Metabolic damage - Everything you need to know

The Metabolic damage has become a common word and is as familiar to every strength athlete as the concept of overtraining or the suprathreshold growth stimulus. Even if the term is relatively new in contrast to other vocabulary, it is anything but a new phenomenon. In medicine, the associated symptoms are known as adrenal insufficiency or thyroid dysfunction. Since the causes as well as the associated countermeasures diverge, there is sometimes confusion surrounding the metabolic damage, which we want to counteract in this article.

What is actually the hunger metabolism?

Today, hardly anyone disputes that the so-called starvation metabolism is a reality. The amusing thing about the whole story, however, is that this phenomenon has been known for a much longer time and is one of the most studied subjects in nutritional research. Why nevertheless large confusion prevails, is fast explained, because in the range of the nourishing science one calls this condition not hunger metabolism, but "adapted Thermogenese", which is correct from scientific view naturally, which complicates the interpretation for most humans however. So in reality, starvation metabolism occurs sooner or later as part of any calorie-restricted diet. However, the severity of the symptoms, and thus the level of discomfort usually attributed to metabolic damage, depends on the practical execution of the diet plan. Why the hunger metabolism occurs also with healthy and trained humans, who do not have to starve in the classical sense at all, is obvious. After all, evolution could not assume that we could ever afford to stage a body cult and voluntarily starve ourselves in front of a filled refrigerator in order to look better. Consequently, every athlete will sooner or later be confronted with at least a slight "metabolic damage". 

How to recognize metabolic damage

As part of your diet, you naturally start to exercise more and in turn eat less food to lose body fat. At the beginning, this works wonderfully. After one or two weeks, however, your organism starts to smell a rat. This has a very practical effect in that you feel increasingly hungry and increasingly listless. In addition, you tend to feel the desire to reach for salty, fatty and highly sugary foods. If this is the case, you can be sure that you have already reached the first stage of starvation metabolism. The underlying metabolic adaptation results in your organism reducing energy consumption, and thus you burn less fat under the given circumstances. To escape the stagnation, you grit your teeth and counter it by further calorie reduction and even harder training. Again, this works for a while until your organism strikes back again - the second stage of starvation metabolism. Again, there is a reduction in energy levels with a simultaneous increase in the feeling of hunger. It's a vicious cycle that many athletes end up countering with harder and harder measures. If you continue at this point, the result is inevitably the third stage of hunger metabolism, the so-called metabolic damage. Stagnant fat loss is the least of your problems in this context, however, because the effects on your health are much more dramatic. Sleep disturbances, a disturbed libido, an increased susceptibility to infections and possible depression are only a few consequences. 
What you should definitely not do in such a situation
At this point, many athletes consult the assembled expert advice of the Internet, which in all its wisdom, of course, also has a solution ready. This is usually called: double the calorie intake and maintain the training volume and observe the body's reaction. Can you imagine what happens when an organism that is in starvation mode suddenly has a significantly larger amount of energy available? Clearly, the efficiency-based human body does everything in its power to store the available energy to be better prepared for the next "starvation" phase. So if you increase your caloric intake too much, you will give up like a yeast dumpling. In such a case, it is not uncommon for exercisers to gain up to five kilograms of fat mass and water within a week. So, unless your symptoms are caused by a serious dysfunction, which should be checked with a doctor, you should proceed as explained below.  
How to get your metabolism back on track
Before you start to show your body where the hammer hangs, you should be aware that your organism does not work like an indestructible steam engine, but like a Swiss clockwork with thousands of cogs that normally mesh smoothly. However, your Swiss clockwork is broken, so you have to proceed carefully in order not to damage the sensitive mechanics in the long term. The harder you work against your metabolism with dietary methods, the harder it will fight back. So the only right way out is to give in yourself. At this point, we offer you a solution divided into three options, each of which is applied according to the phase of metabolic damage or starvation metabolism you are currently in.
Phase 1 - "Thermal compensation
In the first phase, it is still relatively easy to remedy the metabolic damage that is developing. At this point, you should reduce the stress acting on your body by either eating a little less and exercising a little less at the same time, or by eating more but exercising a little more at the same time. As long as you don't fall into the "eat less, exercise more" pattern, this strategy will definitely work during the thermal compensation phase. Within a week, you'll usually be back on track.
Phase 2 - "Metabolic resistance
As a rule, the procedure in the course of the second phase of starvation metabolism proceeds similarly without complications as the first phase. The only difference is that the process extends over three to four weeks. In practice, you should eat less and train less in the first two to three weeks, before moving on to increasing calorie intake and training volume from the third or fourth week. You may also need to take complementary measures to help you relax and reduce both physical and physical stress. These include getting enough sleep, massages, saunas, sex, and a full social life.
Phase 3 - "Classic metabolic damage
Once you get to this metabolic stage, you have few options. Eating less and reducing your training load at the same time is the only way out that will lead to success in the long run. In addition, it will hardly be possible to avoid cutting back on the intensity of your training. Instead, the focus must be on rest and regeneration. Training should therefore be limited to a few light sessions and casual exercise in the fresh air. If you are in the third phase, however, it is always advisable to consult a doctor to rule out an organic cause. If this is the case, you will also be back on track after a few months with the right treatment.

The fine line between dysfunction, disease and protective function 

Modern medicine inevitably operates in the difficult-to-define gray area between health and disease, with the result that the shades of gray in between cannot always be fully grasped and correctly interpreted. Consequently, symptoms common to metabolic damage often pose problems for medicine, as the cause may be both incipient dysfunction or already a serious disease. However, since many mechanisms of the human organism in the field of medicine are not yet known for decades, it happens again and again that misdiagnoses are made or the presence of the so-called metabolic damage is excluded as a result of a diet. In this respect, metabolic damage is similar to overtraining, because this, too, and the resulting symptoms have long been considered a myth. The bottom line, however, is that only very few people really suffer from a serious disease or dysfunction, but merely exhibit the well-known characteristics of a starvation metabolism. From the point of view of evolutionary biology, this is of great importance, since in prehistoric times the next meal was not waiting for us in the refrigerator, of course, and the organism had to adapt its energy metabolism accordingly in order to ensure survival.