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Metabolism is the process of breaking down food into energy to support body functions. Your body constantly burns calories at a specific rate, even if you are at rest.
Metabolic damage is a condition in which your metabolic rate slows significantly. Prolonged calorie restriction, excessive exercise, and stress are common causes of metabolic damage. This condition is commonly seen in people who try to lose weight quickly.
When weight is lost, thebody tries to conserve energy, and extreme weight loss may result in a slow metabolism or metabolic damage. Metabolic damage isn’t a permanent condition. So, you can improve it with dietary and lifestyle modifications.
If you have metabolic damage, your body constantly tries to conserve energy by storing a major portion of anything you eat in the form of fat. This likely happens from losing too much weight too quickly. This can make it harder for your body to lose more and may even cause weight gain, no matter how strict you plan your diet and workouts.
The typical symptoms that you may experience with metabolic damage are:
Metabolic damage is not a permanent condition, and one can recover by making the required changes in diet and lifestyle. The time it will take you to recover from metabolic damage can be different from other people. It usually depends on the severity of calorie restriction, and individual factors like age, health, and activity level.
Some people may recover from metabolic damage and achieve a normal metabolic rate within a few weeks. On the other hand, it may take several months to years for some people to recover from metabolic damage.
You can improve metabolic damage by gradually increasing calories, prioritizing nutrient-rich foods, and reducing intense exercise in favor of strength training. Proper nutrition combined with rest helps restore the body's normal metabolic and hormonal function.
Being overweight andobese are the root causes of many health problems. So it is always a good idea to make necessary diet and lifestyle modifications if you are an overweight person.
However, sudden and extreme weight loss from an extreme calorie-deficient diet or excessive exercise can lead to metabolic damage. Let’s discuss each factor responsible for metabolic damage when losing weight:
When you consume an extreme calorie-deficient diet for too long, the body goes into starvation, where it conserves energy byslowing the metabolism. The body becomes more efficient at storing calories as fat to conserve as the energy source for the future and starts to utilizemuscles as fuel more often.
This adaptation can reduce muscle mass, increase body fat, and make weight loss very difficult.
Intense exercise burns a large number of calories, demanding extra energy from the body. When the calories burned from exercise greatly exceeds the calories consumed, the body considers this as an energy shortage.
As an adaptation method, the body slows the metabolic rate to conserve energy, meaning it starts burning fewer calories at rest.
Studies show that a balanced diet, rich in protein, healthy fats, and essential vitamins, is essential for maintaining metabolic health. People who plan to lose weight often eat very little, which can result in nutrient deficiency.
A lack of essential vitamins and minerals can impair metabolic processes, making the body less efficient at converting food into energy.
Metabolic damage is not a permanent condition, and neither does it require medical management to improve this condition. You can simply improve this condition by making some modifications to your diet and lifestyle.
Here are some practical ways that can help you recover from metabolic damage:
One common mistake that people make when suffering from metabolic damage is that they severely reduce calorie intake. Extreme deficient calories signal the body to conserve more energy, further reducing metabolic rate.
Make sure you are consuming enough calories to properly fuel your body, based on your body composition and lifestyle. If you want to lose weight, you can try reducing your calories, but try not to reduce them too severely. Working with a dietitian can help as they can calculate proper intake goals for you.
Astudy in Adipocyte Journal shows that muscle mass is strongly associated with metabolic rates. Since intense workouts or exercises can worsen metabolic damage by signaling the body to conserve more energy, you need to incorporate moderate exercises like walking, light strength training, or yoga into your routine.
These forms of exercise help maintain muscle mass, which is crucial for metabolism. Over time, as your metabolism recovers, you can gradually increase the intensity if needed.
Also, when losing weight, it’s important to include light strength training exercises in your routine. This helps conserve muscle mass while your body burns fat for energy.
Astudy on the effects of stress and diet on metabolism shows that high stress levels are associated with a slow metabolic rate. Stressincreases cortisol levels in the body, which can slow down the metabolic process. Stress management techniques such as meditation, yoga, and deep breathing exercises can relieve stress and improve metabolism.
