Need Help to jump start metabolism??

girlyracer · Tue, September 21st, 2004, 04:47 PM

Hi all,

I am hoping someone can answer my question regarding metabolism. I am a 32 year old female (no children yet) and have noticed that my metabolism is decreasing with age. When I was younger I could virtually eat whatever I wanted without neccessarily excersizing, but through the years I have noticed I can not keep up those eating habits. After college I made changes to my diet, calorie intake, excersize level,water intake, so my question is this...how do you jump start your metabolism once it has started to slow?? Thanks for all of your help.

itbeachgurl · Tue, September 21st, 2004, 05:37 PM

Girlyracer,

I am also 32 and when i started working out at the begining of this year, my metabolism was stuck in neutral. I just ate healthy and worked out everyday and now, 38lbs later, while I still work out a lot. I can eat what I want within reason and I don't gain weight. From what I have read on this site and in magazines, if you weight train that also helps your metabolism speed up. I am just starting to do wieght training, I'll let you know if I see a difference. Anyway, good luck.

FerretNose · Tue, September 21st, 2004, 06:35 PM

I am 31. I had an extremely slow metabolism. I'd been like that since about age 23. No matter what I did, even housework made me tired. I'd walk a mile and have to sleep for hours. I had to force myself to do anything. I thought I had chronic fatique syndrome, or I'd accuse myself of being just plain lazy.

I blindly began a fitness program, not really knowing what i was doing- just cutting way back on calories and trying to increase exercise. Then I made a heck of a lot of dietary adjustments, many by having read discussions on this and other forums. That helped a little, but I was still horribly frustrated at how tired I felt.

Then I realized that i wasn't getting enough water. I found out how important it was to weight loss and health in general. I began to drink 8-12 glasses a day, often more, and within a week, there was a huge difference in energy level. Maybe it was due to something else, i don't know. But I honestly think it was finally getting enough water that broke me out of my malaise. It's almost a complete turn around. Now I get up early, do aerobics, can walk 4 miles without tiring, and actually sleep well for the first time in years. I think I might have been perpetually dehydrated all this time. Just a thought.
F.

featherz · Tue, September 21st, 2004, 08:24 PM

I'm 37. I think what helped me was starting weightlifting, splitting my meals into 6 mini meals and cutting out 'sugar' for the most part. (Whole grains, etc, still OK for me). Before I did all this I was doing an hour+ of cardio every day, not eating above maintenance and still maintaining a 40 pound overweight state.

girlyracer · Wed, September 22nd, 2004, 03:30 PM

I am so thankful that all of you posted...it is good to read that I am on the right track! So thank you.

I have been strength training with cardio off and on all year...depending on my work schedule but have buckled down for the past two months...making sure to do anywhere between 30 mins to 1 hour of cardio, drinking 64+ oz of water (which also helped my fatigue issues), and recently this week eating smaller nutritional meals and healthy nutritional snacks in between (ie. calorie counting to eat slightly below my daily maintainance needs), and (the real kicker for me) cutting way back on chocolate/sweets and eliminating coffee/hot tea. My husband and I have given Coffee and Tea up for 100 days...It has been 60 days now that I have not had any caffeinated drinks...I crave them but I know that when the 100 days are up I will have benefited greatly and will only drink them occasionally!!

Anyway, I'd love to hear where everyone is in a month or so...I think sometimes we need all the encouragement we can get!

Have fun with your workouts!

jrfisher · Thu, September 23rd, 2004, 11:13 AM

Another REALLY important part in speeding up your metabolism is always eating a hearty and filling breakfast. That gets your glucose level up after sleeping, and then it stays pretty constant all day long. If you don't eat breakfast, your glucose level hits high and low peaks throughout the day, which is one thing you don't want for trying to increase metabolism. Good Luck!

I'm in the process of speeding up my metabolism right now too

girlyracer · Thu, September 23rd, 2004, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrfisher

Another REALLY important part in speeding up your metabolism is always eating a hearty and filling breakfast. That gets your glucose level up after sleeping, and then it stays pretty constant all day long. If you don't eat breakfast, your glucose level hits high and low peaks throughout the day, which is one thing you don't want for trying to increase metabolism. Good Luck!

I'm in the process of speeding up my metabolism right now too

Yep...you are so right. I have had to make some changes in my breakfast here, as half the time I used to skip it. I still do not think I get enough food in me in the morning as I am usually hungry by an hour or so. Any suggestions on healthy morning food. I have always eaten oatmeal, but I need to add more to it as it does not seem to be enough.

I also read that one should not eat past two hours before going to bed...that is the hardest one for me!

featherz · Thu, September 23rd, 2004, 01:56 PM

I almost always have oatmeal with a scoop of whey protein for breakfast, although sometimes I have Van's Low Carb flax waffles (high fiber, 12g pro) with SF syrup. A little high in fat, but I make it up later in the day. The oatmeal with chocolate mint whey is absolutely yummy, so I don't get tempted to switch to waffles very often. I don't really need to add more, as in 2.5-3 hours I get to eat again!

I used to not eat before bedtime, but since I've switched to 6 meals a day I've occasionally had to eat later at night and it hasn't hurt me at all. Some people even recommend it, as you are theoretically supposed to get up in the morning and do cardio before breakfast.

jrfisher · Fri, September 24th, 2004, 12:08 PM

My breakfast meals are a Whey Protein Shake (only if following cardio), a serving of Kashi Go Lean Cereal with Skim Milk, sometimes a piece of fruit or No Fat Yogurt. Occasionally I jump start my day with a serving of eggs. 5 Large Egg whites and 1 Egg yolk is only 143 calories, and tons of protein! Sometimes I add a little more protein to my eggs by slicing up some lean ham or turkey. To give my eggs a little flavor, some days I add less than a tablespoon of salsa.

Somedays when my boyfriend wakes up the same time as me, we make french toast with whole wheat bread, egg whites, a tiny bit of milk (not even a 1/4 cup), and some cinnamon. The sugar-free syrup we use is only 25 calories for 1/4 cup (it's all carbs), but I can make that sacrifice to enjoy syrup with my french toast.

I have heard a lot about eating oats in the morning. I think they are so tasteless for my liking, but I just got a new whey protein flavor (chocolate), so I might try some oats and whey protein.

I just read a forum with a Protein Pancake recipe, and it's something I definately want to try!

Submitted by Guava:
"Mix 1/2 C ground oats (I blend mine in the food processor ahead of time and keep them for times like this) with 1/4 C fat free cottage cheese or yogurt or tofu and one egg. Add cinnamon, almond extract, or any other flavoring you like. (I usually put raisins or dried cherries in mine.) Pour into a heated pan. Cook for a bit, and flip. This makes a "pancake" reminiscent of a nice big soft oatmeal cookie. So tasty!"