T Nation

Too Fast Of A Metabolism?

Supplements and Nutrition
#1

just wondering if it’s possible to have TOO fast of a metabolism? the past 2 months i’ve eatean 3800-5000 calories a day, generally around 42k a day though, and it appears as though I haven’t changed much from 174-176 fluctuation. All I do anymore is eat, yet it seems the more I eat the more I crap, so essentially it’s like I’m just losing the extra calories I try and intake. All of my food is super super clean and high in fiber too.

I duno, I always hear about making sure to bulk up clean to get the best rewards, but I feel anymore that food doesn’t even phase my metabolism anymore, as last tuesday I ate 30 wings and was flat out stuffed afterwards, but the next day I woke up looking as if I hadn’t eaten anything bad at all. I just don’t get how it’s possible for me to not atleast have gone up to 178-179 in this 2 month period, and in fact sometimes when I only eat 3300-3600 say, the scale will actually show 174ish!

I’m 5’10" 175 lbs, and am looking to eventually get up to 220-230 in the next few years, but I’m not seeing that happen if it’s impossible for me to maintain even my own weight off 4000 calories a day. Is clean eating always the answer?

#2

Man, what I would give to have your problem!

Why don’t you stop reading what everyone tells you to do, and just start experimenting on your own? Eat “dirty” for a few weeks. Keep track of your bodyweight, measurements, and strength. Maybe that’s what it will take for you to gain weight.

[quote]relativelyfunguy wrote:
just wondering if it’s possible to have TOO fast of a metabolism? the past 2 months i’ve eatean 3800-5000 calories a day, generally around 42k a day though, and it appears as though I haven’t changed much from 174-176 fluctuation. All I do anymore is eat, yet it seems the more I eat the more I crap, so essentially it’s like I’m just losing the extra calories I try and intake. All of my food is super super clean and high in fiber too.

I duno, I always hear about making sure to bulk up clean to get the best rewards, but I feel anymore that food doesn’t even phase my metabolism anymore, as last tuesday I ate 30 wings and was flat out stuffed afterwards, but the next day I woke up looking as if I hadn’t eaten anything bad at all. I just don’t get how it’s possible for me to not atleast have gone up to 178-179 in this 2 month period, and in fact sometimes when I only eat 3300-3600 say, the scale will actually show 174ish!

I’m 5’10" 175 lbs, and am looking to eventually get up to 220-230 in the next few years, but I’m not seeing that happen if it’s impossible for me to maintain even my own weight off 4000 calories a day. Is clean eating always the answer?[/quote]

#3

eat clean but more dense food maybe a bit less fiber. more sweet potaotes, rice, nuts etc. No matter what you eat more your going to hit the pot more. in the end your not gaining your not eating enough. go with denser sources. Dense carbs, fats etc it will make it much easuer to get the calories needed in.

PB sandwhich and milk = your friend.

#4

and is not a pb sandwich going against the idea of p/f p/c meals?

to the credit of the scale and my weight, however, i did get on the scale today and it said 177, so who knows.

#5

I’m gonna take a stab at this and say you should change your carb to fat ratio in favor of carbs. If you’re doing P+F and P+C meals, try changing your earliest P+F meal to P+C. Definitely keep a food log if you aren’t already.

Also, you might look into that HCl supplementation.

#6

Oh yeah, forgot the simplest, just try eating MORE. Let’s face it, if you’re not gaining mass you probably aren’t eating enough.

#7

Oy vey.

[quote]relativelyfunguy wrote:
and is not a pb sandwich going against the idea of p/f p/c meals?

[/quote]

#8

[quote]relativelyfunguy wrote:
and is not a pb sandwich going against the idea of p/f p/c meals?
[/quote]

This may be part of your “envious” problem.

Btw not everyone follows the p/f p/c model. It’s just a tool.

#9

Jesus tapdancin’ Christ! (I stole that from someone else on here)

If you have trouble gaining weight, don’t worry about p/f and p/c meals. Mix them all together, protein, fat and carbs. Eat clean, but eat more. High calorie liquids like milk and orange juice are your friends. “Get Big Shakes” are too.

Fill up a blender with milk, a banana, oats, flax seed oil, honey, whey protein, yogurt, fruit, walnuts, cashews, natural peanut butter, etc. Drink the whole thing throughout the day every day but don’t decrease how much you eat. This should add at least a couple thousand calories to your daily intake. Don’t worry about carbs before you go to sleep either.

#10

[quote]bretc wrote:
Jesus tapdancin’ Christ! (I stole that from someone else on here)

If you have trouble gaining weight, don’t worry about p/f and p/c meals. Mix them all together, protein, fat and carbs. Eat clean, but eat more. High calorie liquids like milk and orange juice are your friends. “Get Big Shakes” are too.

Fill up a blender with milk, a banana, oats, flax seed oil, honey, whey protein, yogurt, fruit, walnuts, cashews, natural peanut butter, etc. Drink the whole thing throughout the day every day but don’t decrease how much you eat. This should add at least a couple thousand calories to your daily intake. Don’t worry about carbs before you go to sleep either.
[/quote]

God you guys make me hungry.

#11

BIG BIG difference between sat a PB sandwhich with natural PB and good whole grain bread, or say an apple nuts and protein shake P+C+F then there is with say a doughnut and glass of chocolate milk.

Choose good foods but fear not the P+C+F so damn much even JB stated many people take that way to far.

#12

[quote]Phill wrote:
PB sandwhich and milk = your friend. [/quote]

I can’t begin to count the times I’ve given this advice.

