Metabolic Limbo is a bad place to be both mentally and physically. It’s the middle ground between the wellbeing of an optimal metabolism and misery of extreme restriction– most of the symptoms of restriction, with very few of the benefits of recovery. In order to fully grasp metabolic limbo, there is a few things regarding rebound weight that we first need to tackle. Let’s start with rebound weight.
Recap on Rebound Weight
As we covered in a previous article, after a period of severe dieting, our bodies almost always have to gain some rebound weight before are metabolism is back in tip top shape. Keep in mind that this rebound weight only occurs if you have dieted below your bodyweight setpoint. If you are, say 5 pounds above your setpoint, maybe from being on bed rest or a stressful event, then once your life normalizes, you will likely lose those 5 pounds spontaneously without experiencing this rebound. However, if you’re only 5 pounds over your setpoint but you lose 20 pounds, then some rebound weight would be expected.
Most of us have around a 5 to 10 pound weight range where our bodies are comfortable, and as long as you are around this weight your body will be content. It’s only after we drop below this set point range that our survival response is triggered. You can think of the rebound as a slingshot: the farther you pull it back, the faster and farther it will sling in the opposite direction once released. Similarly, the farther you have gone below your setpoint, the stronger your survival response will be and the more rebound weight you can expect to gain.
How is Rebound Weight Related to Metabolic Limbo?
You can picture this rebound weight as a hill, much like in the graph below. Your body has to go from the valleys of restriction and venture over the hill of recovery before you finally end your journey in the land of optimal metabolic function.
Those who find themselves in metabolic limbo have ended their journey somewhere on the hill of recovery, around where the red dot is on the graph. Why would they do that? There are many reasons, but in most cases, they are simply following the wrong map. They are either using their pre-diet weight as a landmark of recovery, or they are gauging recovery based on an arbitrary number of calories from an online calorie calculator. While these metrics can occasionally lead you to recovery, many times they can leave you still either below your set-point, or in a caloric deficit.
The scary part is that most who are in metabolic limbo aren’t even aware they are there. How can this be? There are three common paths that can lead one to Metabolic Limbo. Let’s look at some examples.
Jim–Doesn’t even know there was a Journey
Jim is an average guy who happens to be 5 pounds over his setpoint. His concerned wife mentions to him one day that he should try and lose a few pounds, so he begins a diet, and, in a few months, he loses 15 pounds. While his body would have been fine losing just a few pounds, this 15 pounds of weight loss landed him below his setpoint. His body responds accordingly by increasing hunger and dropping his energy expenditure, making sustaining this weight a challenge.
Jim’s Not Alone
In fact, only around 20% of people who achieve weights loss are able to maintain it long-term (Wing, 2005). This was actually the most conservative estimate I could find; In fact, there are some estimates that are as low a 5%, when tracked over a longer period of time. What’s more, these estimates include individuals who were above their bodyweight setpoint before dieting. I’m certain that for individuals who are dieting below their setpoint, like the type of dieter who is getting lean for the beach, maintaining weight loss long term is even less common. That is because it is only once you go below your setpoint that your survival response kicks in and your body starts to push back.
Unfortunately, Jim is not one of the rare few who maintains their weight loss– despite a struggle on his part, his weight slowly rises back up to his pre-diet levels. Now that he is close to his new setpoint, which is likely slightly higher than before, his weight gain slows down, as he is able to maintain his weight with a little effort. But this “effort” is what makes all the difference. He needed no effort to maintain his weight before dieting, but now a small bit of his attention will always be on food. The problem is that once his survival response kicks in, it will never fully go away until it crosses the hill of rebound weight.
You might be in metabolic limbo if…
A good indicator that you are in metabolic limbo like Jim is that despite being back to your original weight, your hunger is higher than it was before dieting. Another indicator is that your body is now much more sensitive to weight gain. For instance, you may gain several pounds even after a short weekend of eating what you want. In response to this “weekend weight”, come Monday, many in this situation go on mini diets to get back on track. This results in an ongoing struggle with food and weight not unlike what binge eaters and bulimics experience, though to a much lesser degree.
Does Jim Have An Eating Disorder?
What differentiates an average dieter like Jim and those who end up with an eating disorder is how far below their setpoint the struggle to maintain one’s weight takes place. The farther below your setpoint this struggle takes place, the more intense it is. Those who eventually develop eating disorders tend to be struggling to maintain a weight 10 or as much as 30 pounds below their setpoint rather than only 2 or 3 pounds. Just because Jim’s perpetual struggle is far less intense that someone with a full-blown eating disorder, doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect him negatively. Sadly, many people spend almost their entire life in this metabolic state. This survival response kicks in, it will never fully go away until you cross the hill of rebound weight.
