Do You Have a Slow Metabolism?

Do you have a slow metabolism?

This is something that comes up quite often, as you’ll hear people talk about “man, my neighbor, Gary, that guy’s such an a hole. Ah, he can eat whatever you want. And he never seems to gain weight. He’s got such a fast metabolism. I wish I had a fast metabolism.”

“But my metabolism, my metabolism is slow.” Right?

You’ll hear people say this all the time. Or there’s some story about people that have fast metabolisms. And I got some bad news. There’s actually some really shocking research that might blow your mind about people’s metabolisms. It actually turns out that people that are pretty lean people that are lean, versus people that are a little bit overweight, it might surprise you to find out that the people that are lean, actually have a slower metabolism, they tend to burn less calories at rest, then people that are a little bit overweight, people that weigh a little bit more actually have a higher metabolism. And the purpose behind this the reason why this is is because when you have more body tissue, there is more metabolic cost to maintaining your body. So if you we were to strap you up and test your metabolism, based on mostly your body size will determine your your actual metabolic rate. So what creates this illusion of fast metabolisms and slow metabolisms? Right. There’s a lot of people that think they have a slow metabolism or there’s people that you think have a high metabolism. Let’s first look at the people that we think have a high metabolism.

What often happens is when you think about the person that typically has a high metabolism when you look at them, when you watch them, you’ll notice that they’re rarely still, they might be a little bit hyperactive even. But they’re always moving around. I’m recording this podcast right now. And as I do it, I’m gesturing with my hands. I’m moving, I’m some for some reason, posturing with my chest, and I’m pacing around my apartment. Right? So as I record this, I’m not being really still I’m being a little bit active, possibly a little hyperactive. But I’m moving around. And what we often find is when we think about those, if you go back to like elementary school in middle school, when you think about the stereotypical hyperactive kid in class, the kid that was always making noise, always fidgeting. You know, when you look at them, I bet chances are they were not overweight. In fact, every hyperactive kid I’ve ever known, the the issue was more that they were underweight. They were often the skinniest kids in class, they were always moving. They were always fidgeting, they didn’t have a high metabolism. What they had was something called a high NEAT level or non exercise Activity Thermogenesis

NEAT any at non exercise Activity Thermogenesis is essentially a science cease word to say the calories we burn when we’re not burning calories through exercise. Right? So all the little movements throughout the day, all the gestures, all the fidgets all those steps, all the walking all of this stuff increases our metabolic rate more so than our genetics or our biology. It’s our little movement, our non sedentary habits. So when we look at people that have high that we think have fast metabolisms or high metabolisms, when they get to eat whatever they want without punishment. Watch them a little bit closer. Do they actually have a high metabolic rate? Or do they have a high activity rate? Do they move? Do they fidget? Do they do all these little things that burn calories outside of exercise? Right?

Image of two people, one fast metabolism and one slow metabolism
Most people would assume left has a lower metabolic rate, but that’s not true

So there’s a lot of things that we can talk about. And then when we go on the flip side when we think about people in our lives that we consider to have a slow metabolism that you know don’t seem to eat very much but gain weight very easily. Look at their habits. Most often they have sedentary habits. They might be prone to binge watching on Netflix or Hulu. They might be prone, they might be the person that, you know, when the group’s trying to walk to the next event, they might be the one that brings up the idea of driving to the event instead, right?

There’s there’s things that will give us fewer opportunities to increase our metabolic rates throughout the day through activity through non exercise activity. And so there’s this, there’s this idea that people have this, this fast metabolism and slow metabolism. But in the research, it actually goes reverse from what our expectations are people that are normal weight or lean weighted, they have a slower metabolism at rest, when they’re not doing anything, their metabolic rates are actually lower than overweight people. However, normal weighted or unweighted people, they tend to be more active, not necessarily that they work out more often, though, that might be a thing. But they just generally move more during the day. So if you’ve often asked you consider that you had a slow metabolism.

One of the questions that I would ask is, how many steps a day do you average? How many steps a day do you average, and I know this is a really common thing for people with smartwatches and pedometers to be tracking their steps each day. And when we track our steps, what we’re doing is we’re trying to monitor all of that movement outside of exercise. Right, and the general recommendation is about 10,000 steps a day. There’s various merits to that research. But in practice, in practice, we find that that bout 10,000 steps a day is something that can help people maintain and even move forward in their weight loss goals.

(10k steps is a recommendation I make for all my clients. For more info about Coaching, check out THIS LINK)

But movement throughout the day, neat steps, fidgeting, moving, just being non sedentary, this is a great complement or great substitute for metabolic rate, this is a great way to be in control of your metabolic rate, this is a great way to be in control of your waistline, and really just be in control, which is what Health REBELs is all about. It’s about giving you the insights and giving you the tactics to steal back control over your health and happiness. So next time you consider that you might just have a slow metabolic rate.

I wonder, Is that true? Or could we use a little bit more non exercise activity in our days. Put that to the test. And come on back tomorrow for another episode of the Health REBELs podcast. And until I see you then make sure you keep the event before I wrap up. Before I wrap up, it would be a great service to me. If you enjoyed this podcast, share it with someone you know, if you’ve enjoyed the show, share the show with someone. I’m looking to grow the podcast a little bit more, but I’m not doing any advertisements. So the only way it grows is by people like you sharing it with their friends and family. If you think this message is valuable, please share it with someone else. And until I see you again, keep the oath I hope that episode helps give you some steps you can take to break free from common standards so that you can live a happier, healthier life. I’d love to continue to support you on that path to redefining healthy living. So I want to invite you to join my free Facebook group, the Health REBELs community. There we post daily content to redefine what healthy living means by following the holistic wheel and the REBEL of you’ll also get community support with like minded Health REBELs. If you’re not already a member, search for the Health REBELs community on Facebook or go to facebook.com/groups/health REBELs. I look forward to seeing you in there REBEL