How
To Repair A Damaged Metabolism
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
If you've caused
metabolic damage as a result of following starvation diets
or losing weight too rapidly in the past, it can be extremely
difficult to achieve any further fat loss at all. The
good news is, metabolic damage can be repaired. All it
takes is the right combination of metabolism stimulating
exercise and metabolism stimulating nutrition (NOT just
a diet), all done consistently over time.
The big irony
is that most of the diet programs that claim to help you
get rid of excess weight, only end up making it harder
for you in the long run because they use harsh metabolism-decreasing
diets and not enough exercise (almost never any weight
training).
It may take
a little longer if you have really messed things up with
severe starvation dieting in the past, especially if you've
lost a lot of lean body mass, but it is never hopeless.
Anyone can increase their metabolism.
Most people
get an almost immediate boost in metabolic rate when they
start the Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle program. However, the
results are not going to be "overnight." Give
it a little time...
Within 3 weeks
your metabolism will already be more efficient. Within
6-8 weeks, it's burning hot. Give me 12 weeks of consistent
diligent effort, sticking with all the metabolism boosting
strategies I teach, and your metabolism really will become
like a turbo charged engine, and I'm not exaggerating
when I say that.
Whats
most important for upping your metabolism is CONSISTENCY
in applying the Burn The Fat nutrition and training principles
every single day.
That includes:
-
Meal
frequency: eat 5-6 small meals per day
-
Meal
timing: eat approximately every 3 hours, with a substantial
breakfast and a substantial post workout meal.
-
Sufficient
Caloric Intake: maintain a small calorie deficit and
avoid starvation-level diets (suggested safe levels
for fat loss: 2100-2500 calories per day for men,
1400-1800 calories per day for women; adjust as needed)
-
Food
choices: Select natural, unprocessed foods with high
thermic effect (lean proteins like chicken, turkey,
egg whites and fish are highly thermic, as are all
green vegetables, salad vegetables and other fibrous
carbs)
-
Cardio
training: Push up the intensity a bit if you really
want to get a metabolic boost. Walking and low intensity
cardio is fine, but higher intensity is more metabolism-stimulating
-
Weight
training: The basic exercises that include the largest
muscle groups or even call into play the entire body
as a unit (squats, front squats, split squats, deadlifts,
stiff legged deadlifts, overhead presses, all kinds
of rows and core-activation exercises) will have a
much greater metabolism stimulating effect than isolation
exercises (concentration curls, calf raises, etc)
-
The weight
training is extremely important in cases of "metabolic
damage" because this is the stimulus to keep
the muscle you have and begin rebuilding new muscle
tissue, which is the engine that drives your metabolism.
The men don't
usually have a problem with the weight training, but I
still hear women say they don't want to lift weights as
part of their fat loss programs. Well, people who wont
lift weights can expect a very, very long metabolism "repair
process" if they achieve it at all.
Consistency is the key.
Nothing will
undermine the "re-building" of your metabolism
like inconsistency. If you stop and start, or skip meals
and workouts often, you will not even get off the ground.
After your
metabolism is back up where it should be, it takes continued
"stoking" of the metabolic furnace to keep it
there. Once you get your metabolic engine running, you've
got to keep feeding it fuel or the fire will die down.
Picture an
old fashioned wood burning stove...
Imagine you're
in a cabin up in the mountains in the winter. It's cold
in there and you want to keep the cabin warm. Can you
achieve this by feeding the fire once or twice per day?
Nope. Not enough fuel to burn, so not much heat is generated.
What if you
just toss an entire pile of wood in the stove all at once?
Will that work? Nope. Lots of fuel, but can't all be used
at once... it just smothers the fire and the excess just
sits there.
How about if
you throw some tissue paper or crumpled newspaper in the
stove, will that work? Nope - too quickly burning.
You have to
keep putting small amounts of wood (the right type of
fuel) on the fire at regular intervals or the fire burns
out.
It's also difficult
to get the fire lit again. In the case of metabolism,
it's like going through that initial few weeks of overcoming
inertia all over again.
Your goal is
to get your metabolism burning hot and keep it burning
and this cannot be achieved by missing meals, missing
workouts or with sporadic, infrequent training.
I have only
seen a handful of cases where all these things were done
properly and there was still a longer "repair"
process.
For example,
one case was former ballet dancer. At 5' 5", she
was previously 110 lbs and had increased to about 145
or so. She didnt want to reach her previous 110,
but find a happy medium of about 125 lbs.
I figured with
20 lbs to cut, this would be a simple and predictable
process, but she had a challenging time (and I didn't
know why at first).
I later found
out that she had been anorexic and bulimic for many years.
This had caused a lot of damage, and although she did
reach her goal, it took about twice as long as we had
anticipated.
The good news
is, even in this extreme case, the same nutrition and
training principles worked! It just took a little longer.
And by the way her program included some serious training
with free weights and she ate a lot more (clean) food
than she had ever eaten before. No "starvation!"
Thats
the power of burning the fat and feeding the muscles...
Trying to starve the fat with crash diets is what causes
the metabolic damage in the first place!
If youre
interested in the healthy, sensible way to take off the
fat, while keeping all your muscle and actually increasing
your metabolism in the process, then my Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle program can teach you
how. No gimmicks or false promises. Just the truth - you
have to work at it and you have to be patient.
About
the Author:
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Tom Venuto is a lifetime
natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal
trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning
specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling
e-book, "Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom has
written hundreds of articles and has been featured
in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN,
Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise
for Men and Mens Exercise, as well as on hundreds
of websites worldwide.
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Articles By Tom Venuto
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