Feeling sabotaged by your "metabolism" when it comes to fat loss?

Feeling sabotaged by your "metabolism" when it comes to fat loss?

Are you someone who thinks they have a "slow metabolism"?

Maybe you think you think that because you're past 30 it's your age.

Maybe you've heard that your body goes into starvation mode or you need to eat little & often to "stoke the fire"

None of which are true am afraid. BUT - You’re not crazy; losing body fat is hard. And part of it IS due to our metabolism But what, why & how? It’s called metabolic adaptation. Your body doesn’t want to lose its backup safety stores (body fat); would you like to lose your savings? Would you heckers.. Due to this, our brain tries to fight fat loss. Safety first!

What can happen:

• Your body will make you hungrier by ramping up your hunger hormones (ghrelin) & downturning your satiation hormones (leptin).
• Your body will decrease your RMR (resting metabolic rate), which is technically a "slowing" in your metabolism, in aim to conserve more energy by making you be more efficient at using your energy allocation.
• Your body decreases its metabolism also through decreasing your energy used in NEAT (Non-exercise activated thermogenesis), which a sly reducing of your everyday movement (any non-planned activity). Even things like fidgeting or expressions when talking!
• Due to an increase in leptin, cortisol can increase aswell causing an increase water retention in the body (masking your fat loss on the scales). 

The body is literally trying everything it can to stop you from dieting. Which is why a lot of people give up or think they are broken and can't do it. But if you accept and expect it (expect to be hungry, expect to feel less full, expect to need to make a conscious effort to move more) it’s all part of the process. Then you realise yes It’s hard, BUT not impossible.

There are things you can do to combat/minimise these effects like through how you approach your fat loss phase, the foods you choose, diet breaks, refeeds & more. All of this we discuss in our webinars that are part of our client journey or in our mini course aligned living.

Keep in mind that the effects of the described metabolic adaptation are a spectrum & may range from minor to intense from person to person. Two positive points to summarise – metabolic adaptation is your body trying to PROTECT you after a long and or intense calorie deficit, & it is REVERSABLE.

 Hope this provides some insight into WHY fat loss is hard and why it can stall. Also remember, sometimes fat loss is REALLY not the right thing.