Do you feel like you broke your metabolism over the last few years or decades? You’re not alone. Most of us are finding that we can’t eat like we did in our 20’s, 30’s, even our 40’s and not really pack on the pounds. There are a couple of things happening here that are totally fixable with a little effort. Yes, your metabolism does go down as you age but not near as much as we give it credit for. Unlike the stock market in 2008-2009, your metabolism doesn’t suddenly crash. It’s a slow subtle process. By age alone, we lose about 3% of our metabolism per DECADE. But we lose up to another 10% without consistent exercise, especially resistance training. Here are the 2 things you can do to fix this situation.
- More than likely you have lost some muscle. Unless you’ve been doing resistance training somewhere the last couple of decades then this has happened to you. Your muscle mass is directly tied to your metabolism. The more muscle you have the faster your metabolism. What this means is you must do something with enough resistance to get your body to respond. Walking is not enough. Your body is conditioned to walk so it doesn’t really tax the muscles the way we need. Don’t get me wrong, walking is great for your health but it’s not going to fix super slow metabolism syndrome. I’m so passionate about resistance training for seniors that I got a certification from the Functional Aging Institute called Functional Aging Specialist. If you’re interested in more info. click here
- Eat more. Whaaat!!! I know there are some going that’s not my problem I eat more than my share. If you know you’re overeating then the rest of this doesn’t apply to you. You’d be surprised how many ladies I consult with that have dieted consciously or subconsciously for years and years. What I mean by subconsciously, is that they trained themselves to not be hungry by eating way too few calories for an extended period of time.This trashes your metabolism because of all the deprivation. When you are attempting to lose weight there should be a mild calorie deficit with an increase in exercise and activity. Most people want results right now so they get too aggressive with the calorie deficit. This leads to a loss for a while and then the dreaded plateau at which most people’s reaction is just to do more exercise or lower the calories further. Which is exactly the wrong thing to do. You should contact a fitness professional though if you’re going to attempt to fix this as you will need a lot of guidance and encouragement when the scale disagrees with your efforts:) Remember, you own the scale, don’t let it own you!
So there you have it, 2 ways to fix your broke metabolism!
