[TW] I think I’ve messed up my metabolism with a very low calorie diet

[Koyo]

Sorry I am posting for traffic. Posted on Weight Loss chat but didn’t get a reply

So I lost a lot of weight doing 800 fast. I was extremely depressed and had become a social hermit due to embarrassment over my weight. I did the low calories diet for 12 weeks. I lost three stone relatively quickly.

But now whenever I eat over 1000 calories I GAIN weight.

I assume it is due to my metabolism having slowed right down. I’m still glad I lost the weight as I feel so less self conscious.

Please share any advice on how to kick start my metabolism?

I do around 45 mins of brisk walking a day. I do plan to go to the gym this week for the first time. An amazing feat if you knew me. My family are very proud.

But I’m quite stressed about what my my body is doing.

Thank you some useful tips. Will pick up some green tea in my next shop. And will do 30 seconds of running x 8 when walking the dog.

I have and have been even stricter than what was recommend. I still have not reintroduced carbs. But I do need to find a way to introduce healthy starches.

Are you going to the toilet? If I ate ready meals and boiled eggs I would be totally blocked up! Sorry TMI.
We really don't need loads of protein. We need fibre.

Unless you've broken the laws of thermodynamics you haven't ruined your metabolism.

Starvation mode isn't a thing. You're miscalculating calories.

For you to eat 1000 calories a day and gain weight you'd have to be four foot nothing and weigh about 30kg.

Eat real food, track properly.

Here is the expert nutritionist/dietician/endocrinologist. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Perhaps you could offer your best advice? Eat less and move more maybe?

I already have. It's the same every time, there is no magical disease that makes your body defy the laws of physics.

Sure, there are health conditions especially those involving hormones that increase your appetite so you consume more calories, but there is no such disease that defies thermo dynamics and makes you burn a meaningful number of calories more than any other person. There are differences from person to person but the numbers we are talking are negligible.

The key to sustained weighloss is education, very few people have any idea of the true number of calories they're consuming because frankly their diet is total garbage. Typically high in UPF and calorie dense foods where the odd extra untracked gram here or there cumulatively makes a huge difference.

It's not until it's pointed out to an individual that the penny drops, not that it is necessarily true in this case but the extra calories are coming from somewhere. There is not an adult person on the planet who can consume 1000 calories a day consistently and not lose weight, the math doesn't math.

Typically someone will eat 1000 cals per day for 3-4 days, fall off the wagon because it's so unsustainable, binge and not track what they're eating and low and behold their average calorie intake is actually higher than if they'd have just consistently eaten a healthy number of calories each day.

I'm a qualified nutritionist if it makes any difference to you. This forum is full of people who will perpetuate myths and promote weight loss jabs/fad diets etc, encouraging people to develop deeply unhealthy relationships with food, and then you get the other crew such as yourself who refute every single piece of evidence thrown at them.

My best advice would be to take your weight, heigh and measurements to calculate your TDEE, factor in your daily activity levels and adjust your calories to suit and sustain a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day.

OP if you feel comfortable doing so please share your height and weight so we can make meaningful recommendations.

The 45 min brisk walk a day you're doing will be burning somewhere in the region of 200-300 calories for an average woman. There's no way by virtue of being alive your body is using less than 700-800 calories to stay alive...

How many calories are in your ready meals? Are you aware that a 20% tolerance is allowed between stated calories and actual calories? So if your meal says 600cal it could potentially actually be 720cal? That won't tip you over the edge unless you are eating a lot of ready meals, but worth bearing in mind.
Working out the calories in whole natural foods is more of a faff, but nobody has a vested interest in under-exaggerating how many calories they are! They are also much better for you, as it's well known that some UPFs mess with the way your body handles food.

I would mostly agree with @Sundaymorningcalla

i would add some caveats - your body will resist being in calorie deficit - you do the all but you might actually be spending a bit longer watching telly than reading your book or doing the housework - your body will encourage you to drop activity to prevent weight loss

your body and brain basically seem to conspire to cheat you - be it being motr ideal or forgetting to count something