in today's video we are going to be going over five surprising factors that are hurting your
metabolism metabolism is defined as the chemical reactions that happen in the body in order to
maintain life this includes the breaking down of foods in order to create energy to fuel us but
there is so much more to metabolism than the foods that we eat now when people think of metabolism
they often think of it in the context of weight loss we often blame a slow metabolism when we have
difficulty losing weight and this is true to an extent having poor metabolic health can definitely
make it difficult to lose weight and to maintain weight but another aspect of metabolism that isn't
often talked about is how good our bodies are at burning the two types of energy carbohydrates and
fat and how well we can switch between the two which is known as metabolic flexibility a lot
of us have poor metabolic flexibility and this makes weight loss really difficult but the good
news is there are things you can do to improve the health of your metabolism so in today's video
we're going to be going over five unexpected factors that might be hurting your metabolism
hello guys welcome back to the channel if you're new here my name is kait i'm a certified health
and nutrition coach i post videos twice a week here on youtube on everything from insulin
resistance blood sugar management weight loss sleep and more so if you want to take control
of your metabolic health make sure to click that subscribe button and you can also find me on
tick tock and instagram where i share new posts every single day
the first unexpected factor that might be hurting your metabolism is poor thyroid
health the thyroid is a gland in our neck whose main role is to regulate metabolism and digestion
it takes iodine from the food we eat and combines it with the amino acid tyrosine to create the
hormones t3 and t4 when t3 and t4 are released into the bloodstream they travel to every tissue
in the body to help convert oxygen and calories into energy as a result these hormones have an
impact on how fast your heart is feeding and how fast your body is processing the food you eat
now if your thyroid isn't functioning properly this can either speed up or slow down your
metabolism an underactive thyroid means that your body isn't producing enough t3 and t4
signs of an underactive thyroid include fatigue constipation and a slow heartbeat so basically
everything that's involved in your metabolism is working slower it even slows down your basal
metabolic rate or bmr bmr is the base number of calories you need to keep your body functioning
so simply restricting calories in order to lose weight isn't going to be effective if you have
an underactive thyroid you will need to eat very little in order to lose weight because your output
is going to be so low focusing on improving your thyroid health should be the first step and weight
loss will come number two not enough sleep this one often gets overlooked but not getting enough
sleep and not getting enough quality sleep can really hurt your metabolism studies have shown
that just one night of poor sleep impacts several hormones that are involved in your metabolism
leptin the hormone responsible for satiety decreases and ghrelin the hormone responsible
for hunger increases both of which are going to make you hungrier the entire day
on top of that our body's sensitivity to insulin temporarily decreases this means our cells are not
going to be able to take in glucose as they should now if you guys have been watching my channel for
a while you have probably heard me talk about lumen before lumen is a metabolism tracker
that measures the co2 in your breath and it uses this to determine if you are burning mainly fat
or mainly carbohydrates for energy you'll remember at the beginning of the video i briefly mentioned
metabolic flexibility and how it relates to metabolism and the issue is a lot of us nowadays
are not able to burn fat efficiently and this is a problem because number one it means that we have
to rely on carbohydrates for energy we have to be consistently eating them throughout the day
and number two because we're not able to burn fat efficiently this makes weight loss difficult
lumen is designed to help you understand your metabolism and how certain factors
such as the quality of your sleep impact it and it helps you to use this data to improve metabolic
flexibility and your ability to burn fat sleep is one thing that i have definitely noticed has a big
impact on my metabolism when i use my lumen after a good night's sleep i usually find i
end up with a score of one or two which indicates i am burning mainly fat and this is what you want
in the morning ideally overnight you want your body to burn through all your stored carbohydrates
and then switch over to burning fat but when i get a poor night's sleep i find that i'm more
likely to wake up with a score of four or five indicating that i am burning mainly carbohydrates
and this isn't ideal this can even be a sign that cortisol the stress hormone is high and seeing the
difference between what my lumen score is when i get a good night's sleep versus a poor night sleep
