Metabolism is, and will likely always be, a buzz word in the health and fitness world – and yet it is also one that is not always fully understood or appreciated. 

For example, when I see discussions around a person’s metabolism, it is primarily used in reference to weight loss. It is very common to see advertisements promoting diets or foods to “boost your metabolism”  or even specific workout plans you should do to turn your metabolism into a “fat burning furnace”.

By seeing and hearing these things over and over, it is understandable why we start to fall into the trap of thinking our metabolism is simply our ability (or lack thereof) to lose weight. And while your metabolism IS involved in weight loss, it is much more than just that. 

So, let's take a moment to clear up a few misconceptions I frequently hear about the metabolism.

The end goal for all clients is NOT a lifelong relationship with a food tracking app. Even for us as coaches, most of us don’t envision pulling out our food scales and smart phones at every single meal for the rest of our lives. What we want for our clients (and ourselves) in the long run is the ability to maintain a healthy weight range and fuel our bodies for the activities we love by using both our knowledge of nutrition and our bodies’ internal signals to guide us. For many clients, we like to think of tracking calories and macros as “training wheels” for a long, healthy relationship with food - to be used for a period of time until we can comfortably navigate eating without the extra help.

So how do we bridge the gap between meticulously tracking what we put in our mouths to using our awareness and intuition to help us make decisions around food? Let’s talk about a few ways I like to help my clients do just that. We can use these approaches as progressive steps on a path, or as distinct practices to try on their own. Feel free to play with each approach as you see fit!

In a recent IG poll of mine, hundreds of people voted that confusion about “protein” was where they struggled most in terms of optimizing their nutrition. How much protein should you be consuming? Do you need it at every meal? Is it only for building muscle? Is it safe long term?  So, let’s address this!

So you’ve decided you want to lose some weight.  You understand that in order to do so you need to be in a caloric deficit. 

You acknowledge that you can do that via nutritional and / or exercise interventions. You admit that nutritional interventions are the most impactful and effective. 

You set a starting caloric intake goal.

Weight is being lost.

All is well and good in the world.

But what happens when the needle stops moving in the direction you want?!?! Do you reduce calories ?  Do you do so right away? If not, when?

Have you gotten out of the routine of meal prepping over the summer or just looking for some new ideas? Here are a few things that have worked for me over the years.

The key here is simple, yet interesting!

People love the idea of “if it fits your macros” because they have the ability (and freedom) within their nutrition to fit in that donut or ice cream while still staying focused on their health/weight related goals – and that is a good thing!

However, the more we get comfortable with the ability to work certain foods in, the more casual and relaxed we often get with regularly trying to work in any food that fits. And before we know it, we are filling our days with protein shakes and quest bars so we can go out later that evening for taco trucks and thirsty Thursdays.

While at first we might not notice any issues, before long we just start to feel “off”, we have less energy, or we feel more hungry. And if we further continue to push down this way of eating, we might even start to find ourselves dealing with more observable issues such as unexpected weight gain or gut issues – even when we are still hitting our calorie and macronutrient goals.

And why is that? Well one potential underlying reason is because fiber has been forgotten!