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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.
What’s
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 didn’t 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!"
That’s
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
you’re 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:
|
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 Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds
of websites worldwide. For information on Tom's Fat Loss program,
click
here.
Click
Here To Return To
Articles By Tom Venuto
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