I heard that “metabolism slows down” and that our body becomes “more efficient”…how? What does this concretely mean? Also, how can we get out of this loop and start losing weight again?
I wrote “diet” because I’m talking about a DIY one, but I guess diets made by professionals also have to be adjusted every now and then.
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There’s two things that happen. Both impact how many calories you burn on a daily basis. Since you lose weight by eating in a deficit of calories (eating less than you burn), these impact how much weight you lose eating a certain number of calories each day.
The first thing is that, as you lose weight, the number of calories you burn daily reduces. Not only does the lower weight mean your body uses less energy to move around, but that fat actually uses some energy to maintain, protect from pathogens, and keep healthy and usable. Overall, when you lose weight, the energy you burn daily goes down.
The second thing is that weight loss isn’t entirely from fat. You also lose muscle, and muscle contributes a significant amount to your daily energy expenditure. This happens unless you specifically prepare for it by lifting weights regularly and eating plenty of protein.
So generally what happens is people lose weight by eating in a deficit, but they don’t account for how that deficit will gradually decrease in size as they lose weight. There are ways around this. You can adjust your deficit to better reflect your new weight as you go, you can take periodic breaks where you eat at maintenance to allow your metabolism to adjust, or you can lift weights/eat protein and promote muscle maintenance while you are in a deficit.
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