has just really helped to solidify for me how important sleep is i love my lumen i use it every
single day not only does it help me to understand my body and my metabolism better but it also helps
me to hold myself accountable i can pinpoint the diet and lifestyle choices that are impacting me
negatively and having this knowledge makes me less likely to make those choices in the future
if you guys would like to check out the lumen metabolism tracker you can click the link in
the description box down below and the first 100 people to check it out and use code kait50
will save 50 off their order number three you're not eating enough when we restrict calories for
an extended period of time this slows down our metabolism think of it this way if you aren't
eating enough energy to meet your body's energy needs your body realizes this and cuts back on how
much energy it's putting out your basal metabolic rate which is bmr which we spoke about earlier
slows down because your body thinks okay you're only giving me 1 000 calories a day so i don't
want to burn any more than that and when this happens your body cuts back on certain processes
that are not critical for survival this is why chronic dieters will experience side effects
such as hair loss and being cold all the time the body is prioritizing keeping your lungs working
keeping your heart beating and cutting back on the rest number four you are eating the wrong
breakfast what we eat first thing in the morning has an impact on our metabolism for the entire day
if we start our day with a meal that's high in carbohydrates think of a bowl
of cereal or a glass of orange juice the body releases insulin in order to take the energy
from this food to our cells and insulin is known as the fat storage hormone because when insulin is
high the body is storing and not burning fat when insulin is low that is when fat burning occurs
now back to the high carb meal because carbs are a quick but short-lived energy source
it's not going to be long before you've burned through that energy and you're hungry again and if
we eat again before our insulin has had a chance to come back down to baseline then we get stuck in
this cycle where we're relying on carbohydrates for energy and not fat and this is where poor
metabolic flexibility starts another way to use lumen is before and after you eat to see the
impact the meal has had on your metabolism after a meal that is high in carbohydrates you'll be able
to see that your body is burning those carbs for energy by scoring a four or a five and this isn't
necessarily a bad thing it's only a bad thing when you notice that you are always in a car burning
state that is when you will know that you need to work on your body's ability to burn fat now
if you eat a meal that's lower in carbohydrates and higher in protein and fat along with a lower
lumen score you're going to notice more consistent energy and the ability to go longer between meals
without getting hangry number five menstrual cycle this one of course only applies to women
and it's not necessarily hurting your metabolism as much as it's changing it because the first
and second half of our menstrual cycle look very different during the first half our energy is high
we feel motivated we're going to feel stronger in the gym but during the second half it's the
opposite our energy is going to be lower it's going to take us longer to recover from a workout
and we're going to feel less motivated and on top of all of that we're going to feel hungrier the
reason we feel hungrier is because our metabolism actually speeds up during the second half of our
cycle you can burn up to 300 extra calories a day so if you feel like you can eat anything
and everything right before your period and you're beating yourself up about it don't worry
it's totally normal it has nothing to do with motivation or lack thereof try to eat more during
your meals in order to meet your body's needs and avoid cravings and those are five surprising
factors that might be hurting your metabolism let me know in the comment section down below if you
think any of these five things are negatively impacting you i know it can be frustrating when
you feel like you're doing everything right and you're not seeing results but understanding what
is holding you back and making the right choices is key because someone with an underactive thyroid
for example simply telling them they need to eat less that is useless advice that is only going to
negatively impact their metabolism even more anyways guys that's all i have for you today i
hope you enjoyed this video before you go remember to give it a like and also remember to check out
lumen and their metabolism tracker i'll put the link to that in the description box down below
if you did enjoy this video you might also enjoy my video on signs that you have poor metabolic
health you can check that out here if you want to catch up on my most recent upload you can find it
here and if you want to check out my coaching programs including one that's coming soon that
is an insulin resistance master class you can find that here thanks guys i'll see you next time bye