"Metabolic Damage" - Myth?

[nmonaco]

Many fitness and nutrition experts have warned me over the years to never eat fewer than 2000cal a day or "metabolic damage" will occur - making weight loss impossible and requiring some form of remedy to correct.

 

Is metabolic damage a myth? How does CRON figure in to this theory?

[Gordo]

Mostly myth, but also misconception. Many everyday people want to lose weight by burning lots of calories. People interested in longevity typically want to slow their metabolism down as much as possible, with the body in a more efficient, energy conserving state where in theory cell division is less rapid, bad cells are killed off faster, and stem cells deplete at a slow rate (in other words, you age less rapidly). You can always eat fewer calories to lose weight, and more calories to prevent weight loss. There are differing ideas about what the ideal BMI is, but most agree below 18 is probably bad, personally I believe (based on large mortality meta studies) that 21-22 is ideal, perhaps a bit higher in ones elder years.

[drewab]

Ray Cronise has measured the metabolisms of many people using an indirect calorimeter, and claims he hasn't found a single broken metabolism out of all the ones he has measured.

 

 

On the other hand, participants from the show The Biggest Loser have been reported to have permanently damaged their metabolisms. 

 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/6-years-after-the-biggest-loser-metabolism-is-slower-and-weight-is-back-up/