Slowing of the matabolism? :(

[Steel_UK]

Hi again.

Having had nearly a month of not training, after my scar with a heart condition (blood tests checked out good so just need the machine next), I have noticed that I've been putting a bit of fat on.

I was doing silly amounts of cardio proir to stopping but was still maintaining the body fat level that I'd rather have not had. It seems that even though I was eating regularly throughout the day, I was perhaps exceeding what I had in my energy stores so I've unwantingly slowed my metabolism right down?

Are there any ways to increase the natural metabolism back up to pace? Or does that gradually happen naturally or what? I used to be incredibly skinny and thin until I took up lifting and then that's when I suddenly put on body fat.

It's just a little frustrating, and I have little idea how other blokes of my age have little body fat and aren't very active at all.

In fact, it's incredibly demoralising and makes me wonder if being active worse than not. What with the health complaints I'm having to sort out, and increased body fat, yet I was doing up to two to three hours of cardio two to three times a week among lifting.

Meanwhile, like right now, I'm bloody hungry too. Really hungry but I've not been doing anything demanding.

[lizzyb]

Hey....nice to see you back!!

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and take a wild guess that you are probably eating MORE carbs than you used to, especially the 'bad' ones, lol!! Our bodies have a strange way of becoming carboholic......I'm sure you can relate to some degree, like when after having a really great cheat meal filled with breads, sugars, starches of all sorts.....the next day when diet is supposed to be back to 'normal' you are craving sweets, breads and starches of all sorts?? At least that's been my experience with such things, lol!! Especially cake for some reason, really sets me off for a week or so to get back into disciplined eating habits.
That being said, you were quite the active guy prior to health issues and we all know that muscle is, well, metabolic and fat is NOT. So when you were active you required way more cals just to survive on a day to day.....now, not so active and I suspect that perhaps you have not altered your intake to match your activity (or non active lifestyle) at the moment.......OR perhaps even IF you have/did alter your caloric needs, it could very well be that you took your calories too LOW and your body is storing fat because, well, you'd be starving it......make sense?! Always look to your diet first......then check your activity. If they do not co-relate then back to the drawing board with you!

Energy=energy out. So to increase your metabolism all you need to do is get moving again!! Have your energy requirements meet your needs. Eat 5-6 small meals a day. Include lean protein with each meal. Eat your carbs in the morning and the rest be fiborus ones (veggies). Use EFA's whenever you can.....

Question though........why on earth would anyone want to do 2-3hours of cardio in one day??? JK but really, were/are you and oxidative (endurance) athlete is that why or were/are you just being recreational?? I can't imagine anyone loving cardio that much just for the fun of it, lol!!

[Steel_UK]

Mucho thanks for your response Lizzy!

The large amounts of cardio was because of two things. I'm skint at the moment (job troubles) and transport costs a fortune so was cycling to and from the gym (20-30 minutes each way, racing traffic through town normally! ). And at the gym we were being put through boxing type training regularly amongst lifting. This boxing training would last anywhere between 60 and 80 minutes.

So there you have it.

Maybe I should pay strict attention to what I'm taking in now. I never used to bother given my age and I'm not chasing after really low body fat, I just don't want things like these moobs that I have. (although I've had them for a while now, like since I started lifting and put a bit of fat on!)

[ckn]

When I had an enforced workout slowdown due to recovering from major surgery the trick I used to keep the fat off was to have a mental penalty/reward system. I couldn't overdo the exercise during recovery but couldn't regulate it by food content as I'd lose even more of my bulk.

- If I overate/drank, e.g. had a large lunch or a night out, I owed my body a cardio workout
- If I did an extra cardio workout, I owed my body a food treat.

And so on. I had 4 meals a day, breakfast, lunch, moderate dinner (early evening) and night-time snack 2-3 hours before bed. That gave my metabolism something to do virtually 24 hours a day and it kept my body-weight at not too bad a level.

If you find that difficult, keep a food diary.

The trick for increasing metabolism long term, in my opinion, is the right sort of cardio workout. You need to get your heart-rate into the 75-85% max heartrate range and keep it there for at least 30 minutes. That's the peak fat burning range and it also gives your metabolism a good kick. If you go over 85%, you're burning the wrong sort of fuel and forcing your body to go into conservation mode to put it back again, slowing down your metabolism.