Areport by the Sleep Foundation shows that quality sleep is essential for regulating hunger and appetite. The report further states that poor sleep can slow your metabolism and make it challenging to burn calories.
Experts recommend 7 to 9 hours of sleep for an adult to support normal body functions, including metabolism.
Your metabolism slows down in metabolic damage, resulting in a buildup of food as fat. You need to restore your metabolism so your body starts to burn more calories, and the food you eat serves as fuel for the body instead of being stored as fat.
Here are some effective foods to increase your metabolism:
In metabolic damage, your body starts to burn more muscle and store fat to conserve energy. Reduced muscle mass further slows down the metabolism since muscle is the most metabolically active organ.
This highlights the importance of protein choice for people with metabolic damage. Lean proteins help build muscles, which increases metabolic rate. Also, lean protein sources are low in fat and do not significantly contribute to fat storage in the body.
Another benefit of eating protein is that it takes more energy for the body todigest proteins. This means your metabolic rate increases temporarily after a protein meal. Here are some lean protein food sources that you can eat to improve your metabolism:
Beans are good for increasing metabolism as they contain proteins and fiber. Proteins help build muscles and temporarily increase metabolic rate.
A2019 study in Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism shows that your body works harder to digest fiber, increasing metabolism. The otherbenefits of fiber include improving gut microbiota and overall digestive function. A healthy digestive system can enhance digestion in people with metabolic damage.
Some examples of beans that you can add to your diet are:
Spicy foods contain capsaicin, a compound that temporarily raises body temperature and metabolic rate. A2017 study shows that capsaicin can boost metabolism and increase the body’s energy expenditure.
This increase in temperature also causes the body toburn more calories. Regularly adding spicy foods to your diet can enhance calorie burning and support overall metabolic health for people experiencing metabolic damage.
Green tea contains caffeine and antioxidants called catechin, which are effective for increasing metabolism. A2021 study shows that caffeine intake can boost metabolism and fat burn.
Anotherreport shows that catechins combined with caffeine increase fat burn and energy expenditure, which can be beneficial for people with metabolic damage.
Here are some foods that can slow down your metabolism and worsen the metabolic damage:
Fried foods are high in unhealthy fats such as trans fats.Studies show fatty diets are one of the main culprits of weight gain and obesity. By increasing body fat, fried foods can worsen the symptoms of metabolic damage.
Processed meat, including bacon, sausages, and hot dogs, is often high in saturated fats, which is an unhealthy type of fat. Processed meat can increase fat storage, which is not something you would want with metabolic damage.
Food with refined sugar or added sugar can spike blood sugar levels. Regular intake of cookies, pastries, sugary drinks, and other foods with refined sugar can increase fat accumulation and body weight.
Over time, weight gain cannegatively impact metabolic health and worsen the symptoms of people with metabolic damage.
A2015 study shows that heavy alcohol consumption is associated with weight gain. Alcohol alsoharms liver health and lowers the ability of the liver to process fat, resulting in fat accumulation in the body.
So, if you are suffering from the symptoms of metabolic damage, try to avoid or at least limit your alcohol intake to support metabolic health.
Fasting doesn’t slow the metabolism if it is not prolonged. Instead, fasting increases the metabolism, promoting fat burn and weight loss. Keep in mind that starvation is different from fasting, and it can slow the metabolism to conserve energy, as happens in metabolic damage.
2. Does Eating Less Reduce Metabolism?
If you shift your diet to to eating far less than your body needs for longer, your body slows your metabolism to conserve energy. It is more common in people with higher energy demands but less calorie intake.
Metabolic damage can occur when someone eats an extreme calorie-deficient diet or performs intense exercises to lose weight within a short period. In this condition, the metabolism of the body slows down to conserve energy and starts to burn muscles instead of fat.
With a slow metabolism, people choose to eat less to avoid weight gain. However, for people with metabolic damage, eating more and increasing calorie intake is the only solution to improve metabolism.
You need to eat foods that increase metabolism such as lean proteins, beans, and spicy foods. Similarly, avoiding foods that can increase body weight and suppress metabolism is also essential to improve metabolic damage.