9 Ways to “Fix A Broken Metabolism” (Part 2)
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Welcome back to Embrace Your Real podcast. In today’s episode, we continue our deep dive into how you can revitalize and boost your metabolism. This is part two of our series on “fixing your broken metabolism.” We’ll explore five more powerful strategies to get your metabolism humming and debunk the myth of the “broken metabolism.” Whether you're feeling stuck in your fitness journey or just want to understand how to optimize your energy use, these tips are designed to help you make meaningful changes.
What I discuss:
5. Stop living in a caloric deficit
6. Reverse Diet
7. Sleep more
8. Drink enough water
9. Reduce stress
If you loved this episode, be sure to tune in to…
Episode 451: 9 Ways to “Fix A Broken Metabolism” (Part 1)
Episode 46: Why You Should Consider a Reverse Diet (The Only Diet I Support!)
If you want more from me, be sure to check out...
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Website: www.juliealedbetter.com
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hey there, beautiful human you're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter, a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I get you a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned. If you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it. Let's go. [00:00:28][21.0]
[00:00:28] Hello and welcome back to part two of my two part series on fixing that broken metabolism. I have to be honest. I name this series this for a reason to catch your attention, but there's something that I want to disclose here. Many people feel like they have a broken metabolism, but despite their best efforts, they feel, you know, my body's refusing to cooperate with my fitness goals. But what oftentimes they think is a broken metabolism is just a result of common mistakes and a misunderstanding of how your metabolism actually works. And so more often than not, a broken metabolism. It's simply a myth. [00:01:07][37.9]
[00:01:08] What likely is happening is that you have lifestyle factors that you are doing, whether you know it or not, and those lifestyle factors that's actually influencing how effectively or not effectively your body is using energy and your metabolism itself isn't broken. It just needs some shifts to get revving again, which is encouraging. Or it should be encouraging to you to know that you actually can take the steps needed to ensure that you are optimally providing your body with the best that it can, so that you can have an optimal metabolism. And so that's why I'm going throughout this whole series and just kind of sharing with you some ways of how to rev that metabolism again, so that you can stop believing this myth that your metabolism is broken. [00:01:55][47.4]
[00:01:56] Before we dive in, though, I want to share this review that comes from Amy Metcalf. As she said, I love today's episode so much. Needed to hear this. I have saved it and go back to listen so that I can go back to listen to it in the future. Thank you. [00:02:08][12.8]
[00:02:09] I don't know what episode you're talking about, Amy, but I'm so grateful that it helped you. I'm so thankful that you are able to go back. And that's actually one thing I want to remind you guys is that you can actually save episodes. So that way it's super easy and it's bookmarked for you. So if you ever want to go back, I share this a lot with bonus episodes, the short ones that are just kind of reminders for you. Because I know that when you tune into an episode, sometimes you're having a great day. Other days you know you're not having a great day. And so wherever you're at, that episode could either speak to you in the moment or that episode could be a great resource for you on a later date. And so just by having it bookmark is something super easy for you to go back into your bookmark and go and listen to it super quickly without having to scroll back through the 400 over 450 episodes, which is so wild that we are there. But at last we have been doing this for four years and I don't continue to stop. I'm not continuing to stop anytime soon. So you're stuck with me for another 450 plus episodes? No. But thank you guys so much, honestly, for tuning in to the podcast, sharing the podcast, and leaving these rating interviews. It helps so, so much. Okay, so just a quick recap. [00:03:20][70.8]
[00:03:20] If you haven't tuned into part one of this two part series, you don't have to tune in to that first. You can listen to it after this episode. But briefly we discussed four ways to fix a broken metabolism. [00:03:30][10.1]
[00:03:31] Number one was to eat more thermogenic foods. Again, those are not magic foods, but those are foods that can really help to boost your metabolism for a short period of time. Number two eat more protein. Number three resistance train. And number four get more movement. And throughout the day. [00:03:45][13.9]
[00:03:45] So again if you want to tune in to part one, I will link it in the show notes that you can easily go do that after this episode. Now let's get into the remaining five ways to start boosting your metabolism. [00:03:55][9.2]
[00:03:55] So number five, stop living in a deficit. When you are living in this caloric deficit for an extended period of time, your body goes through metabolic adaptations as a way to conserve energy and protect itself from starvation. One of these other adaptations is a reduction in your metabolic rate, aka it slows down your metabolism. So as you lose weight and body mass, your metabolism will naturally slow down somewhat since you have a smaller body to fuel. But get this, studies have shown that the drop in metabolic rate during prolonged calorie restriction often exceeds what would be predicted by weight loss alone. This is super fascinating, and that the more extreme metabolic slowdown is your body's way of minimizing the calorie deficit by burning fewer calories than expected based on your new weight. So essentially, your body isn't going to continue to burn more calories than it's taking in. It's going to just adjust to burning the amount of calories it's regularly receiving. [00:04:56][61.1]
