16 Nov Why You Should Eat More to Lose More
Metabolism. Some of us have ours in good health, some of us have one that works like a sloth, but all of us have one. We also have the ability to coach it back to good health. Having a strong and healthy metabolism is essential to be in good health.
What exactly is your metabolism? Can you easily answer this question? To put it simply, your metabolism is the bodies process of turning foods into fuels to sustain life. So, what happens if you have a slow one? Your body will process foods more slowly, making it so less energy is readily available and more of your nutrients get put into storage, aka your fat cells. What happens if it’s working properly? Your weight will be much more managed and you will feel and look much better. Your brain will function more efficiently as well, in turn making you a more productive and happier person.
Let me paint you a picture using a scenario that is easy to understand. Your body is like a work environment. There are lots of people with lots of jobs. There is the CEO (you) and then there is the second in command (your brain) and the rest of the company. Your metabolism is an employee with a very important job, it is the production manager. Like many of us and our work routines, the production manager goes through phases based on lots of factors such as hormones down the hall, thyroid downstairs and sleepover in the corner office. Your production manager is awesome at its job but when the company goes through phases where it doesn’t give it very much work (food), it tends to slack off. It loses motivation and might be late to work or snooze on the job. But then, there are those days where you are giving your metabolism work and motivation (vitamins and supplements) and that metabolism goes to work! It gets everything done and then is so pumped that it even gets the stuff done that has been sitting in the “to do” bin. It gets excited about work and starts showing up on time and getting lots done. Your brain is happy because it feels good, all of the employees are running like a well-oiled machine and the work environment gets altogether better!
Now, I know this is a funny sounding analogy. But it makes sense, right?! When we give our body an abundance of healthy foods and we are drinking water, taking vitamins and supplementing in what we aren’t getting from our nutrition, we become a well-oiled machine. Our bodily functions become all around better, our brain flourishes in it’s newly found nourishment and we become healthier people who are more able to house a higher level of lean mass and lower level of body fat. We burn through our clean fuels and then start pulling from our fat cells to provide us additional energy, in turn making us slimmer. Our body becomes better at the utilization of stored nutrients and starts eliminating that which it doesn’t need.
Your body is awesome at knowing what it needs and doesn’t. When it is properly functioning, there are few instances in which it will retain fat or water. When we stop giving it nutrients every couple to few hours and just give it big bursts of food and don’t drink a good amount of water, we start retaining. We hold on to things as if we are getting ready for a zombie apocalypse and need to load our storage with nourishment and water. We will hold on to water in our cells, pull from our muscle for protein and try to keep as many carbs and fats as possible for just in case the world as we know it ends.
The biggest thing I hear people say is, “I don’t know why I am overweight, I barely eat!” Well, there’s your problem right there. Many of us basically starve all day and make poor choices once we do eat because we are seeking satiety, the feeling of being full. To obtain satiety, we subconsciously choose to eat foods high in carbs and fats. When high fats are combined with high carbs, the breakdown process of foods takes much longer, making your body put all of those nutrients into storage, using only the bare minimum of what it needs. Remember, the world could end at any moment. This is when we gain weight.
The idea is to eat every 2 hours, nourishing the body and making sure it always has what it needs so that it is able to properly function. We need to be drinking nearly a gallon of water or more daily to properly hydrate your cells and keep your lean mass happy and growing. I highly suggest contacting a professional such as myself who specializes in nutrition to calculate your macros and explain how to reach them. I also suggest using an app or program that helps you to track what you are eating and visualize what is in each meal. A lot of the time we think we are eating much more and much healthier than we actually are. Having proper nutrition for your lifestyle is so important to maintain or increase your health and longevity.