Danger Metabolism Slowing Ahead

Unless you have a degree in human biology…and in many cases even if you do…you do not understand what ‘metabolism’ means.

Eating Less Calories isn't Dangerous for your Metabolism

This word gets thrown around the fitness and diet media and is used to scare people into thinking there is a dangerous level of calories that will destroy their metabolism. This of course is a false premise considering your ‘metabolism’ isn’t a thing that can be destroyed or sped up or slowed down (not without drugs).

“metabolism’ is just the sum of the processes of your body on a cellular/systemic level…that’s it…that’s all it’s ever been…nothing more. So what…who cares. Why do fitness marketers keep talking about it?! I’ll never know.

And there is virtually nothing you can do to change this.

Eating at or below your actual BMR isn’t going to ‘damage’ your metabolism any more than eating above it. And speaking of which, why don’t marketers suggest that there could be ‘metabolic damage’ when people overeat!? …anyone…anyone? Right just what I thought, this lie doesn’t lead to lucrative weight loss products.

The following claims are false and are your best way to know that a person is clueless about biology and physiology and nutrition if they say:

Eating too few calories is going to ‘slow’ your metabolism (unless they’re referring to people who are starving to death…and are in fact about to die)

that there are foods that can ‘damage’ your metabolism

That you can speed up or slow down your metabolism (without drugs…and that this would be a good thing in either direction)

That a slow metabolism is responsible for weight gain

that a fast metabolism is responsible for weight loss

That you have any control whatsoever over your metabolic rate

That your meal timing or exercise timing can affect your metabolic rate

…and any other garbage claim you hear from any fitness marketer with the word “metabolism” in it…

If you see any of the above claims, you can be assured that the person who said them is sorely lacking in their understanding of how the body works.

If you want to lose weight…EAT LESS than you are currently eating. End of story.

John

Posted by johnbarban in metabolism

15 Responses to “Danger Metabolism Slowing Ahead”

Jordan Says:
February 14th, 2010 at 11:19 am
John, do you think you spend most of your time educating us, “de-educating” us, or just comforting us? lol. Or maybe all of the above.

The metabolism thing is definitely going to be one of the biggest hurdles to people accepting this new (or old?) way of looking at weight loss. That and “clean eating,” which you’ve also been addressing in depth, of course.

By “exercise timing,” are you referring to pre/post-workout, or EPOC?
Pali Says:
February 14th, 2010 at 11:28 am
John, what about people who suffer from eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia? Is there any scientific literature documenting adverse effects on a sufferer’s metabolism? Just my own very limited observations, but it seems that suffering from one for years can affect that person’s metabolism permanently, both increasing and decreasing BMR from what it was pre-ED. Thanks for your insights.
Pali Says:
February 14th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Sorry, that second last sentence has bad grammar. I meant both increasing OR decreasing BMR. Obviously, it would be impossible to increase and decrease simultaneously. Thanks.
MikeGP Says:
February 14th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
John, maybe you cant speed up or slow down your metabolism, but are there people with faster metabolisms than others? I mean everyone has a friend that eats a LOT and never gains weight, an ectomorph. And i dont mean he “thinks” he eats a lot, i mean he eats 2 or 3 burgers, always eating dense caloric foods, etc, and never gains weight. Do those lucky people just have faster metabolisms or do they have high caloric days and then compensate with very low cal days without knowing?

On the Leptin subject of my last post. I read about leptin going down when youre aproaching single digits of BF and eating low cals, ive read this from people like Lyle Mcdonald and Martin Berkhan, which have a very respectable credibility and are not trying to sell magic formulas. Do you think it just doesnt work like that?
johnbarban Says:
February 14th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Mike,

Leptin has been studied in both mice and humans and it showed some interesting effects in mice but it doesn’t show the same thing in humans. If you did a review of the research you’d find out that leptin is not a controller of body fat in any way. Manipulating leptin levels doesn’t do anything to help reduce bodyfat in humans.

JB
johnbarban Says:
February 14th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Pali,

I’m not sure about physiological adaptations after an eating disorder, however I do know people who’ve had severe eating disorders and returned to normal eating without any notable lasting effects. It may be that any lasting changes are at the gastro intestinal level and not a systemic whole body level or perhaps lasting psychological effects that make eating ‘normal’ somewhat difficult.

It is an interesting question and one that I have not fully researched so I am just speculating.

JB
johnbarban Says:
February 14th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Not speaking specifically about epoc, just in general the idea of working out in the morning on an empty stomach…but sure epoc could be lumped in there too.

There is no energy lost regardless of how we structure our day…it can all be accounted for, epoc is irrelevant and a term I wish fitness marketers had never heard of.

JB
Pali Says:
February 15th, 2010 at 6:27 am
What you say makes sense. Thanks for the response, John.
Jordan Says:
February 15th, 2010 at 11:43 am
Any particular opinions about pre/ post-workout meals? I assume it doesn’t matter much. I have literally never done either, lol.
Tracey Says:
February 15th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Thanks for addressing this John. I sort of felt like you wrote it for me based on my comment in your last post. I think I have always struggled with my weight loss efforts because I listened to people saying if I eat to at or below my BMR that I was doing harm. So, I listened to them and eat more calories…needless to say I’ve since put on some extra lbs. Going forward, I’m going to listen more to myself and what I know works best for me. It’s just hard sometimes to not follow the flock.
BTW: Do thyroid meds raise your metabolic rate?
johnbarban Says:
February 15th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Mike,

There might be some variation in metabolic activity of internal organs…but this variation is slight. I think those people we all know that seem to be able to eat alot simply do not eat as much as we think. They might have a big dinner every now and then, but are you really aware of all the food they eat throughout the day, ever day. It could very well be that you only see them eat once in a while and at those moments it appears as though they must eat lots of food all the time.

I don’t think there is anywhere near as much variation in metabolic activity of internal organs as stories like yours suggest. I think we really just don’t know how much everyone eats and we incorrectly assume that the difference we see in body fat % on a population of people has to do with metabolism and not food intake.

JB
ClayH Says:
February 16th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Hey John. I just discovered your site, and it looks great. About that question that MikeGP raised on “faster metabolisms”, I’d always heard that it was due mostly to differences in mitochondria. That made a kind of sense to me, since variations on the frequency of proton leak and other processes could certainly affect the number of calories burned. But, I’ve never seen any studies on this, so I was wondering if you’ve seen anything on this subject.
johnbarban Says:
February 17th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Clay,

No I haven’t but if there is a difference it’s small and largely irrelevant.

JB
How to Overcome 4 Biggest Barriers that Are Preventing You from Getting in Shape Says:
November 7th, 2011 at 10:47 am
[...] because someone gives you food. You don’t even have to eat breakfast.You read so much about metabolism slow down, starvation mode and the like, but once you dig deeper you will find out that there is very little [...]
F. Yoo Says:
March 30th, 2012 at 4:16 am
Who the hell are you to start an article off by saying that the reader doesn’t know what metabolism refers to in physiology? Metabolism isn’t even something that is difficult to conceptualize. Someone thinks a lot about himself for knowledge of a basic biological concept.

Danger Metabolism Slowing Ahead

15 Responses to “Danger Metabolism Slowing Ahead”

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