Your Metabolism Didn't Change. You Did.
“It all goes downhill after 30.” Have you ever heard that one? As I approached turning 30, I dreaded the inevitable drop in my metabolism, but a recent study in the journal Science reports that our metabolism remains stable from ages 20–60 years. The study included a large database of over 6400 people and accounted for all types of factors from activity levels to body fat content to pregnancy and menopause. The researchers found that our metabolisms are stable throughout adulthood, only changing, on average, after the age of 60. In other words, the weight gain people tend to experience after the age of 30 is not due to a fundamental change in their metabolism. On the other hand, their metabolism could change as a result of their new body composition, activity level, or nutritional plan.
Why is this so important? This study exhibits scientific evidence that the adage of hitting a metabolic cliff partway through adulthood is actually an excuse. Apart from certain health conditions, our post-30 weight gain is 100% in our control. Excuses breed a lack mentality and a powerless mindset. This study unlocks a very powerful counterargument to anyone thinking they’ve fallen off the wagon due to a change in their metabolism or because of their age. I’m handing the power back to you, my friend!
Take Back Control Over Your Weight
Follow this advice to regain control over the real factors contributing to your weight gain.
1. Think about your life from when you were in the health condition you desire (or a better health condition than you are now), and make a list of all of the changes that might have contributed toward the change in your health. Make your list very detailed. Don’t just write “built a family”. Write down all of the lifestyle changes that came along with building the family.
2. Evaluate how those changes make you feel, for better and for worse. Do your priorities need to change to promote anything that contributed toward your good health? What areas from your healthy list did you enjoy, and how could you incorporate parts of those entries back into your life? What are some of the things that you didn’t do during your healthy period?
Many of the changes are going to be completely unavoidable, but make sure the unavoidable changes don’t lead you back into the land of excuses. Shifting the blame from metabolism to something else is not the purpose of the exercise. You may need to shift some of your priorities, and it is also important to pay attention to how you feel. If you make your list detailed, you will find that you have some level of control over most of the differences in your lifestyle. This list is meant to provide you with information to reflect upon. The more detailed your list, the smaller the changes and differences will appear, and you will be able to tackle one small change at a time.
For example, perhaps you drink more alcohol now than you used to. For many people, a couple of drinks after work or with dinner help them feel a sense of stress relief. Are there other methods that could help you feel that same stress relief without introducing empty calories and strain on your organs? Perhaps you could try non-alcoholic options (I enjoy non-alcoholic gin and whiskey), low sugar options, or a different ritual altogether (e.g., bubble baths).
How Should We Think About Metabolism?
Metabolism is often a misunderstood way of talking about how many calories you burn each day. In simple terms, metabolism is the amount of energy (calories) the body burns to maintain itself. We are overwhelmed by “tips”, “tricks”, and “secrets” to boosting our metabolisms, but at the end of the day, metabolism comes down to understanding our bodies and gaining a sense of our general number of sedentary and active calories burned. There is no “trick” or workaround to following the very simple rule of “calories in, calories out” when we make our nutritional and caloric intake choices.
Metabolism consists of:
1. Non-active calories: the calories burned to keep the body alive (pumping blood, breathing, etc.) and non-exercise related activity.
There are online calculators to help you figure out your basal metabolic rate (BMR) (this one seemed to correlate well with my experiential understanding of my BMR) that can help you gauge your BMR and the average number of calories you need to consume in a day. Although our metabolisms are stable through adulthood (i.e., age is not the reason for a metabolism drop), it is important to note that body composition changes will result in BMR changes. Thus, if you start building a lot of muscle, your BMR will increase.
Along with BMR is non-exercise related activity. Do you sit still at a desk all day, or are you prone to fidget and move around often? Small lifestyle changes that aren’t related to setting aside time for exercise can contribute to the number of calories you burn in a day. Takeaway: take the stairs, use a standing desk, park in the back of the parking lot.
2. The calories burned performing exercise and physical activities.
For most people, physical activity accounts for a considerably small percentage of the overall calories we burn in a day, so I suggest thinking about exercise in a macroscopic way. Hitting the treadmill to work off a donut is an unhealthy cycle regardless of whether you look at the donut as the reward or the treadmill as the punishment. Living a consistently active lifestyle while paying attention to your nutritional plan, however, will lead to overall changes in your body’s composition and eventually free you up to needing more calories. Your body is a machine, and all our choices are interconnected. While losing weight is 80% diet, exercise can have overall bigger impacts than merely helping you burn more calories each day.
For example, as a 5’1” female, I have lost weight focusing on cardio workouts and strict caloric intake plans. However, over the last four years, I started weight training, and because of the muscle I’ve gained, I need to consume much more calories than I used to (and I never became “bulky”). When you’re starting a weight loss journey, it’s about lifestyle. Exercise to contribute to the big picture. Modify your calorie consumption as you progress and as needed to suit your lifestyle.
3. The calories burned digesting food.
The thermic effect of food (TEF) can account for approximately 10% of the calories you burn. TEF is part of the reason we hear fitness coaches talk about the importance of eating protein or complex vs. simple carbs. My 2-cents: prioritize the nutritional benefits of your food. By focusing on nutritional value, you will maximize the essential vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals your body needs to be healthy and inherently optimize your TEF. “Processed” foods are easier for our bodies to process, so they reduce the number of calories used to digest them. In reality, if you want to lose weight, your caloric choices should first and foremost focus on understanding what you need to consume based on your non-active and active calories burned; however, by focusing on nutrition, you can pat yourself on the back for optimizing your TEF and your overall health as well.
You Have the Power
Overall, if you’ve experienced a weight gain in adulthood, you have control over where you go from here. Evaluate the changes that have taken place in your lifestyle and understand that there are no excuses or tricks when it comes to your metabolism. Calories in, calories out. You had your health once, and you have the power to gain it back!
Shout outs & reminders
This blog was first published in the Medium community In Fitness & In Health.
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Cover photo by Andres Ayrton from Pexels