Have You Crashed Your Metabolism?

By Russ Howe


Most people have struggled with weight loss at one stage or another in their lifetime. If you have ever followed a strict diet and workout program yet had the feeling that you simply can't lose weight no matter what you do, you are not alone.

If you have experienced this in the past then today's the day you begin understanding the science behind the problem. []

Having difficulty with fat loss is not a new issue. It's actually a very common trait in today's society and that's largely down to the obsessive nature of pop culture, with many celebrity magazines promoting the rather misleading idea of 'get fit quick' diets which claim to yield impossible results. This leads to a condition known as metabolic damage. The following two things are usually common traits displayed in those who suffer with it:

1. A very, very restrictive low calorie diet.

2. Performing tons of cardiovascular exercise.

There are more, but these two things are common in almost everybody who has damaged their metabolism in their attempts to lose body fat. Let's look at both aspects in a little bit more detail now.

The main cause of this problem is a poor diet. By following a restrictive eating plan which feels as though your are punishing yourself for wanting to drop body fat you can actually be making it even harder for yourself to succeed without realizing it. This is because your body reacts to a sudden drop in calories by shutting down your body's metabolism in a bid to hang on to what reserves it has left in it's stores, because it doesn't believe you are feeding it enough to survive.

It also usually corresponds with a very long cardiovascular program in the gym. It's common to hear ladies talking about spending an hour or more running on the treadmill each day while following this type of diet in a bid to lose fat.

Your body has reacted negatively to this routine and is simply fighting to keep your bodily systems functioning. It does this by taking over and preventing you from doing any further damage to yourself.

What generally transpires after this stage is the individual gets very frustrated at their lack of results and begins mistakenly blaming their failure on their lack of effort. They quit and binge, resulting in a drastic upturn in calories that the body cannot deal with at this stage. Remember, your metabolism has effectively been shut down so hitting it with a massive intake of calories suddenly is going to result in a big gain in unwanted body fat. This is how yo-yo dieting begins.

From this point, the person feels the need to get back on their diet except this time they want to punish themselves for slipping off the rails, so they restrict calories even further and workout for even longer than before. This causes further damage.

If this sounds like it's happened to you, you are probably wondering how to correct this issue.

Correcting a damaged metabolism is actually relatively easy, the main problem comes in getting somebody to recognize they have the condition in the first place. They are usually so caught up in the idea of dropping more fat that they don't want to hear the solution. Getting your metabolism back on track requires a slow, gradual increase in your daily calorie intake over the course of anything from six months to a year. Small increases of around 5% have been shown to yield the most positive results. It's simply about teaching your body how to maintain your weight despite eating more food. You can still exercise during this time, of course, but you should switch your focus away from endless cardiovascular exercise and towards high intensity interval training. It's been shown to yield far superior results as well as requiring much less time in the gym.

The most important message is to be patient in doing this. It's very easy to resolve, but the main issue is that metabolic damage tends to occur to those who are looking for quick fix weight loss solutions and therefore these individuals tend to expect the solution to be a quick fix, too. If you can't lose weight you now know what symptoms to look for. If you have damaged your metabolic rate due to a haphazard approach to dieting in the past, it is time to correct the issue.




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