[00:04:57] Therefore, your metabolism or your metabolic rate, quote unquote, slows down, for lack of a better term. And while this metabolic adaptation can trigger weight loss initially, it really becomes counterproductive over time because your metabolism downshifts and your calorie deficit shrinks, and then your weight loss plateaus or stalls completely, which is where some of you guys are like, you are in that period and you're just frustrated. But to overcome this metabolic adaptation, it's advisable to take these deliberate breaks from being in a. That last mode, which I'll dive into next. By increasing calories back up to your maintenance level, or even a slight caloric surplus for a period of time for it to be extremely beneficial for your metabolism. [00:05:40][43.7]
[00:05:42] This tells your body that it's not starving, which then tells your metabolism that, and your metabolism starts to realize that it's safe to be normal again and to normalize again. So during these breaks of being in a caloric deficit, your leptin levels, which is just a hormone that regulates your metabolism and your thyroid levels, those can actually have time and breathing room to recover, reversing the metabolic slowdown. Your muscle mass is better preserved as well, which is a win win win all around. But you can't just all of a sudden start eating more. If you've been in a severe caloric deficit for a super long time, because that's where you're likely, you know, you're at 1200 calories and you immediately go to 2000 calories overnight and you start eating 2000 calories regularly. That's where you're going to put on quite a bit of weight and confuse your metabolism even more. So what do you do? Like, if you're in that place, what do you do? There is a solution and it's called reverse dieting. [00:06:37][55.7]
[00:06:38] Hands down. One of the best things I've done four times now in my fitness journey. I absolutely will stand by reverse dieting till the end of time because it has transformed so many things in my life and I've seen it transform firsthand so many women's lives as well. [00:06:54][15.7]
[00:06:54] So number six is reverse dieting, so that is one of the best ways to heal your metabolism. If you have been someone who has lived in a deficit for a long, long period of time, or someone who has yo dieted for, you know, many, many seasons of life, reverse dieting essentially is a strategic approach to gradually increasing your caloric intake over time. After being in a caloric deficit for an extended period of time to recover your metabolism or to keep the metabolism normalize. The goal is to slowly raise your metabolism back up without causing rapid fat gain. And trust me when I say it absolutely works. [00:07:29][35.3]
[00:07:30] Like I said, I've gone through four follow reverse diets over the last 12 years now, and it has transformed so many aspects of my life. But during prolonged calorie restriction, your body goes through metabolic adaptations to conserve energy, including a drop in your metabolic rate. Reverse dieting, though, aims to reverse the metabolic slowdown in a controlled manner. So if you think it's time for you to reverse diet but you don't really know how to do it or what it is, I do have an episode on it. I will link it in the show notes. It's episode 46 and it's all about reverse dieting, but if you want to dive deep into reverse dieting and you want to know exactly how you can actually reverse diet and have it be customized to you, I do have an online academy. It's called the Macro Counting Made Simple Academy. And when you go through that questionnaire form, it will ask you like what? What are your goals? Or what do you want to do? If you want to learn more about reverse dieting, we can walk you through that process and we can show you how to do it. I will say that it is a slow, gradual process. So you have to look at this through the lens of I'm doing this for my future. [00:08:35][65.0]
[00:08:35] This is not something that's a quick fix. It's not something that is, you know, you're going to see results overnight, but I can tell you it will transform the way that your body and your metabolism is optimized. And it is incredible, right? It is a slow, gradual nature that, again, can dramatically help to increase your metabolic rate. And reverse dieting can also help to restore hormone levels that, you know, got dysregulated, whether that's during a very low calorie phase. And this is something that so many women struggle with, is they're struggling with their hormone levels. Whether that is through you're finding it hard to get pregnant or your fertility levels. All of those things are so many other factors that play into that. But your metabolism is one of those central places where if you're not optimally fueling your metabolism or if your metabolism is not optimally working, it's going to impact so many other aspects of your life. Because we are one machine and everything is so interconnected, right? And once you've completed the full reverse diet, you have increased from your low calories slowly and gradually, week by week, month by month, you've gotten to a point where you are around your maintenance or a little bit past your maintenance in a caloric surplus, your body is going to be thanking you like there's no other way to say that your body and your metabolism is so adaptable. [00:10:00][85.4]
