You may feel like your metabolism is broken and be wondering how you can fix it. This is one of the most common questions that my clients ask me. Many people come to me after years of dieting with what they now feel is a broken metabolism.
Maybe they have been able to successfully diet and lose weight in the past, but they ended up gaining the weight back and are now no longer able to lose it. It makes sense that this would cause you to feel like your metabolism is broken. However, there are things you can do to restore your metabolism to it’s full capacity. We will cover some of the ways to do this below.
Is your metabolism really broken?
We may better describe what has actually happened to your metabolism as metabolic adaptation, which is a normal response to intense periods of calorie restriction.
For example, let’s say your calorie expenditure everyday is 2,000 calories. You want to lose weight so you start a diet where you are only eating 1,200 calories per day (which by the way, is way too low). Because you are now eating significantly less calories than your body is burning (2,000 calories vs 1,200 calories), you you will initially see weight loss. However, once our bodies realize what is happening, it will want us to survive and we can’t do that if we keep burning 2,000 calories per day.
What happens when you hit a weight loss plateau?
When we start restricting calories, our bodies will prioritize keeping us alive. In order to do so, the body will “turn down the dial” on many different systems- thyroid function, heart rate, body temperature, digestion, etc. so that our calorie expenditure will match our calorie intake (1,200 calories per day). This is when we see people hit a weight loss plateau.
The troubling part here, and the reason why diets don’t work in the long run, is that if this person wanted to continue to lose weight, they would have to continue to decrease their calorie intake. However, 1,200 calories is already quite low and most people will eventually need to or want to eat more than that. Now that their metabolisms are functioning at a lower rate, when they eat even 1,400 calories then they will likely see weight gain. This explains why most people can initially lose weight but they will plateau and then eventually regain whatever weight that was lost.
All of this leaves people feeling that their metabolism is “broken” when in reality, it did exactly what it was supposed to do which was prioritize keeping you alive. If this is you, don’t worry. There are things you can do to fix your metabolism.
How Does Metabolism Work?
Let’s start with a good understanding of how metabolism actually works. Metabolism is the process in which our body takes food and drink and turns it into energy. When we think of metabolism we typically think of our body's ability to “burn calories”. We will refer to this now as our total daily energy expenditure, or the amount of calories that we use each day. Total daily energy expenditure can be broken down into 3 major components.
- Resting metabolic rate: ~70% of total daily energy expenditure
- Factors that affect this number (1):
- Fat mass
- Sex
- Age
- Genetics
- Factors that affect this number (1):
- Thermic effect of food: ~10% of total daily energy expenditure
- Factors that can affect this (1):
- Diet composition
- Age
- Physical activity
- Obesity
- Insulin resistance
- Factors that can affect this (1):
- Activity energy expenditure: ~20% of total daily energy expenditure (1).
- This can be further broken down to non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) and exercise-related activity thermogenesis (EAT).
- Non-Exercise Energy Thermogenesis (NEAT): ~15% of total daily energy expenditure
- This is from the activities that we do that we do not typically consider exercise and includes activities of daily living such as walking, cleaning, fidgeting, standing, etc.
- This type of movement has a significant effect on metabolism and stimulates greater energy expenditure over time (2).
- Exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT): ~5% of total daily energy expenditure
- This type of movement is what we generally think of as "working out“. This could be going to a spin class, running, lifting weights, pilates, etc.
- Non-Exercise Energy Thermogenesis (NEAT): ~15% of total daily energy expenditure
- This can be further broken down to non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) and exercise-related activity thermogenesis (EAT).
For many people, increasing their NEAT movement is the key to revving up their metabolism. Most of us simply do not move enough. Even for people who do the recommended amount of exercise (30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise at least 5 days/week), sitting for prolonged periods of time can compromise their metabolic health.
- You can increase your calorie burn each day by:
- Sitting: 5-10% increase
- Standing:10-20% increase
- Walking: 100-200% increase
As you can see, energy expenditure from NEAT is larger than EAT. Therefore, doing more NEAT can help your metabolism function at max capacity. If you are somebody who is trying to lose weight, NEAT can make a big difference.
How to fix your metabolism
- Eat enough calories
- Not eating enough calories slows down your metabolism. This is the #1 mistake that I see people making when trying to lose weight, especially women.
- Eat enough protein
- Adequate protein intake combined with exercise can increase muscle mass, which will increase your total daily energy expenditure. This helps to prevent a lower daily calorie expenditure that can happen when people lose weight. This usually results in a weight plateau or regaining of the lost weight.
- Get more NEAT movement
- Neat accounts for about 15% of your daily calorie output and is often something most people are lacking. The good news is that this can be easy to incorporate into your daily routine. Start by taking a few 5 minute walks during the day, even if they are just around your house.
- Incorporate strength training
- While cardio exercises burn calories in the moment, strength training increases muscle mass, which burns more calories even when you are not moving.
- For weight loss, I typically recommend a combination of NEAT and strength training.
- Get adequate and quality sleep (click here to read more about nutrition and sleep)
- Inadequate sleep can alter the hormones that affect your feelings of hunger and fullness.
- Aim for 7 to 9 hours each night. Even if you are somebody who feels like you do just fine with 5-6 hours of sleep, your body wants and would benefit from more.
- Decrease stress
- Stress can negatively affect metabolism. When you are stressed, I recommend more gentle movement such as yoga or walking rather than high intensity workouts that could increase your stress even more.
If you feel like your metabolism is broken and would like individualized recommendations on how to get back to feeling your best and not having to starve yourself to lose weight, click here to learn more about my nutrition coaching services.
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