How Do Age and Exercise Affect My Metabolic Rate?

A board certified internal medicine physician talks about your basal metabolic rate as just one component of your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). At what age does your metabolic rate begin to slow down? Does increasing your level of physical activity increase your metabolic rate? What can you actually DO to ramp up your metabolism?

[@selahr.]

I’ve struggled with my weight since puberty hit. As a young teen I was put on a 1000-1200 calorie diet (plus extensive cardio which wasn’t counted) for several years and my body just never seemed to recover metabolically. I also have PCOS and multiple autoimmune disorders, which seem to make weight loss/maintenance even harder. Even now my estimated BMR is 1000 calories higher than what I consume (and that’s been true for at least 5-8 years) but I am not losing weight. The only time I’m able to lose weight is when my calorie intake and exercise expenditures put me under 800-1000 calories/day range which isn’t sustainable. I also have slow GI motility due to neuropathy now which seems to make it even harder to lose any weight, it’s like calories count almost double now. It seems like the science of weight loss hasn’t changed much in the last 40 years of dieting in my life and I’m still stuck with “use these simple equations” that my body doesn’t seem to have been programmed with. It just feels like science is really missing key things when it comes to explaining obesity and weight loss/maintenance.