low calories/metabolism

Question
Dear Dr,
I am a 45 year old male,5'8',220 lbs.I have always had to watch my calorie intake or I would balloon-even though I am very active.
I want to get under 200lbs,and have been on a 1000 calorie per day diet.I lost five pounds in a month. Last week I increased my intake to 1500 calories-and gained back a pound! Am I destined to eat like a monk for the rest of my life? Very frustrating when my couch potato co-workers eat junk food all day and stay fairly slim.Thanks...

Answer
Barry,

One way to counter a "low metabolism" is to exercise regularly.  This increases the amount of calories you use during the day, as well as raises your basal metabolic calorie need.  If you are already exercising, consider changing the type of exercise to "jump start" things.

As an aside, when you restrict your calorie intake too much you can put your body into a starvation mode, which makes it very difficult to lose weight and tends to slow down your metabolism drastically.

A slightly higher caloric intake coupled with new/more vigorous exercise would be my suggestion.  

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