# metabolism



## hurkulees (Jun 16, 2011)

is there any supernatural way of figuring out how slow/fast your metabolism is.. I am pretty sure for a 22 yr old mines bout as slow as a dead possum.. and also do you know any natural ways to boost it..


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## zoco (Jun 16, 2011)

Cardio,less high GI carbs and more protein is what you need basically .

Foods That Burn Fat


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## hurkulees (Jun 16, 2011)

zoco said:


> Cardio,less high GI carbs and more protein is what you need basically .
> 
> Foods That Burn Fat



thanks sherlock. not trying to burn fat


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## zoco (Jun 16, 2011)

hurkulees said:


> thanks sherlock. not trying to burn fat



That article has info about foods that increase your metabolism.You asked for a natural way didn't you? There is no magic exercise to increase metabolism


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## hurkulees (Jun 16, 2011)

zoco said:


> That article has info about foods that increase your metabolism



well then, appreciate it. excuse my assholeness, i get it from my wife


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## zoco (Jun 16, 2011)

I'm glad if i can help


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## jmpsuperman (Jun 16, 2011)

Thanks for your help


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## MidwestBeast (Jun 16, 2011)

You can do a rmr (resting metabolism rate) test and vo2 max test (where you burn the most fat). Also get a full thyroid blood panel done; you may need mess - I did.

I also like to use need 2 slin for carb meals because i'm carb sensitive.


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## ~RaZr~ (Jun 18, 2011)

*You can do a rmr (resting metabolism rate) test and vo2 max test (where you burn the most fat). Also get a full thyroid blood panel done; *

Definitely worth it


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## niki (Jun 18, 2011)

I agree with the comments about getting thyroid testing.  While you are waiting for your doc appt, get a thermometer and take your temperature each morning before you get up.  And google basal body temperature.  Basically, if you are low - your metabolism will definitely be slow.  It is usually an indicator of low thyroid, which your blood panel will confirm, and you will have more points of data to show your doc....

What s/s do you have that make you believe your metabolism is slow?  

Speeding up metabolism is possible, but you want to figure out WHY it is slow, in order to treat it properly.  If you have low thyroid, you'd be fighting an uphill battle to speed metabolism w/o taking thyroid medication.  There are natural forms available.


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## x~factor (Jun 18, 2011)

hurkulees said:


> well then, appreciate it. *excuse my assholeness, i get it from my wife*


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## Built (Jun 18, 2011)

What do you weigh, and what are your maintenance calories?

(Neither low nor high GI foods will impact upon metabolic rate btw)


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## ceazur (Jun 18, 2011)

dam i gots a slow metabo i think too... And my mom and sister both had to get thyroids removed.. How do I go about get all these test and things..


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## Built (Jun 18, 2011)

ceazur, I'll ask you the same question.


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## ceazur (Jun 18, 2011)

6'3'' 195lbs.. maintenance cals are like 2100.. but i dont eat alot, and i eat pretty decent.. It mainly because when i do it seems like the weight piles up quick. Like none is converted as muscle. only fat


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## Built (Jun 18, 2011)

ceazur said:


> 6'3'' 195lbs.. maintenance cals are like 2100.. but i dont eat alot, and i eat pretty decent.. It mainly because when i do it seems like the weight piles up quick. Like none is converted as muscle. only fat


You know for sure it's 2100? At your weight, it should be closer to 3000.


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## ceazur (Jun 18, 2011)

my bmr is 1972 according to a few websites.. and thats about all the cals i take in daily, some days maybe 2500.. and i definitely dont lose any weight.. im not even particularly going for weight loss... just toning up my mid section, lose a little hip fat, and make my body look proportional.. Like my arms arent big at all, but im wide in the waist and hip area so it looks unproportionate.


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## Built (Jun 18, 2011)

ceazur said:


> my bmr is 1972 according to a few websites.. and thats about all the cals i take in daily, some days maybe 2500.. and i definitely dont lose any weight.. im not even particularly going for weight loss... just toning up my mid section, lose a little hip fat, and make my body look proportional.. Like my arms arent big at all, but im wide in the waist and hip area so it looks unproportionate.




BMR is basal metabolic rate, not maintenance. You find maintenance by tracking your intake and your weight. 

You on anything?


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## ceazur (Jun 18, 2011)

nope, and sorry i was confused. Maintenance being the calories I need to stay the same weight correct?


