How To Fix Metabolic Damage
Metabolic damage is described as a functional condition caused by starvation or low-calorie dieting, often linked to physique competitions or intense athletic endeavors like competitive Crossfit. To continually lose body fat, athletes engage in diets where they progressively lower calories. The problem begins when they reach a culminating point of weight loss resistance or adaptive thermogenesis.
Simply, your body learns how to operate on fewer calories. This leads to multiple coordinated changes in metabolic, hormonal, and nervous system function. All as a result of behavioral changes, you’ve been progressively eating less and exercising more. It makes sense, your body sees the lack of incoming calories but feels the demands you’re placing upon it with exercise. Naturally, it wants to down-regulate your body fat loss, it’s trying to survive so your basal metabolic rate decreases. (1)
This leads many competitors to feel that they were not able to get as lean as they would like or they just completely overload the system with stimulants or anabolic steroids to get a little bit more fat loss.
Some of the symptoms of metabolic damage include
-Increased appetite
-Lack of sex drive or libido
-Fatigue and the inability to be excited about training
-Depression and anxiety
-Low testosterone
-Increased blood sugar and cortisol
-Decreased immune system…
