theory doesn’t hold a candle to fact. Yes caloric deficit is necessary, the greater it is, the greater the weight loss, and eventual muscle loss. But don’t tell me that a 300 lb man who eats 1500 kcal a day to lose weight is going to ruin his metabolism. The only reason his metabolism drops is because his WEIGHT drops along with his BMR.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2081442
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/health/no-food-for-10-days-uae-hospital-introduces-extreme-starvation-diet
http://www.nowloss.com/starvation-mode-myth.htm
First off, the other commenter never mentioned how heavy the guys were so I was assuming we’re talking a relatively average amount of weight loss (20-40 pounds or so).
But if you’re talking about extremities, then of course everything changes. The heavier you start off, the higher your deficit can be. If you are morbidly obese, you can do the 500 cal diet like the other guy said.
But if you’re say 200 pounds and want to get down to 180 or so, doing a 500 calorie diet per day for the long haul is stupid and will only end badly.
hello (: I am fourteen years old and I do have fast metabolism due to genetics from my dad. thanks to this article, I will now track my calories, but how much calories should I eat? (so that I can gain muscle and slow my metabolism) yes I am afraid of my metabolism not being able to slow down forever. I wouldn’t want to be skinny for the rest of my life lol. im also trying to make my arms big by doing daily push-ups so I can look awesome <: I also EAT ALOTTT. trust me. reply questions/advice! I'll reply back! thanks so much (:
No i definitely do not recommend tracking if you are 14. Please don’t start tracking, you’re only 14 years old. Just focus on eating healthy foods and don’t stress over anything.
Just read most of this and would like to say thank you for answering that 14 year old the way you did.
Dear 14 year old, i’m 33, I’ve spent most of my life plagued by a incredibly fast metabolism. If I could go back to age 14 (when I was smoking, drinking, and eating junk food all day everyday), I would do exactly what this gentleman suggested; eat healthy and exercise. You might always be skinny, but you can be ripped, healthy, happy, and a chick magnet without steroids, tracking calories, or anything else. Liftweights wisely too, you’ll need those joints in good shape later.
🙂
Yeah being ripped at 14 should really be the last thing someone should be thinking about.
I meant muscular lol.