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## Built (Jun 18, 2011)

Yes. BMR is the calories required to lie in bed and not move. Maintenance is the calories to neither gain nor lose weight at your current activity level.


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## dogsoldier (Jun 18, 2011)

ceazur said:


> dam i gots a slow metabo i think too... And my mom and sister both had to get thyroids removed.. How do I go about get all these test and things..




Doctor.  If you have a family history of thyroid issues, you really should get checked out.  Tell the doc about mom and sis and tell him you need  to be checked out. If the doctor is worth his salt, he should jump right on it.


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## ceazur (Jun 19, 2011)

dogsoldier said:


> Doctor.  If you have a family history of thyroid issues, you really should get checked out.  Tell the doc about mom and sis and tell him you need  to be checked out. If the doctor is worth his salt, he should jump right on it.



yeah sis had hers removed and mom takes a pill daily. an i military so doc is pretty sufficient


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## leestacy38 (Jun 24, 2011)

so if slow metabolism mean that you will have a problem with your thyroid? is it true?


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## sosc (Jun 25, 2011)

It depends on the type of substance you intend to measure.
There are a few crude ways I've measured by bodies responses.

I used to take the GNC MegaMan vitamins. I forgot which nutrient
did this, but shortly after taking a pill my piss would be fluorescent
yellow. I pissed about an hour after taking the vitamin. So the
shortest possible life cycle for these nutrients where an hour. Who
knows how long some of the nutrients from the vitamin stuck around
in my body.

You could also measure how long it takes a liquid to exit your body
by not eating or drinking anything for a few hours so that you reach
"empty." Then drink 8 oz of water or something like that and measure
the amount of time it takes for you to urine.

Another way of testing by using your excrement is eating a bunch of corn,
and monitoring how long it takes to exit your body by inspecting your shit. 
Usually this takes me 24 hours.


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## dogsoldier (Jun 25, 2011)

Other signs of a sever sluggish or non-functioning thyroid is the condition of your skin, nails and hair. People with real bad thyroid issues tend to have dry skin that doesn't snap back when pinched, hair is dry and splits easily and nails get brittle and thick. 

There are other reasons for a slow metabolism besides thyroid. Some people are just genetically predisposed to store fat, like me. I work like hell to keep it down. If I eat a high carb diet for a week, I will easily put on 5-10 pounds of fat. Done it a number of times.


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## Built (Jun 25, 2011)

dogsoldier said:


> Other signs of a sever sluggish or non-functioning thyroid is the condition of your skin, nails and hair. People with real bad thyroid issues tend to have dry skin that doesn't snap back when pinched, hair is dry and splits easily and nails get brittle and thick.
> 
> There are other reasons for a slow metabolism besides thyroid. Some people are just genetically predisposed to store fat, like me. I work like hell to keep it down. *If I eat a high carb diet for a week, I will easily put on 5-10 pounds of fat. Done it a number of times*.



No you don't - but it sure seems like it. You might easily gain 3 lbs of fat and 7 pounds of water, but not 10 lbs of fat. You'd have to OVEReat 35,000 calories to gain 10 lbs of fat. 

That's on top of your daily maintenance calories. 

In a week. Your maintenance is probably just shy of 3000 calories a day, right? You'd have to consume about 10,000 calories a day for a week for it to even be possible to gain 10 lbs of fat in a week.

Glycogen can make up about 1% of your muscle mass, and it's bound up with a lot of water; like, about 3X + its weight in water. So, supposing you carry 150 lbs of muscle. 1.5 lbs glycogen + 4.5 lbs water = 6 lbs, and that's without a caloric surplus. With a surplus, you might go over by say 1000 calories a day if you really eat a lot, right? That's two pounds of fat in a week. Add in the extra bulk in your colon, and there's your 10 lbs in a week: 6 lbs from glycogen and water, 2 lbs from poo and 2 lbs from fat. 

- Built, Buster of Myths

(For the record, I overeat when I eat a lot of carbs, too; wheat in particular, and it bloats me like a mofo!)


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## dogsoldier (Jun 26, 2011)

Yeah, I did exaggerate, carbs hold water. But I can tell you my body processes carbs must faster and stores fat faster than most people.  The interesting thing is this really did not become a problem until I hit 40.  I bought into the high carb, low fat thing back then. Even with lifting and running 8 miles a week, I was gaining fat on a 2200 cal diet. The dip tank said it was fat and not muscle. I have been fighting this ever since.