Edit: If you can beg, borrow or otherwise acquire a decent heart-rate monitor, it'll revolutionise how you do cardio workouts. It's scary how little genuine effort it actually takes for a fit person to get over 85% max heart-rate, I had to learn how to slow down! I use a Suunto T6 but they're certainly not cheap.

[pliny_2001]

What is your age again, Steel?

x2 on the too much cardio -- at pretty much any pace that's sufficient to engage your heart, by two hours you've burned through all your glucose and are chowing down on aminos for energy; this'll serve to keep muscle off and tell your body to preserve fat.

That said, though, you're probably just eating too much, or ignoring a few snacks that you're eating throughout the day. My preferred way of losing fat is more cardio (steady pace and intervals, depending on a few factors) coupled with increased food - it seems counterintuitive, but always seems to work. My less preferred way is just dieting; I've only done it once, lost too much muscle on the way down, and eventually got sick (in my mind from running the calorie deficit). That said, though, it was easy to drop 2 pounds a week, so whenever people say "they can't lose weight on a diet" I'm confident that they either have a diet that has too many calories, or they're just cheating on the diet.

Assuming the MD's say you're good for the work, the weight should come off. If it isn't - and you're not that 1 in a billion people with some weird metabolic condition - you're just not doing your diet (here's a hidden culprit -- protein companies often substitute protein for lactose in the mix, which'll throw off a well-designed diet plan. If you're not getting the results you want and everything else is on schedule, check your shakes -- same thing for all those lactose-intolerant people who have a reaction to their whey isolate = it's not whey isolate).

[Steel_UK]

Thank you for your responses.

First, to answer CKN. I have this tendency to go all out or not at all, so I might be very well going well past the burning zone as I was focusing on fitness more than looks. That might very well be contributing to my problem at hand! I also lack a heart rate monitor too, whenever I've casually browsed I've always found them to be incredibly expensive. I'm saying they were priced well beyond £20, closer to £60+.

And to answer Pliny's initial question, I'm nineteen and soon to be twenty in a couple of months. That's why I'm a little frustrated. I did lose eight pounds of body weight in two weeks with the cycling and boxing fitness too! But I didn't look much different (at least I don't think I did) so I do wonder if I lost lean mass.

Maybe I'll adapt my regimes as you people advise. I think I could be going solo at the gym for a while as well as a result.

[ckn]

Originally Posted by Steel_UK

Thank you for your responses.

First, to answer CKN. I have this tendency to go all out or not at all, so I might be very well going well past the burning zone as I was focusing on fitness more than looks. That might very well be contributing to my problem at hand! I also lack a heart rate monitor too, whenever I've casually browsed I've always found them to be incredibly expensive. I'm saying they were priced well beyond £20, closer to £60+.

And to answer Pliny's initial question, I'm nineteen and soon to be twenty in a couple of months. That's why I'm a little frustrated. I did lose eight pounds of body weight in two weeks with the cycling and boxing fitness too! But I didn't look much different (at least I don't think I did) so I do wonder if I lost lean mass.

Maybe I'll adapt my regimes as you people advise. I think I could be going solo at the gym for a while as well as a result.

I used to be the same, I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere with cardio unless I was heavily puffing & panting! Once I worked out my max heart-rate and noticed I was pushing 90%+ of that regularly I realised I was screwing up my system. I now go slower but further and get far better results.

Unfortunately, the better heart rate monitors are over £100. My Suunto t6 cost me over £200. For that though, it comes with some good software to analyse data and track effort against condition.

If you shop around on eBay you can get an occasional real bargain for them, especially as the new T6c model is out (at over £300!).

[wildstang]

as far as diet goes mine would probably fatten up most anybody. i eat like a horse! but my activity matches it. the key to maintaning! as far as the cardio goes if that amount is what you feel you have to do then you definitely need 2 make adjustments such as a person running an AAS cycle would and feed the body at intervals during the cardio and excercise periods. using this approach has worked for me for 20 years. i know most people dont want or cant handle putting food in during excercise so thats were i utilize syntha-6 or whatever protein supp im using. i also utilize waxy maze to keep the glycogen stores filled. this is the only way i can keep 260+ with hour plus cardio sessions. i in essence have to eat like a pro body builder to mantain what ive worked for over 20 years to obtain. it works for them and it works for me.
during my injuries ive seriously had to cut food out to keep the fat off. i substituted tons of veggies as stomach filler and my cardio was mainly walking after meals to burn it.
point is as everybody mentioned you have to keep track and match activity level to your eating.