What is metabolic health?

The best way to explain metabolic health is by telling you what good (or ideal) metabolic health is…

Metabolic health is clinically defined by having blood sugar, waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides all within a healthy range (values that are established by scientists and doctors).

These ranges correspond to how likely you are to develop other serious conditions, like heart disease, diabetes and stroke. 

We’ve all grown up thinking that the key to weightloss is to consume less calories and burn more calories so that you create a caloric deficit.

But studies have shown that for many women, this leads to years of eating TOO FEW calories, causing your body’s metabolism to slow so significantly that losing weight is almost impossible.

This topic was covered on the Crunches and Cosmos podcast in an interview with Allison Sizemore of Couture Fitness and Lifestyle Coaching. Learn more by listening to the full episode or reading the show notes from the episode below.

In the fitness industry, a healthy metabolism is when your body is able to burn fuel the way it was intended to do without the need for starvation or excessive cardio to maintain a healthy weight.

Allison Sizemore, Boost Your Metabolism After 30 Podcast

So, how can women prioritize their metabolic health (and how is this different than what the traditional diet industry tells us)?

“The worst thing you can do to your metabolism is to diet and undereat”, says Allison Sizemore.

“Of course, overeating is a problem in our society, but there’s a huge group of women in this country who diet and undereat regularly and have a metabolism that’s in the toilet and are wondering why they can’t lose weight. And it’s not true that every woman that’s overweight is eating huge numbers of calories.”

In the interview Allison goes on to explain, it’s not a ‘quick fix’ to optimize your metabolism but it’s easier and more fun than you might imagine.

For many women, it means eating more, which can be a very scary decision.

This should be done slowly, but it’s very important to work your way up to eating a heathy number of calories every day so that your metabolism can slowly ‘reset’ to a faster (more efficient and natural) baseline.

Here are 4 things you can do:

1. Adequately fuel your body. For a typical female, you should be able to maintain a healthy weight on 1800-2200 calories/day.

2. Fill your diet with more whole foods (single ingredient foods like fresh fruits and veggies).

3. Add weight training to your regular workout routine.

4. Move more often. Not more cardio, but get up and move intentionally throughout the day as often as possible.

How to build muscle after age 30, 40, or 50…

Start strength training at least 2 days a week with simple bodyweight exercises.

You can find videos with tons of examples on You Tube.

You’ll get stronger very fast if you haven’t been strength training.

Then you can progress to using equipment with resistance tools like bands, tubing and/or dumbbells.

If you’re a beginner, focus on form.

Think about the progressive overload technique where you’re always thinking about adding one more rep or a small increase in resistance.

How you can get in amazing shape without joining a gym

Start with bodyweight exercises then progress up to using small equipment like exercise loops/bands.

Finally, move to the next level with dumbbells.

With just loops/bands and dumbbells there are 1000’s of workouts you can do at home to create the body you want.

How to spend less mental energy on your body/getting in shape

Stop spending so much mental energy on things that don’t matter.

Should I eat at this time? or this?

Should I eat brown rice? Or white?

Gluten or not?

Carbs or not?

How many calories did I burn during that workout?

Spend your energy getting educated on the things that actually matter in your diet to achieve the body you want.

Learn about what your macronutrient ratio should be. There IS room in your diet for treats.

Stop worrying so much about things that don’t matter.

What is metabolic adaptation?

Metabolic adaptation is your body adjusting to your inputs and outputs.

When somebody diets their metabolism adapts to that.

If you suddenly cut your calories drastically then your body will stop using them as it moves into self-preservation mode and drops your metabolic rate to (what might be) a crawl as it receives signals that you (might be) starving.

As a general rule, don’t diet (reduce caloric intake) beyond 3-4 months in a year.

The goal is to establish a healthy maintenance metabolism (that doesn’t require constant dieting) which will lead to more energy, better sleep, improved digestion and a more positive mood and outlook.

Learn more about Allison Sizemore and Couture Fitness and Lifestyle Coaching:

Couture Fitness and Lifestyle Coaching website

The Boost Your Metabolism After 30 Podcast

Couture Fitness and Lifestyle Coaching on Instagram

Couture Fitness and Lifestyle Coaching Facebook Group

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