A Slow Metabolism, Caused By Diet, Is Diet Failure!
(This is a running account of the diet I have been on for some weeks now. I have added more blogs to the “Follow Leo’s Fitness Journey” tab on the top of leofitlabs.com website. You can work backward after reading this if you want more information.)
I just tested again with our LetFitLabs PNOE Machine. PNOE means breath in Greek. This device analyzes your breath to see how many calories you are burning per day while at rest. No estimates or guesswork.
This test is VITAL so that I ensure my metabolism does NOT go down on my diet. I do not want my metabolism to slow down.
I am calorie-restricting by 500-600 calories daily, which is a good deficit amount. It will lead to approximately one pound of weight loss per week, and my metabolism should not slow. 7 x 500 = 3500, which is about a pound of fat per week.
Too deep a calorie deficit, such as 1000 a day, can, and most likely will cause your metabolism to slow down. This has two adverse effects. One is that it becomes harder to lose weight as time goes on. The second is that weight begins coming back the day you stop dieting.
A slower metabolism comes about because your body perceives you are starving so it lowers your caloric needs. When you return to a normal calorie count (from before the diet) your lost weight WILL come back. There is no fighting it, and you cannot stay on a calorie deficit forever.
MY RESULTS
Below are my PNOE results for the last four weeks, with the oldest at the top. As you can see, my metabolism is not slowing down. So looking at my daily resting calorie burn (circled in blue for clarity), it has remained within a very tight range. Keeping your metabolism normal is ideal! I do not want it to go down for reasons explained above and in other blogs.
I know I said no estimates above, but the PNOE only tests your “resting caloric burn.” So there is virtually no way to test your total burn, but the amount above your “resting rate” can be estimated.
You would add an estimated calorie burn to your resting calorie burn, depending on your activity. For a 220-pound male, like myself, with moderate activity, that is likely 800 calories. That makes my daily burn about 2900 calories. So as long as I eat 23-2400 calories a day I should lose one pound per week and keep it off.
Only with a PNOE metabolic test, do you know with certainty if your metabolism is slowing while dieting.
Once your metabolism slows, it may never return to normal. As I mentioned above this is nature protecting you from future “starvation events” which a diet mimics.
Stay tuned for further weight, body fat percentage, and muscle percentage in the next Blog.
If You Are on Or Starting A Diet, You Need The PNOE Test
If you are starting a diet, or are on one now, you should sign up for a series of PNOE tests to verify that your metabolism is not slowing. A normal metabolism will keep you losing weight and getting that fit body you are working towards. Don’t let a slow metabolic rate sabotage your diet efforts.
You should do one just as you start the diet and then once a week or once every other week. If you see your Basal Metabolism Rate lowering (the number of calories needed to keep essential body functions working), you WILL gain the weight back 100% of the time.
We offer discounts on multiple test pre-purchases. Testing will help keep your metabolism at a normal level.
High-Intensity Exercise, as we offer on the ARX Computer-controlled machines, will also help keep metabolism normal or even RAISE it. Regular low-intensity exercise will not do this or do it only minimally. You need relatively intense exercise to keep the metabolism burning calories, even at rest. Weight training has been shown to keep the body burning extra calories for many hours after you are done.
Call LeoFitLabs now and schedule a PNOE Test to find your resting metabolic rate and see our ARX machines which will boost your total metabolism!
