Your metabolism converts food / calories into usable energy. It is also responsible for tapping into the stored body fat during the time of calorie scarcity. Metabolic flexibility is the ability to respond / adapt to conditional changes in the metabolic demand. This flexibility is highly important when you’re trying to burn stored fat and sugar. High flexible metabolism means your body can switch easily between carbs and fat with ease.
Why do some of us find it difficult to lose weight ?
- Finding it difficult to lose weight means your body has lower metabolic activity
- Your metabolism taps into stored body fat during the times of calorie scarcity
- Highly flexible metabolism simply means that you can switch between carbs and fat with ease
Benefits of greater metabolic flexibility
- Mental sharpness
- Burning stored body fat quickly
- Prevention of chronic disease prevention
- No cravings for snacks
- Number of overall health benefits
- Easier weight loss
How do you know of you have metabolic inflexibility ?
- Do you become agitated or you have frequent mood swings if you don’t eat every 3-4 hours ?
- Do you feel weak and tired before or after eating ?
- Do you often experience crashes during afternoons ?
- Do you frequently have a lower attention span ?
- Do you need coffee or tea to increase your energy ?
- Do you find it impossible to fast for longer hours ?
What causes metabolic inflexibility ?
- Your genes play a very important role in metabolism
- Food and crash diets
- High refined / carbs diet
- Grazing all day
- High insulin levels in the body
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Poor gut health
- Hormonal imbalance
- Age and gender
- Stress levels and medication
How to improve metabolic flexibility ?
- Time restricted eating
- Intermittent fasting is very beneficial to improve metabolic flexibility
- Start with 12-12 window
- Exercise for minimum 30 minutes
- Start with moderate intensity
- Have more non starchy vegetables
- Consume more nutritional dense diet
- Include high protein, fibre, moderate fat, omega 3, vitamins and minerals in the diet
- Increase the quantity of fat in the diet
- Avoid refined carbs in the diet
- Slowly increase the time between your meals
- Maintain your calorie intake as per your requirement
- It should be neither too low or too high
- Get sufficient rest for the body
- Let the body repair
- Better stress / sleep management improves the metabolic rate of the body
- Cold stress
- Spending a few minutes in extreme temperatures