Disordered Eating Continuum
This is a really important point I want to emphasize. Disordered eating is not something that you either have or you don’t, it exists on a continuum. The issues that everyday dieters experience are simply a toned down version of what those with diagnosed eating disorders experience. The father we go along the continuum of our survival response, the more extreme our behaviors and thoughts become. Not to be hyperbolic, but in the cases of famines, this can even end in cannibalism. In fact, if we look back at the historical famines across many different cultures, this is exactly what we see. You may think that this is something you never would consider, but these people were no different than you or I. I mention this, to give you an idea of how strong our survival instincts can become.
Sarah– Knows there’s a journey but doesn’t know where it ends
Sarah began a period of extreme dieting starting in her early 20’s. Like many in her situation, she begins to experience various hormonal issues and intense food cravings. Despite shrugging off these issues for several years, at some point she begins to realize that the restrictive lifestyle she has been following is neither sustainable, nor worth it– she is faced with the decision between restriction and fixing her physical and emotional health; she makes a wise choice and focuses on her health.
Sarah is really excited to get her life back, and she is willing to gain some weight if that’s what it takes. She does some research online and the most common advice that she comes across is to take a break from dieting and eat at maintenance.
She finds a calorie goal calculator online and determines the specific number of calories that allow will allow her to maintain her weight, which is likely a few hundred calories more than when she was dieting. That should do the trick right? If she hadn’t been dieting long, nor very extreme, then yea, it probably will help. However, since her dieting was extreme enough to cause a significant degree of metabolic adaptation, it is unlikely that she gets much relief. Why?
In the case that you begin eating at maintenance after extreme or long-term dieting, you will likely experience one of two common issues.
Problem 1: You Are Maintaining a Weight Below Your Set Point
If the weight that you are “maintaining” is a weight below your bodyweight set-point, then you are still in a caloric deficit relative to what your body really needs. While you might be slightly better off than before, your hunger and other symptoms of dieting will not subside until you are at least maintaining at or above your bodyweight set-point.
This also holds true for those who are attempting to eat enough calories to return to their previous weight, but not more. As we mentioned earlier, this is likely not enough because your body needs to first gain the rebound weight before your metabolism is fully back to normal. Much like in Jim’s case, this may keep you in metabolic limbo for years. However, in most cases these calorie formulas won’t even be accurate given your metabolic state; this brings me to the next issue.
Problem 2: You Start Gaining Weight Faster than Expected So You Cut Back
What’s also common in this scenario is that you may find you gain a substantial amount of weight despite meticulously tracking your predetermined number of maintenance calories. Why does this occur? While these formulas are designed to determine the number of calories to maintain your weight, they run off of the assumption that the weight you are maintaining is your set-point.
You likely already know from experience that weight gain is much easier after a period of dieting than it was before dieting. And the reverse is also true: weight gain become more difficult as you go above your set-point. These two observations can be explained by your body adjusting your behavior and hormones to keep you at your bodyweight set-point.
A woman that is maintaining her setpoint of 120 pounds can actually consume more calories than a woman who is maintaining the same 120 pounds but is below her setpoint. This is because once your body hits it’s setpoint it no longer desires or needs to gain any more weight and will thus increase energy expenditure, i.e. you burn more calories. On the other hand, if you are below your set point, your body lowers your energy expenditure, and instead it opts to store these extra calories, with the goal of reaching your set point.
What I’d Tell Sarah
The takeaway here is that our bodies’ need for calories not only varies from person to person, but we also experience intrapersonal variance, depending on our metabolic state at the time. Thus, there is not calorie calculator out there that can tell you how much to eat better than your satiety.
The exception to this is for those who have lost their true hunger signals, as experienced by many with anorexia. In this case, it is a good idea to follow some recovery guidelines, such as the “Minnie Maud” guidelines until your hunger signals return.
Jamie– Knows there is more to the journey but is resistant
Jamie has a similar back story as Sarah. The only difference is that she knows that she must start eating to satiety to begin climbing her way out of metabolic limbo; she just can’t convince herself to do it yet. Maybe she is scared of any possible weight gain. Or maybe she attempted recovering her metabolism before and was met with a plethora of symptoms.
Whatever the reason, she has come to believe that it is best to stay in metabolic limbo than it is to deal with the challenges of recovery. In fact, she likely has adopted several behaviors and shortcuts in order to adapt to being in metabolic limbo. Strictly regimented diets and purging are two such examples; finishing the journey means that she will have to leave these comforts behind.
I was in the very same situation as Jamie for over almost two years before I finally had enough. What changed for me was when I realized how much of my thoughts and energy where being taken over by food and dieting. I had no bandwidth left for my friends, family and goals.
Takeaway
Despite these three individuals all being in metabolic limbo for different reasons and to various degrees, the way out of metabolic limbo is the same for them all. You need to be both at or above your setpoint and no longer in a caloric deficit to fully recover your metabolism. The most reliable map to accomplishing this is to eat to satiety.
References
Wing RR, Phelan S. Long-term weight loss maintenance. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; 2005. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/82/1/222S/4863393
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