When many of us talk about weight loss, one of the first things we think of is eating less calories than we burn
While, it is true that we need to burn more calories than we consume, if you just focus on calories few things usually happen:
- You don’t feed your muscles adequately, so you end up looking frail even though you lost a lot of weight.
- You lost the weight, but struggle to keep it off or you easily gain weight whenever you eat something that may be “fattening”
- You don’t feel as strong as you should because your lean muscles are underfed
According to PubMed “Metabolic flexibility is the ability to respond or adapt to conditional changes in metabolic demand.” It goes on to say “This broad concept has been propagated to explain insulin resistance and mechanisms governing fuel selection between glucose and fatty acids, highlighting the metabolic inflexibility of obesity and type 2 diabetes.”
There is also a connection between metabolic inflexibility and diabetes
Another PubMed article indicates that “Fatty acid availability, uptake and oxidation all play a role in metabolic flexibility and insulin resistance.”
It goes on to explain “ During high fatty acid availability, fatty acid transporters may limit cellular and mitochondrial fatty acid uptake and thus limit fat oxidation.”
So, what do we need to do?
Train our metabolism to convert energy from the nutrients you eat.
It doesn’t matter if you are in a calorie deficit, if you cannot efficiently convert food into energy.
Calorie counting assumes that you absorb or digest all the food you eat, which is not the case.
In fact, excessive restriction can lead to nutrient deficiency.
Lastly, calorie counting doest take into consideration insulin action, metabolic health, types of nutrients and much more!
Let’s talk about some general tips for promoting metabolic flexibility. There are different ways and recommendations to achieve metabolic flexibility. In fact, I do not think 1 method works for everyone.
Remember, before making any dietary changes, especially if you have underlying health issues, please contact a medical professional
Here are some guidelines:
- Keep your blood sugar constant by tracking your blood glucose. The benefit here is that you will have an understanding of how much sugar you have in your blood at any given time. If your blood sugar is consistently high, then you are more likely a sugar burner. In theory, this means that your metabolism is as accustomed to burning fat for energy as needed, aka ketosis.
- Eat mostly complex carbs. That helps to keep your blood sugar steady, especially on days that you are not as active. Remember that you can download a Glycemic Index or Glycemic Load App that explains which foods spike or keep your blood sugar steady.
- Carb cycle. In previous episodes I explained that I eat good sources of fat during the day when I am not as active and carbs, especially if I eat simple carbs, within an hour prior and post lifting. That way I do not deplete muscle glycogen.
- Stay away from juice, sodas and high sugary drinks. Those spike your blood sugar and oftentimes you will end up storing most of the glycogen or worse as fat.
- It is natural here to say, drink water. Stay hydrated. This important for many reason. I.e often times when we think we are hungry, we are just thirsty, try it! Drink water 30 minutes before and after each meal. Make it a regular part of your practice. In addition, research explains that the energy your body uses to eat water to body temperature can lead to more calorie burn.
- Lastly, Walk, walk, walk. Make sure to get at least 10k steps per day. Walking promotes fat oxidation which is breaking down triglycerides from body fat for energy. In fact, I get at least 5k steps before I eat most days. So yes, to get a chunk of your steps before eating and even if you cannot, still aim for 10k at minimum. Walking and movement should never be a maybe. It is vital for your health and metabolism.
- Lastly, listen to The ZecoHealth show weekly for tips to continue to transform your body into a fat burning machine.