If you’re 50 pounds overweight, then consider the p+f and p+c only rule. Otherwise, eat. Wake up in the middle of the night to piss and then drink a glass of milk and eat a protein bar. Where did I miss the whole “Carbs are the Devil” shpeel? If you want to gain muscle, you MUST eat carbs. What’s your daily carb intake? If it’s not 2x your protein intake…

Oh, and a clean bulk is meant to NOT eat boxes of Krispy Kremes, gaining 5 pounds a week. You’re gonna have to get it through your head that you will gain fat. Just gain by eating whole foods, and a lot of it.

And your metabolism isn’t too fast. If you’re gaining and losing weight daily… it’s your waterweight, dummy! Tell you what, drink a gallon of milk before you step on a scale every morning. That’ll add 8 pounds. Your waterweight fluctuates up to five pounds day to day. Your muscle cells are filled with fluid (cytoplasm), go figure. Keep hydrated.

Metabolism too fast… read up on the body processes and the time / energy it takes to digest food. Digesting food takes calories. Ever sweat during / after a meal?

Once again, if you’re not gaining weight, you’re not eating enough.

This is the truth.

Go eat a couple PB&J’s. Every day. With milk. Everyone that succeeds at this will tell you: this is hard fucking work. You’re just beginning to understand the immensity of the task you’ve set for yourself. Welcome to the real deal.

#13

Yep.

[quote]kroby wrote:
Once again, if you’re not gaining weight, you’re not eating enough.

This is the truth. [/quote]

#14

Unless you are doing loads of activity that burns a lot of EDIT: cals (said carbs the first time) (hours of cardio, lots of sprinting, etc.) i really doubt you are consistently taking in well over 4000 calories a day and not gaining weight.

Count all your foods for a week and be honest and see what happens. I know people with very freaky metabolisms, but none are just sitting at low mid 170s eating 4k calories a day without doing loads of exercise besides lifting.

#15

[quote]Phill wrote:
Choose good foods but fear not the P+C+F so damn much even JB stated many people take that way to far.
[/quote]

Agreed. A quick look through Gourmet Nutrition will show you that JB himself has some recipes with plenty of carbs and fat (and protein, of course).

#16

[quote]davan wrote:
Unless you are doing loads of activity that burns a lot of EDIT: cals (said carbs the first time) (hours of cardio, lots of sprinting, etc.) i really doubt you are consistently taking in well over 4000 calories a day and not gaining weight.

Count all your foods for a week and be honest and see what happens. I know people with very freaky metabolisms, but none are just sitting at low mid 170s eating 4k calories a day without doing loads of exercise besides lifting.[/quote]

I agree. Actually track what you eat for a couple days and don’t just estimate. I bet your “3800-5000” cals are a lot closer to 2500-3000.

#17

well it’s certainly nowhere near 2500 as i get through 2500 at about 3pm.

breakfast:
1 cup oats
1 cup fat free milk
1 scoop whey protein powder
1 banana
~640 calories

2nd meal:
1 cup oats
1 cup fat free milk
8 oz grilled chicken breast
1 apple
~630 calories

3rd meal:
5 egg whites, 1 whole egg
1 serving smart balance butter
2 servings whole grain rice
2 cups fat free milk
1 serving greens+
~800 calories

4th meal:
1 cup fat free milk
2 slices whole grain bread (no hfcs or hydrogenated oils)
~2.5 servings natural peanut butter
~755

5th meal:
8 oz hamburger steak
1 cup fat free milk
1 serving natural peanut butter
1 serving flax seed oil
~640 calories

6th meal:
2 servings lowfat cottage cheese
1 cup fat free milk
1 scoop whey protein
1 serving olive oil
2 servings fish oil
~640 calories

~4105 calories for the day

This isn’t exactly what I considered a clean day of eating just due to all the milk and such, but it is my off week from lifting so I’m just doing easy stuff and not burning many calories. but that is all that I ate yesterday, and I was never really full. And yes that is a typical day of calories.

#18


and while i know you guys don’t like seeing picutres like this, and i don’t either, i’m just showing what i look like upon waking up, which i don’t think looks like i am strong at all. don’t say i’m afraid to get rid of my abs for a while, i’m not, it’s just every morning i wake up and take a gigantic dump and end up looking like this again.

#19

perhaps you’re not giving your body a reason to maintain more muscle mass. This can come in more ways than just not eating enough. maybe your workouts suck. maybe you have a lot of stress in your life. maybe you just do too much shit and are too active to support more weight on your frame. maybe you don’t absorb the nutrients very well.

we can speculate all you want, but it’s going to be up to you to try some new stuff out. that’s what makes this fun, it’s the challenge of improvment. good luck.

#20

[quote]CU AeroStallion wrote:
perhaps you’re not giving your body a reason to maintain more muscle mass. This can come in more ways than just not eating enough. maybe your workouts suck. maybe you have a lot of stress in your life. maybe you just do too much shit and are too active to support more weight on your frame. maybe you don’t absorb the nutrients very well.
[/quote]

i have just about zero stress in my life.

i sleep 9-10 hours every night, and deep sleep too. i am in an easy major, with no job as well. the only activity i get is when i ride my bike to class which is about a quarter mile away or less, and the rest of the time is spent sitting around doing nothing. I don’t believe my workouts suck, I was using CT’s HSS-100 for the past 16 weeks, and the last 4 weeks in the strength phase i was able to go from 195 lbs on bench press 2 times to 205 pounds 3 times.