The obesity epidemic continues to climb, week after week, year after year. If you’ve been searching the Internet for ways to increase your metabolism lately, you are not alone.
Most people I meet are not happy with their current weight. As a matter of fact, research tells us that over 50% of Americans are looking to lose weight. Unfortunately, about half of those people are not doing anything about it. How does that happen? It’s easy to lose hope if you feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing worked.
What is metabolism?
It’s the breakdown and transformation of food into energy.
In this blog, we’ll look at 3 metabolism myths to avoid, how to redirect your metabolism, and what your metabolism needs from you to help you lose weight.
3 Myths About Your Metabolism
One of the reasons so many people struggle is because they don’t understand why they carry excess body fat in the first place. We hear the word metabolism thrown around in everyday conversation, but there is very little understanding about its meaning.
The problem with this is the metabolism myths will lead you astray. When you have the right information, you can be successful in reaching your goal weight. Let’s take a look at 3 myths.
Myth #1: Slow Metabolism Results in Weight Gain
People believe they need a fast metabolism to be thin and if they have a slow metabolism, they’re doomed to be overweight.
Facts:
- Every living organism has its own metabolism, even bacteria. Your metabolic rate determines how much fuel you need to carry out basic activities like standing up, walking around, or going about your daily activities.
- Your basal metabolic rate is responsible for using about 70% of the calories you burn every single day. This happens as you go about your normal daily activities.
- The best thing you can do to improve your metabolic rate is to increase muscle mass. This is why weightlifting is one of the best exercises you can do to lose weight, and why pounding it out on the treadmill is not the best bang for your buck. Movement does not always equal weight loss.
Myth #2: Extreme Diets Will Course Correct Your Metabolism and Help You Lose Weight
If you are juice fasting, drinking cabbage soup, or doing anything extreme from a dietary standpoint to lose weight, you could be doing yourself more harm than good. These foods are not going to help you burn more calories. And these unhealthy habits may actually slow down your metabolic rate.
Facts:
- Including a variety of whole foods in a well-balanced diet is better for managing weight and metabolism.
- Extreme diets are not sustainable for long periods of time and will sabotage your weight loss efforts.
Myth #3: Eat More Often
Some people swear they have to eat six meals per day to keep their metabolism going.
Facts:
- This is poor advice; some doctors even falsely recommend this practice to their diabetic patients. Truth is, this negatively impacts blood glucose, causing your body to rely on sugar for energy.
- When you’re constantly putting food in our mouth, you never allow your body to rest. The body doesn’t have time to use its own reserves for fuel, meaning the extra fuel is stored as fat.
- The body learns to depend on an external source of glucose for energy when it has a constant supply coming in. This naturally drives up the blood sugar in the body and negatively impacts every organ system.
What Your Metabolism Needs From You
My client Cheryl struggled with her weight for over 20 years. She tried every new fad diet, pill, and potion out there.
She had zero luck.
We did two major things that shifted her in the right direction.
- Developed and implemented an appropriate detox for her specific body’s needs
- Used functional lab tests to evaluate her gut and hormone health
If you’re looking to repair your metabolism for weight loss, here’s what you need to know:
- The goal is to use your own body to fuel your metabolism and not rely so heavily on constant intake of food to fuel your metabolism. When you learn to balance your plate appropriately, you’ll be able to go longer between meals.
This is why I teach my clients how to eat intuitively based on their metabolic type. If we eat intuitively, we never ask questions like, “is breakfast the healthiest meal of the day?” I could write an entire post on that, but the short answer is, it depends.
If you are grabbing onto the next fad diet, hoping that will be your answer, you’re likely sadly mistaken. Even with the latest keto craze, there are downfalls to attempting to use fad diets as a sustainable way to live.
As you’ve probably learned, especially if you’ve tried many diets, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. These Band-Aid solutions are not focused on revving up your metabolism so it fits your body’s specific needs.
(Want to start eating intuitively? In this free resource, I teach you how to balance your plate so you’re eating the right combinations of foods to give you fuel for your metabolism. Access it here!)
Increase Your Amino Acids
One of the best things you can do to help your metabolism is increase your amino acids in the body. This will help improve your own muscle mass, and muscle burns fat. Most people are safe eating one gram of protein for every pound of lean body mass they carry.
Learn more about measuring lean body mass by investigating body measurement tools like a bioimpedance analysis or a dexa scan (watch a video on my results last year).
Adjust Your Plate
Protein is great for your metabolism, but it tends to be more difficult for the body to digest. To digest it, our core temperature and metabolism must rise, resulting in a high thermic effect in the body – which is a good thing for weight loss.
I work with my clients to help them find their metabolic type, which helps them understand exactly how much protein they need for their specific body type.
You’ll hear me say frequently… It’s all about balancing your plate.
With all my clients, I encourage balanced meals. That includes carbs, fats, and proteins with each meal to help sustain you for at least 3 hours.
After a meal, your goal should be to feel satisfied, have a stable mood, and have plenty of energy to carry you for several hours.
Focus on Your Hormone & Gut Health
Your hormones drive your health.
Thyroid Hormones. Your thyroid is your master when it comes to metabolism. When it slows down, not only will you feel sluggish, but you’ll also have a hard time losing weight.
Liver and gut health also play a major role in metabolism. They are involved in the conversion of the inactive thyroid hormone T4 to the active hormone in your body, T3.
Estrogen and Progesterone. When it comes to these sex hormones, if you have too much estrogen on board or if your estrogen to progesterone ratio is high, you’ll notice yourself holding on to that puffy-looking body fat.
The liver is also responsible for metabolizing estrogen, which prevents old estrogen from being recycled back into the system. When this system gets backed up, you’ll see weight gain as a side effect..
Adrenal Hormones. The little glands on top of your kidneys are responsible for cortisol production. This is your stress hormone. Stress-related fat tends to make up that spare tire you see around your waist.
The gut also plays a major role because it’s the first point of entry – where things from our external environment enter our internal environment.
If the gut becomes compromised, it can lead to other health issues (including a sluggish metabolism). This happens when things like medications, pathogens, toxins, pesticides, and herbicides enter our internal environment and begin to destroy the gut lining.
How do you know what your hormones and your gut look like?
Functional lab tests, of course.
Partnering with someone like me helps give you the information you need to lose weight instead of throwing every pill and potion you come across at it, hoping to put the fire out.
The Journey Towards Sustainable Weight Loss
If you’ve tried everything out there and you still feel stuck, you don’t need another meal plan. You need to start balancing your plate for you. I’ve created a free guide to help you get rid of your cravings, improve your overall mood, and improve your hormone balance by eating the right combination of foods for your body. Take authority over your health and your life – starting with this guide.