So which is it?

Also, I think starvation mode has been exaggerated. While some suffer the extremes of it, what happens usually is just that the metabolism slows down to below average levels, making it harder to lose weight on an average daily intake. It's correctable, though, I believe. It's not as dramatic as many make it sound. While no one wants a suboptimal metabolism, it's not a death sentence either. It's just a side effect that you can usually reverse.

[QUOTE=Ayla2010;1085992]I am going to ask for blood tests today.[/QUOTE]

I think that's best. Go as deeply as you can with it. At least you'll know what you're working with then.

I'm also not a fan of the "eat when you're hungry" school of thought. It probably would work when high calorie food sources aren't as readily available and deceptively calorie dense as they are these days. Hunger isn't entirely physical or mental. It's some combination of both and is caused more by hormones, grehlin for example, and our body's "set points" then we'd like to believe. You might feel like you're hungry because you're used to eating at certain time of day. Eating the amount that you think proper for that time of day might, however, be part of a calorie excess that your body will store as fat to stave off an impending famine that may never happen.

I'm def not eating to excess. I eat 1-2 times a day and not a huge amount

[QUOTE=j3nn;1085972]I think it's often both, usually in a vicious cycle that instigates each extreme. Too many calories leads to weight gain and oftentimes metabolic derangement, which is often remedied by the other extreme of cutting too many calories and nutrients which further aggravates the metabolic derangement. I think the key is to not live in extremes. The body has its own mechanisms for responding to them and they are usually detrimental to our health.

My experience after losing 90 lbs over the past 6 years is that calories are all that matter for basic weight loss, but you need to find what your caloric needs are and which foods alter the outcome. I can lose weight on high or low carb with insulin resistance and wrecked hormones as long as I'm eating less than I burn. And I've never resorted to low calorie dieting, always above 2k on average.[/QUOTE]

Brilliantly said. I have the urge to stand here and clap, but people at work think I'm strange enough already.

Fix the broken machinery, then you [i]can[/i] eat when you're hungry. [u][i]If[/i][/u] you eat biologically appropriate foods. [u][i]If[/i][/u] you haven't broken the machinery beyond repair.

The funny thing about being overweight is that you can still be severely malnourished. Conversely, you can feel satiated and also be malnourished. It's a mechanism the body uses in true scarcity situations. Malnutrition does lead to metabolic issues which could make weight loss more difficult if certain processes are compromised.

I know this is a lackey question, but I don't really understand how a person can "break" their metabolism?

I understand the process by which it apparently happens, but can a metabolism really be "broken"?

[QUOTE=RichMahogany;1086012]Brilliantly said. I have the urge to stand here and clap, but people at work think I'm strange enough already.[/QUOTE]

Work: you're doing it right.

[QUOTE=YogaBare;1086015]I know this is a lackey question, but I don't really understand how a person can "break" their metabolism?

I understand the process by which it apparently happens, but can a metabolism really be "broken"?[/QUOTE]

I don't think anyone deliberately breaks their metabolism, and it doesn't happen after a weekend of overdoing it. It's usually a long series of unremarkable events and choices that lead to systematic problems. The body is resilient and often able to bounce back from going off the tracks. It's just... Complicated. So many variables!

Many times it's not lifestyle at all, but environmental and genetic factors that "break" something, or it may have been a birth defect. Like I said, sooo many variables!

Why does this need to be so complicated?

So my hunger signals are broken too and I might not be nourishing my body enough?