Kick Starting my Metabolism... Questions

[outmama]

My metabolism seems to be very slugish. I have been eating very low fat low carb diet high protien diet for 3 months (dramitic change from what I had been doing). I eat 6-8 smaller meals \ snacks a day with 80% of my carbs comming in the AM with breakfast. I also have been doing cardio 3-5 times a week, 30 to 60 minutes and lifting heavy 3x's a week. I have not been losing any weight and my sense is that my eating and workouts should be burning off fat and the weight should be comming off. I actaully counted for a stretch and ran a caloric deficit (300 to 800 day) for almost 10 days and did not lose a pound. Is that possible?

My questions are:

1. How much food is the minimal amount that will stimulate the body to increase its metabolic rate?
2. How much protien can the body actaully make use of from one feeding? Is there a guideline like 30 to 50 grams?
3.Could having a few drinks on the weekend or during the week have on the metabolism? (clear liquor with no sugar no carb mixer). In anticipation of the answer to this, I have stopped drinking all together in the hopes that this is what was holding me back.
4. Suggestions for speeding up a slugish metabolism or for seeing if mine is in fact sluggish?

Perhaps I missed the question that I should be asking so any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

38yo
6'3" 250
27% to 30%

Thanks

Matt

[38jumper38]

1- you need a detox, get some colon cleanser and do a detox, eat protein and water for the seven days (no sugar and alcohol) when you buy colon cleanser get the more expensive one. Do a lot of cardio 2xday, in morning at empty stomach and later afternoon.
2- get some b-12 from our sponsor AR-R , and syringe, shot 1 ml/week.
3-eat clean, protein intake has to be 1 to 1,5 gr/pound
4-carbs only after detox, in the morning ours (oats), make your body turn your fat in energy during day.
5- after ou reach your desired bf or close, get a diet to build some muscle
6- get blood work done, your test levels my be very low, you are a candidate for HRT.

Thats what I did to go from 35% bf to 12% in 6 months.

[38jumper38]

.......

[scotty51312]

My metabolism seems to be very slugish. Have you had blood work done? Possibly get a thryroid panel (t3, t4, tsh) I have been eating very low fat low carb diet high protien diet for 3 months (dramitic change from what I had been doing). I eat 6-8 smaller meals \ snacks a day with 80% of my carbs comming in the AM with breakfast. I'm not a fan of low carb dieting especially for beginners, the purpose in them is that your body will resort to burning fat for energy instead of carbs, but the carbs have to be basically non existant to get to this stage of ketosis I also have been doing cardio 3-5 times a week, 30 to 60 minutes and lifting heavy 3x's a week. What time of day are you doing cardio? Are you eating prior too cardio? Fasted cardio first thing in the AM is a good way to kickstart your metabolism for the entire day I have not been losing any weight and my sense is that my eating and workouts should be burning off fat and the weight should be comming off. I actaully counted for a stretch and ran a caloric deficit (300 to 800 day) What formula did you use to figure out your maintenance calories? you need about 3500 calories of deficit to equal one lb of fat, more than likely you're maintenance figure is off. Do you know the formula's for BMR and TDEE? for almost 10 days and did not lose a pound. Is that possible?

My questions are:

1. How much food is the minimal amount that will stimulate the body to increase its metabolic rate?
This will vary from person to person, stimulating the metabolism is more about eating often and never letting your body think that its starving so you don't store food as fat
2. How much protien can the body actaully make use of from one feeding? Is there a guideline like 30 to 50 grams?
Lots of debates on here about this one. personally i never have a meal other than the occasional handfull of almonds thats less than 25 grams of protien. For a post workout meal i would reccomend no less than 40. If you're goal is to build musle mass you need to be looking at 1.5-2grams of protien per lb of lean body mass per day. If you're just looking to mantain muscle mass while you loose fat i'd look at around 1-1.25grams per lb of lean bodymass.
3.Could having a few drinks on the weekend or during the week have on the metabolism? (clear liquor with no sugar no carb mixer). In anticipation of the answer to this, I have stopped drinking all together in the hopes that this is what was holding me back.
This is where lots of people slip up, Alcohol is detrimental to any diet plan, just one night and a 6 pack of beer to start is over 600 basically empty calories (unless its like MGD64 or something) Alcohol increases appetite making you more likely to order a dozen wings to satisfy your cravings. Also the strange thing for me is alcohol kills my appetite the next day so I don't eat right then
4. Suggestions for speeding up a slugish metabolism or for seeing if mine is in fact sluggish?
Possibly take an OTC thermogenic, those can boost metabolism by a couple percent. My personal favorite is Animal cuts. Like we said before move your cardio to the AM and do it before eating,

Perhaps I missed the question that I should be asking so any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

38yo
6'3" 250
27% to 30%

Thanks

Matt

A good idea would be to list your diet here complete with your macronutriens for each meal and totals for the day. Lots of expierienced guys here will help you tweak it for optimal performance.

