Building up your metabolism is a great goal if you have really stalled out. Make sure you read this entire post VERY CAREFULLY! I am going to be running multiple parts to this series. There are quiet a few things to consider before thinking you have completely ruined your metabolism. Some of what I will discuss in these posts will go against what I have said in the past. This is a learning process for me too. But the Year of the Beast has really reinforced what I’m going to discuss here and I think it’s important to talk about with the team.
Deficits and Your Metabolic Rate
Running and maintaining a deficit will slow anyone’s metabolism. You are constant’y taking in fewer calories than your body needs and your body will attempt to adapt to that lower intake to maintain its mass. So when we start running a deficit, we want to do it intelligently. We don’t run outrageously LOW calories. We boost protein intake to help maintain muscle. We monitor our progress closely.
Chicken Little would have us say “NOOO! Then we can never run a deficit! It will ruin our metabolism!”
Hold on, it’s ok to run a deficit. It the BEST thing you can do to lose BF and weight. Your metabolism is not a light switch.
I feel the best thing you can look at when you consider your metabolic rate is DOES WHAT I’M EATING and WHAT MY BODY IS DOING MAKE SENSE?
Let’s look at an example:
Jimbo has been running a deficit for a long time (10 months). It worked too. He went from 265 lbs to 210 lbs and to 15% BF. He is still eating 1800 calories at 210lbs and can’t seem to lose more weight. He works out hard for an hour a day and ever throws in HIIT cardio 3x a week.
So does this make sense? At 210 lbs, if Jimbo was just starting, you’d figure he’d need around 3000 calories to maintain. He’s well below that and not losing. He’s also doing a lot of work, even more than one workout some days. All of these things DON’T MAKE SENSE! For his size, 1800 is a huge deficit and he’s not losing. I would start to suspect that he has really slowed his metabolic rate and need to change his plan of action.
What do you do if you think your metabolic rate is tanked?
When you decide that you need to work on restoring your metabolism you need to get completely around the fact that you are done lost BF for a while! You can’t keep cutting and think you are going to rev up your metabolism. You are going to start adding calories to try to bring up your maintenance level. In some cases you might fluctuate a little in weight but if you have really slowed your metabolic rate, you need to build up some more calories to actually be able to create a deficit again. Going lower on calories is NOT the answer.
Slow and steady is the name of the game with repairing your metabolism!
You should start by adding 100 calories every 2 weeks or so. Again, if you really tanked your metabolism you might gain some weight, THAT IS OK! You weren’t losing anyways. You need to rebuild. If you have been running FS, you can add 25g of carbs to start. We have seen the best results in the Beast group of trying to get to 40/40/20. No cheating! After 2 weeks or so, you should be pretty steady on weight, so add another 100 calories.
Most guys that have been working on repairing their metabolisms have added between 100-200 calories every few weeks. The longer you have beat up your metabolism, the slower you want to go. Put in the work and it is worth it! As I mentioned in the Weekend Update, my buddy Lance almost fit the Jimbo scenario exactly. He would gain with anything over 1800 calories and he was around 210 lbs. He has slowly added back calories and is up to 2600. Talk about freedom! He has something to cut from when he decides to lean out again. And he is maintaining at 2600. The BF gains have been small, if any at all. He is still shooting higher too. At 210, he should be able to maintain around 3000, so he will see. He is putting in the work and doing it carefully. Tracking exactly what he eats so he can make informed decisions.
Metabolic Damage
I first became aware of this when a mutual friend and coach, David Jeffries, shared a Layne Norton video with Lance. Layne goes in depth with some CRAZY fitness competitors and their destroyed metabolisms. You can see, what they are doing doesn’t make sense. Eating so little, do so much work, and nothing. If things don’t remotely add up…. something is probably up! Check it out:
**My teamRIPPED Considerations**
I don’t want you to freak out if you are running a deficit and hit a sticking point. If you have taken my advice and have been running a deficit 600-1000 for your weight, you are ok. Your weight and BF losses are not a straight line. Stay the course. BUT if you have been cutting for a long time (think 9-12 months) and things aren’t adding up, let’s talk. Check out the teamRIPPED Calorie Calculator to see where you are.
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