[00:10:01] And I've talked about this before, but the way that God has created our bodies to be adaptable can either work for us or it can work against us. They can work against us in the sense that if you are constantly under fueling your body, you're working out a ton. You're not feeling your body optimally. Your metabolism is going to adapt to that, therefore slowing your metabolism down for lack of a better term. On the flip side, if you go into this process with this slow and gradual mindset and say. I am here to optimize my metabolism. I want to slowly, you know, week by week, month by month, increase my metabolic rate by increasing my calories in a slow and methodical way. Your metabolism will adapt to that and therefore your metabolism will become more efficient again. It can get kind of confusing. It can feel confusing, especially if you've never heard of this before or you've never really stepped into it. My Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy again will walk you through this. It's a step by step approach and we customize your macros. We tell you okay, so based on where you're at and what your goals are, if your goal is reverse dieting, this is what your macros or starting point will be. And this is your goal. You know, week by week, month by month. Again I will give you this warning, this preface. If you are going into a reverse diet season, this is not a season for you to have this drastic mindset of I want to lose a bunch of weight. This is you restoring your metabolism so that the next time you go into a body fat loss phase, your body is optimally working for you so that you don't feel like you're constantly working against your body. [00:11:34][93.4]
[00:11:35] Number seven sleep. More. Fun fact sleep deprivation and poor sleep quality have been shown to disrupt the balance of several key hormones that regulate metabolism, appetite and energy expenditure. I've talked about this a ton on the podcast, but the two hormones in particular that are impacted the most are ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is also known as the hunger hormone because it stimulates the appetite. So inadequate sleep has been linked to an increased ghrelin levels, which can cause these crazy hunger, cravings and overeating behavior. Leptin, on the other hand, is the satiation hormone or the satiety. Leptin, on the other hand, is the same satiation hormone that is released by fat cells, so it can help to regulate appetite energy expenditure by signaling to the brain. When you are full, chronic sleep deprivation leads to a decrease leptin production in your body, which can actually impair the body's ability to feel satiated after eating, meaning that you can eat and eat and then eat, but you still feel the need to eat because you are never satiated, you're never feeling full or satisfied. Studies show that sleep deprived individuals tend to crave more calorie dense, high carbohydrate foods as well, and over time, this metabolic disruption from inadequate sleep can make it harder to lose weight, easier to gain weight, and contribute to the insulin resistance, which can also impair glucose metabolism. So getting sufficient high quality sleep. Obviously, this is going to range from season to season, but the optimal range is 7 to 9 hours again, depending on your body. How you feel best per night. That can help to maintain the hormone balance and the metabolic efficiency. Prioritizing healthy sleep hygiene like sticking to a regular schedule as much as you can, avoiding screen time before bed, and keeping sleep areas dark and cool can optimize your sleep quality for metabolic benefit. [00:13:30][114.6]
[00:13:30] So while nutrition and exercise absolutely are key to ensuring that you're getting enough restorative. So while nutrition and exercise are key also in addition to that, ensuring that you're getting enough restorative sleep each night that's often overlooked but is a crucial component for supporting this healthy, balanced metabolism. And again, you can work out as hard as you want. You can hit your macros perfectly. You can be feeling your body, but if you have poor sleep night after night after night, you're likely going to be working against yourself. [00:14:02][32.3]
[00:14:03] Number eight drinking enough water. Did you know that water is actually essential for nearly every metabolic process in the body? Proper hydration allows organs and cells to function optimally and efficiently, utilizing energy from the foods that we consume. So even mild dehydration that can impair your metabolism dehydration can trigger that stress hormones like cortisol, which we've talked a ton about on this podcast, but chronically elevated cortisol levels that can disrupt other hormones involved in the metabolism, like insulin and glycogen. This hormonal imbalance. This can lead to issues like blood sugar deregulation, decreased muscle building, both of which can negatively affect your metabolism. Plus, many of the enzymes needed for various metabolic reactions require water to function properly. Even mild dehydration that can concentrate these enzymes, making them less efficient and slow down the rate of metabolic reactions. This can lead to a decrease in the number of calories that you're burning at rest and beyond just maintaining like basic hydration levels, some research shows that drinking water, particularly cold water, can temporarily increase metabolic rate through a mechanism called water induced thermogenesis. When you consume cold water, your body expends energy, which essentially just means burns calories to heat up the water to body temperature. [00:15:27][84.1]
