Metabolism Killer #1: High-Stress Exercise

Nowadays, stress is all too common. With its ugly, far-reaching fingers, there seems to be no place to hide from stress. What happens when you couple stress with... more stress? Metabolism disaster! The thing is, when a highly stressed person takes on a high-stress exercise, such as HIIT workouts or CrossFit training, they're adding more fuel to the fire, more stress to the stress. All this stress negatively impacts your metabolism, causing over-secretion of Cortisol, the ‘stress hormone,’ due to constant stressors. Aside from mental anxiety, some of the most common physical stressors include overeating and undereating, and over-exercising and under-exercising. The key is to strive for balance in all of your endeavors!


Metabolism Killer #2: Skipping Meals

Even though it may sound like a great way to save calories, skipping meals is, in fact, a huge metabolism killer. Calorie-restrictive diets trigger your body's 'survival mode' to save energy by lowering body temperature, slowing thyroid function, and reducing pulse. If you're experiencing food cravings, cold feet and hands, stubborn belly fat, low energy, and stress, you may be living in 'survival mode.' Many people enter a low-calorie diet to lose weight but find themselves struggling instead since we've all been misled to believe that a calorie deficit diet paves the road to losing weight. Instead focus on ingesting whole foods and listing to your body’s hunger cues.


Metabolism Killer #3: Low-Carb Diets

Carbs, per se, don't make you gain weight. Instead, it has more to do with the type of carbs you are eating and when you have been ingesting them that lead to weight gain. Eliminating carbs doesn't solve the problem and doing so creates a different health issue altogether. When your body suffers carb depletion, it works overtime to compensate, causing the liver to hyper-process glucose to separate fat and protein in food. Instead of eliminating carbs, focus on the good ones! Whole grains are high fiber, and filling which are a healthy part of any solid weight loss plan.


Metabolism Killer #4: All-Carb Breakfasts

Don't fall prey to the 'smaller breakfast, smaller waistline' misconception. Depending on your body type, a small breakfast may leave you hungrier instead of leaner. If you're usually a ravenous beast in the morning, chances are, your breakfast is high in carbs even though it consists of healthy, nutritious food. That may explain why you're hungry way before noon since eating an all-carb meal increases insulin production. That's not a good thing since insulin production peaks high in the morning. Instead focus on adding protein and fat. Try adding avocado to your toast or having an egg with your cereal or pancakes. And be sure those carbs are whole grains!


Metabolism Killer #5: Low-Protein Lunch

During the day, your body goes through a 'protein turnover' process. This process is the time when your body breaks down its own muscle tissue. More often than not, people lack protein in their diet which makes it impossible to build lean mass since protein is necessary for tissue repair and muscle building. Therefore, a low protein diet results in muscular deterioration. And, that's not all! When you don't ingest enough protein, you run the risk of brain fog, muscle weakness and muscle loss, food cravings, and fatigue. So, throw some lentils on your salad or incorporate some healthy proteins into your sandwich. Your brain and your muscles will thank you!


Are these metabolism killers sabotaging your health plan? Don't let them wreak havoc with your weight! The good news is, there's plenty of time to regain control of your health.