[chubbypanda]

Hey chicks! I am asking that you share your experiences/research about metabolic slowdown here.

I hear various estimates for low long it takes for metabolic slowdown to be really noticeable, anywhere from a day to a few weeks of living off of very low calories. I have also read that occasionally eating over plan keeps the metabolism from slowing to a virtual halt.

So is metabolic slowdown the cause of plateaus? And where is the line between eating to stimulate the metabolism and eating where the body jst holds on to whatever calories it gets?

I assume that eating over plan in order to keep the metabolism going would have to happen during a period of time when you are not severely restricting, right?

I ate lower calories than my target of 1200 today and Thursday without meaning to due to various reasons. Now, I do not think two non-consecutive days will make my metabolism slow down...or at least I HOPE it won't!

[Pudgebrownie]

I consume very low calories (which I am NOT suggesting for others to do!) and I do find that my metabolism does slow down from time to time. For me, I can be at a standstill for a few days (3-4) and remain the same weight. Then after eating about 1000 calories, I find that within one or two days, I will suddenly drop weight of 1-3 pounds. This is how my body's metabolism responds to low cal and high cal intake.

[Rosinante]

My body follows this same pattern but at a higher calorie level. My budget is 1400 and I weigh daily, in order to learn to try and see patterns.

Typically, I'll lose a few ounces a day, maintain, drop, bounce back, then finally drop again. And repeat.

I've been experimenting for a few days with varying my calories from 1100-1500 - but the patterns seems broadly the same.