[00:15:28] This calorie burning effect is quite small. It's only around 4 to 7% increase in the resting metabolic rate for about an hour after the drinking cold water. But again, while the boost is small and fleeting, making an effort to drink some cold water regularly throughout the day allows just these small metabolic increases to increase and accumulate over time. It's important to note that water alone won't counteract poor food choices or lack of movement throughout the day. But along with other metabolic boosting strategies that I've mentioned thus far, drinking more water will always be beneficial for getting your metabolism to where you want it to be. [00:16:08][39.2]
[00:16:08] And number nine. Manage stress. Yes, stress actually has a direct effect on your metabolism. You can eat as healthy as you want. You can be as consistent as you are with your workouts, but if your stress levels are through the roof, you are going to struggle to change your body. And here's how stress actually impacts your metabolism. So when you're stressed, your body actually releases a stress hormone, which is cortisol, which is a hormone that is produced by adrenal glands in response to stress. So while cortisol plays an important role in regulating metabolism and other essential functions, chronic elevated levels due to chronic stress of this hormone, cortisol can have detrimental metabolic effects. So when our body is under frequent, prolonged stress, it remains in this constant state of releasing cortisol, and over time this leads to an excess of cortisol circulation in the bloodstream. At high cortisol levels or high excess cortisol circulation in your bloodstream. That can also lead and does lead to so many unwanted since symptoms, right. It can actually promote fat storage, especially around the midsection. It can lead to a deregulation of your blood sugar. [00:17:15][67.1]
[00:17:16] Elevated cortisol actually can also break down muscle protein into amino acids to be converted into glucose for energy, which leads to muscle wasting over time and cortisol signals to the brain to eat more sugary comfort foods as a way to replenish the body energy stores all of these things that's going to directly contribute to a slow metabolism and weight gain. So the best advice that I would just recommend to you is to find ways, small ways that you can minimize stress throughout the day, throughout your week, throughout your month. I know it's easier said than done, but it should be one of your number one focuses again, because you can be eating all the right foods in the proper amounts. You could be working out consistently, your sleep could be good, but if you are constantly stressed, that is going to have a direct effect on your metabolism.
So there you have it. Those are the nine ways to help you and your metabolism give you a boost, for lack of a better term. Let me quickly recap what we talked about in today's episode. So number five, stop living in a caloric deficit. Number six reverse diet. Number seven sleep more. Number eight drink enough water. And lastly, number nine, reduce stress. And don't forget to tune in to part one if you haven't already. We talked about eating thermogenic foods, eating more protein resistance training, and getting more movement throughout your day. I will go ahead and link that in the show. Notes that you can easily go tune in to that episode if you haven't already. Tune in to that. I think that you'll find those tips very helpful as well. And if you want to learn more about how to properly fuel your body, or if you're interested in the reverse dieting process, I will also link episode 46 as well as my macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy that will really help you. [00:18:58][102.0]
[00:18:58] And that's our step by step process and our program that will help to teach you exactly what you need to do. Because this is a customized approach, this is not a one size fits all based on where you're at and what your goals are. We want to customize a program for you and teach you how to do it step by step, so that you can feel empowered. So head over to macro. Carrie made simple.com or click the show notes. And then also if you are interested or in need of resistance training workouts dumbbell only workouts I have my movement with Julie app. Those are five brand new workouts every single week that I give you 60 or 30 minute variations depending on your time constraints. Video demos for every single movement. The ability to log and track your workouts, a private Facebook group. You can do in-app messaging with me and our team inside the app. You can learn more by going to sale. That's Sally Dot movement. Julie.com I will also link that in the show notes below. I hope that you found this series helpful. I hope that it gave you some good insight. And again, I believe knowledge is power. I believe arming ourselves with education is so crucial so that we can feel empowered in our decisions. And so that was my hope. That was my goal for this series and I would love to hear what came from it. I would love to hear some moments, so be sure to screenshot this and post it up on your Instagram story. You can tag me, Julie Ledbetter as well as embrace your Real. We love connect with you guys, but that is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so dang much. I mean, I'll take you in the next one. [00:20:23][85.4]
[00:20:23] All right, sister, that's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you're not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie A Ledbetter. Yes, it's with an A in the middle for that daily post workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace it real because you're worth it. [00:21:21]