[outmama]

This is very close to what I eat almost every day.

7am 8 egg whites / .5 oz FF cheese / 1 pc whole wheat toast / Coffee w/ Splenda

10am 1 cup FF Cottage cheese with Spenda dn cinnamon / 1 apple

Noon - 8 oz chicken / 1-2 cups of salad with ff dressing or 1-2 cups of cooked or uncooked veggies.

workout starts sometime between 12:30 and 2:30 for 1 to 1.5 hours. MWF -weights (focused on big muscle groups and big lifts, Bench, Squat, Pullups, Deadlifts military etc) then 30 min cardio at 70% max

PWO Carb drink

an hour later

PWO Protien - Whey shake

5-6pm Dinner - 10-12 oz meat, lean, usually chicken, veggies 2 cups, perhaps a little rice or pasta (1 cup) if I feel tired.

1-2 times a week an Ab or core kettlebell workout (20 min)
8 pm snack- FF Cottage cheese (1 cup) or 4 oz meat.
10-11pm Casien shake before bed

[scotty51312]

This is very close to what I eat almost every day.

7am 8 egg whites / .5 oz FF cheese / 1 pc whole wheat toast / Coffee w/ Splenda
i would replace the toast with 1/2 cup of oats instead
10am 1 cup FF Cottage cheese with Spenda dn cinnamon / 1 apple
replace the apple with a complex carb, brown rice, sweet potatoes. something like hat
Noon - 8 oz chicken / 1-2 cups of salad with ff dressing or 1-2 cups of cooked or uncooked veggies.
good meal

workout starts sometime between 12:30 and 2:30 for 1 to 1.5 hours. MWF -weights (focused on big muscle groups and big lifts, Bench, Squat, Pullups, Deadlifts military etc) then 30 min cardio at 70% max

PWO Carb drink

an hour later combine your carbs and whey. what kind of carb drink is this?

PWO Protien - Whey shake

5-6pm Dinner - 10-12 oz meat, lean, usually chicken, veggies 2 cups, perhaps a little rice or pasta (1 cup) if I feel tired.

1-2 times a week an Ab or core kettlebell workout (20 min)
8 pm snack- FF Cottage cheese (1 cup) or 4 oz meat.
10-11pm Casien shake before bed
possibly add more fat here to the pre bed time meal. how bout 3 gram of fish oil

I really think you need to move your cardio to the AM if possible but the diets not that bad i've seen far worse. This diet doesn't look low carb to me. U should figure up your macro's (calories/carbs/protien/fats) for each meal and the whole day. Its a pain but definitely worth an hour of your time.

Also google, BMR (base metabolic rate) and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and figure those up and you'll know better where you need to be

[scotty51312]

bouble post

[scotty51312]

double post

[outmama]

Thanks for the great info! I am making the following adjustments immediatly.

1. no drinking...
2. changing bread for oats or brown rice, yam
3. Trying to move cardio to AM...very hard to do. If not, I will lift prior or add 20 minutes of additional cardio to burn off stores.
4. Adding fat like Flax or similar into PWO and bedtime drinks.
5. Dropping to 1800 cal.
6. Counting all macro values of all food I take in for 7 days.

To answer a few questions.
I had my thyroid checked and the doc said it was fine. However that was the same doctor that said T at 409 was good also....I am now on 50g T cream daily.
My PWO carb drink is Creatine x3 by Six star 200Cal and 42 g sugar
My protien drink is Gold Standard with a 1/2 scoop of Whey and 1/2 Casien for 24 g of protien and 120 cal
I used some online tool to deteremine my BMR. I also used the PX90 guidelines. Both put me at about 2800 to 3100 without exerecise and up to 3800 with exercise. I just checked another BMR tool online and it has me at 2330 so I have lowered my daily intake.

Thanks for the input and I will update this thread every few days with my progress.