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## Built (Jun 26, 2011)

Dip-tanks aren't all that accurate. You'd need a DEXA to really see what's going on. Running tends to train the body to become efficient, you know this, right?

Believe me, I'm way more comfortable on low carbs. But it's just that - comfort. On a higher-carb diet, I overeat. And when you overeat, you get fat. Funny how that works.


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## dogsoldier (Jun 26, 2011)

The tank is all that was available.  I have read about the DEXA scan but never thought of getting one. I have read your stuff and visited your blog.  You are an intelligent woman that is on the mark for about 90% of the population.  But honestly, a 6'1", 250 pound male that fat calipers out at 26% with a high level of physical activity, in and out of the gym should NEVER gain fat on 2200 calories.  If I was to switch my diet to 50% carbs, I would blow up like a balloon. Some people have fucked up genetics. And I believe that includes me.


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## Built (Jun 26, 2011)

dogsoldier said:


> The tank is all that was available.  I have read about the DEXA scan but never thought of getting one. I have read your stuff and visited your blog.  You are an intelligent woman that is on the mark for about 90% of the population.


See, you display your intelligence by posting this. 

It's good to be us. 


dogsoldier said:


> But honestly, a 6'1", 250 pound male that fat calipers out at 26% with a high level of physical activity, in and out of the gym should NEVER gain fat on 2200 calories.  If I was to switch my diet to 50% carbs, I would blow up like a balloon. Some people have fucked up genetics. And I believe that includes me.



I understand how you feel - but it's not true. Not for you and not for me. You may not realize this, but I began my modding on a low-carb board populated with, at the time, mostly women with thyroid and other endocrine problems, including PCOS, TTDM, insulin resistance and even full-blown type "one and a half" diabetes. I was obese by 38, and got my life back on the Atkins diet. Me and ketosis are very good friends, and I spent the first five years of my journey convinced carbs were the devil. 

I still have trouble with them, although you'll be encouraged to know it gets better the longer you stay lean and the more muscular you become. (Testosterone HRT helps a heap, as well).

Now, that all being said, you won't gain fat on 2200 calories a day with 1100 of those calories coming from carbohydrate. You'll bloat, you'll carry water, you'll be inflamed from the excess insulin, and if you - like me - have any level of gluten intolerance, you'll REALLY bloat - but you won't gain any more fat from that than you would on 2200 calories where only 200 of those calories came from carbohydrate. 

I'm willing to bet money you'll look puffy and be freakishly hungry, though. Believe me, I understand, and I'm the last person who would ever try to talk you into such an uncomfortable way to eat. 

I do, however, wish to assure you that you do not have a metabolism that is so fucked up as to defy the laws of thermodynamics. 

If you did, you'd make the medical journals because you'd be the only one. 

And I know this is a mindfuck to wrap your head around. I was utterly convinced it was the carbs that had made me fat, and I was TERRIFIED to reintroduce them in any quantity into my diet.

It turns out, I was half right. Carbs did make me fat - but only because the way I was eating them (the amount, the frequency, the type) made me so hungry I'd overeat. Once I started weighing my food and tracking on fitday, this became evident. I'm hungrier on a day with, as you suggest, half my calories coming from carbs while eating 3000 calories, than I am eating less than 50g of carbohydrate and only 1600 calories. 

If I had to try to diet, hell, even maintain my weight on the standard dietary recommendation of "55% of calories coming from carbohydrate, 30% from fat and 15% from protein" - which for me, at my maintenance of 2200 calories works out to 300g of carb, 70g fat and 80g of protein, I'd be chewing my arm off! I need 200g of protein daily to feel fed. With that much carbohydrate, I'd probably need MORE protein than 200g to feel fed! So, I'd eat. Which explains my former weight problem. See, I HATE feeling hungry all the time. 

But barring discomfort, it really does come down to "calories in, calories out". For me, and for you too. Pinky swear.


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## dogsoldier (Jun 29, 2011)

How can I argue with an intelligent lovely lady that "pinky swears"?


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## Built (Jun 29, 2011)

See, really, you can't. 

Seriously though - prove me wrong if you just can't wrap your head around it. Try, go digging through PubMed home, read the research. I had to read it for YEARS before grudgingly accepting what I now know to be true.


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