How To Repair Your Metabolism

Repairing Your Metabolism

Metabolism is your body’s process for creating energy from the foods you eat. The metabolism plays an important role in our day-to-day activities, ensuring we have the fuel to manage them. That said, a damaged metabolism can have a significant impact on your overall health and wellness.

If your metabolism isn’t functioning as strong as it could be, then you might end up struggling to lose weight, feeling lethargic and unmotivated, or having to manage other health concerns. Fortunately, you can take charge of your metabolism and restore metabolic health with a few positive lifestyle changes.

What Is Metabolism?

Metabolism is the process that the body uses to convert food and drinks into energy. Food and drinks contain calories, which your body then uses to power important functions, from internal processes to physical activity.

Basal metabolic rate is the rate at which the body burns calories at rest to manage basic functions like breathing, pumping blood throughout the body, and creating new cells. However, your body requires even more energy to move around and engage in physical activity, like exercise.

The metabolism also plays a key role in weight loss—if you burn fewer calories than you eat, you’ll gain weight, while if you burn more than you eat, you’ll lose weight.

Some factors that influence your metabolism include:

• Body composition and muscle mass
• Genetics
• Age
• Diet
• Exercise
• Activity levels

You can’t control your genetics or your basal metabolic rate, but you can influence your metabolic health through a few behaviors like the amount of activity you engage in and the type of fuel you provide your body.  

Signs of a Damaged Metabolism

A healthy metabolism should be able to efficiently convert the foods you eat into energy your body can use. If you find that you’re not feeling your best or most energetic, metabolic syndrome or an inefficient metabolism may be a contributor.  

Some signs of a damaged metabolism can include:

• Dry skin – Metabolic syndrome is believed to contribute to dry skin and other skin conditions.
• Feeling bloated – Bloating is a sign that you’re having trouble digesting food, which could indicate an inefficient metabolism.
• Cravings for sugary or fatty foods – Craving sugary foods over nutritious whole foods likely means your metabolism needs more fuel from nutrient-rich foods.
• You have trouble losing weight – Difficulty losing weight, even with targeted efforts, often means that your metabolism isn’t functioning as efficiently as it could.
• Frequent fatigue – If you’re always tired, your metabolism likely isn’t converting enough energy to keep up with your activity.

A damaged metabolism can have additional implications, like weight gain and sluggishness. If your metabolism is significantly damaged, it could lead to a metabolic disorder like diabetes, Gaucher’s disease, or hemochromatosis.

Strategies for Repairing Your Metabolism

Although your metabolism is in many ways the result of genetics, you can absolutely take steps to improve your metabolic health and function. To repair your metabolism, consider the following strategies.

Adopting a Balanced and Nutritious Diet

A balanced and nutritious diet is instrumental in a healthy metabolism. Some foods take more energy to break down than others, which can increase metabolism. A nutritious diet also helps you stay away from overly fatty foods and sugars, which can slow your metabolic function and cause you to store more body fat.

Foods in a balanced diet include:

• Proteins – Lean proteins like meats or plant proteins can speed up your metabolism.
• Healthy fats – Healthy fats like salmon, olive oil, and nuts are healthy for the heart in moderation.
• Fiber – Fiber is found in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and it helps keep you full while supporting healthy blood sugar.
• Fruits and veggies – A combination of colorful fruits and veggies provides a range of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.
• Complex carbohydrates – Complex carbohydrates are a formidable source of sustained energy as they take longer for the body to break down.

In addition to adding the above foods, you should also focus on staying hydrated. Drinking water activates your sympathetic nervous system, which increases your metabolic rate. A nutritious diet with a healthy water intake is an excellent recipe for metabolic repair.

See Also: 5 Breakfast Recipes To Speed Up Your Metabolism

Incorporating Regular Physical Activity and Exercise

Regular physical activity and exercise are great for your metabolism. Exercise can encourage your body to increase its conversion of food into energy in order to meet your energy demands. Consistent exercise also increases muscle mass, which is often associated with greater metabolic function.

The CDC recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity each week or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity. Your exercise doesn’t have to be extreme—all that matters is that you put your body into motion a few times a week.

Some ways to incorporate physical activity and exercise into your routine include:

• Gardening
• Going on a walk around the neighborhood
• Hiking a trail you love
• Taking up yoga or Pilates
• Playing your favorite sport

The most important thing is to choose an exercise you enjoy and can stick to. When you enjoy the activity, you’re more likely to remain consistent with it and realize the full benefit.

Managing Stress

Stress can take a toll on the metabolism and impair its regular function. The body’s production of cortisol from stress can lead to reduced insulin sensitivity, which makes the metabolism less efficient at converting blood sugar into energy, increasing the likelihood that it’s stored as fat.

Taking steps to manage stress can help you improve your metabolism. Some great examples of stress management techniques include:

• Mindfulness and meditation practices
• Getting active
• Listening to music you enjoy
• Participating in your favorite hobbies

Avoiding Quick Weight Loss Fixes

Quick fixes to weight loss may cause you to start shedding pounds, but they are not going to boost your metabolism for long-term benefits. These rapid approaches often bring about weight loss without actually addressing underlying metabolic issues or improving your overall wellness.

Examples of quick fixes include:

• Fad diets
• Ozempic and similar Semaglutide medications
• Extreme weight loss measures
• Marketed weight loss supplements or teas

Sustained weight loss and metabolic repair go hand-in-hand. Without a consistent focus on lifestyle improvements, you’re not likely to experience a true impact on your metabolism. 

Your metabolism needs a holistic approach to improve its function and efficiency. Consistent, positive lifestyle changes are fundamental to improving your metabolic health long-term instead of just temporarily losing weight.

Importance of Consistency & Patience

Unfortunately, you can’t repair your metabolism overnight—however, on the bright side, you can positively influence your metabolic health with consistent efforts over the span of a few weeks. Patience is crucial, and it will pay off in the results you see as these consistent efforts add up over time.

One significant key to metabolic repair is to set realistic expectations. You can’t expect to shed all of your unwanted weight in a month or expect all of your sugar cravings to go away after a week. Instead, you should focus on setting stepping stones that work up to those larger goals, like losing a smaller number of pounds in a week or reducing your sugar intake a little at a time.

That said, be sure to celebrate your small victories along the way, like if you notice yourself craving fewer sugary foods or feel more energetic. Recognizing these small victories is key to building off of them.

If you need any support in the process, a weight loss program that offers the support of board-certified nutritionists and weight loss coaches can help.

Repair Your Metabolism the Right Way

Metabolic health plays an important part in weight loss and energy function, so repairing your metabolism can have multiple benefits. Several lifestyle factors have direct impacts on your metabolic function, like diet, physical activity, and stress levels. Because of the importance of these lifestyle factors, repairing your metabolism requires a thoughtful, strategic, and holistic approach.

At re:vitalize weight loss and wellness, our programs are created specifically to promote metabolic repair for overall health and wellness. We work to understand your metabolic health using our Body Composition Scan & Metabolic Age Analysis. From there, we’ll develop a personalized plan to help you get the optimal nutrients for your metabolic health, weight loss, and wellness.

Our BioScan™ technology can help identify the nutrients that will benefit you and your unique body composition. Our Weight Loss & Metabolic Reset program can provide the support and accountability you need to repair your metabolism for improved energy and weight loss.

Schedule a consultation with us today to learn more about how we can help you boost your metabolic health.