Is Your Metabolism Working?
Metabolism gets a bad rep. Most people are at war with, if not afraid of their metabolism or lack thereof. Most people see their metabolism as something to be controlled - mistrusting that it will do its job right without their their help. In reality, their desire for control is actually what inhibits the metabolism and keeps it from doing its natural job.
So what is metabolism?
Simply put, it is your body’s mechanism of converting the food you eat to energy that fuels living. Breathing, repairing, building, enzymatic reactions, etc. What it is not is your body’s mechanism of keeping you skinny. Your metabolism operates as part of your hunger and fullness regulation. It helps to tell your body when you need food and when you have had enough.
“Having a sluggish metabolism is not normal and it’s not fixed with magic pills or potions. ”
How does metabolism work?
In a well nourished and unrestricted body, the metabolism works very naturally. It amps up to get you to eat more when the body is in an energy deficit. This way you eat more calories, fat, protein, etc that your body needs. When the body is in calorie, fat, protein etc. excess, the metabolism slows, thereby signaling your huger hormones to quiet down and fullness hormones to amp up.
What makes my metabolism stop working?
You may feel that you’ve gained weight due to your metabolism running at a snail’s pace and you may be right. However, the question is less “how do I boost my metabolism?” and more “what slowed it down in the first place?” Our metabolisms are meant to change throughout the lifecycle. This allows us to grow “big and strong” as children and into adults. Our bodies are made to regulate this process on their own. Our bodies are made to regulate and maintain homeostasis - it is the whole basis of life.
What throws a wrench in your metabolism is dieting. When you diet, restrict your eating, create a calorie deficit, cut food groups (i.e essential nutrients), your body goes into panic mode. The thing is, your body does not know a diet from starvation. Our bodies do not know that it is 2021 and we’re trying to lose weight. What your body does know is famine vs. having enough. So, when you diet the body becomes stressed and goes back to it’s “cave man” instincts to preserve your life - because our bodies are made to keep us alive by maintaining homeostasis. Note “alive” is not the same as “thrive.” In starvation or under-nourishing, your body is surviving, not thriving.
To preserve life, the metabolism will slow. This is to conserve energy. In addition, you will become more hungry and your body will hold onto more nutrients like fat and glucose. This is so your body can get all that it can known the event that it will not have access to nutrients for a long time. Your heart rate will slow to conserve energy. Your lung capacity will slow to conserve energy. Your cognition will slow to conserve energy. Menstruation will stop to conserve energy. Your energy will decline to conserve energy. Your metabolism still works, but it has dramatically slows to conserve energy so that it can sustain you through this famine with an unforeseen ending. To put it into perspective a little better, it’s common for women who are undernourishing to have difficulty getting pregnant. This is because reproduction is more likely in a thriving body rather than a surviving body. The body is smart and knows that if it has to keep you surviving, there’s no way it can allow a baby to thrive.
How much your metabolism slows depends on how deprived your body is of nutrition and how often it is deprived of nutrition (aka how often you cycle from diet to diet, restriction to restriction). With more frequent or severe dieting, the process above will be escalated. You will likely regain more weight after each diet. Your set point will likely be increased after each diet. This is your body’s way of protecting you.
So is my metabolism gone for good since I’ve dieted so much?
Nope! Your metabolism is here to stay but it’s definitely going to need some nurturing and consistency. Your body simply does does not trust you to take care of it. We need to rebuild that trust. Having a sluggish metabolism is not normal and it’s not fixed with magic pills or potions. Regulating your metabolism and maintaining your set point weight s only possible with consistent and adequate nutrition and with honoring your body’s hunger and fullness signals. This may sound simple, “Oh I just eat when I’m hungry,” but many of us have been consumed by dieting and famine for so long, we don’t know how to listen to hunger and fullness signals. Another part of honoring your biological hunger and fullness is learning how to eat enough, in balance, and without using food to cope with emotion. It’s time for you to work with a dietitian if:
You use food to cope with emotion, likely resulting in you being below or above a healthy weight for your body
You do not hear or cannot listen to hunger and fullness signals
You do not understand how you can consistently eat all 5 food groups in balance and adequacy
You are a chronic dieter and weight cycler- losing and gaining weight with each new diet cycle
xx Desa