Slowed down metabolism - what to do?
I am a woman approaching her 30s and my metabolism has slowed down considerably. Weight gain is on a constant rise. Bloating has become an everyday thing. Everytime I see friends after 6+ months, they tell me I have gained weight. I try to work out (honestly, it's too much effort, I wonder how people get the motivation to do something so exhausting everyday) thrice a week but some days laziness takes over. Working out helps me keep my weight constant, but I haven't managed to lose it. If I try to substitute some carbs in my diet with protein to control weight, that leads to more bloating. Constant increase in weight is making me sad and staying motivated to go to the gym everyday is so fucking difficult. Any suggestions?
“Honestly, too much effort” will be your downfall. You gotta figure out something that motivates you. For me it was seeing the number of lbs I was deadlifting and squatting increase every week and the fear that skipping workouts would cause the number I worked so hard for to decrease
Exercise is the best thing you can do for your body but exercise has very little to do with weight loss (10-20%). You can increase metabolism also by heavy interval training by building some muscles. But exercise and HIT isn’t for everyone especially women. Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.
For me I got a fitness tracking watch. The stats and being able to visualize progress is motivation for me. Just seeing that I'm more active even if I haven't really lost any weight yet(1 month in). I'm starting with getting in the habit of just going to the gym everyday or at least go for a walk if I can't be bothered to go to the gym. For now at the gym I'm just committing to staying on the treadmill for an hour. Switch between running and walking as I see fit. Even though my weight hasn't really changed yet, I can see I'm getting more miles per week, did 25 miles so far this week. I've also found audiobooks help make exercise less boring.
Losing weight through exercise is much more difficult and time consuming than controlling what you eat.
This ^ but easier said than done. People nowadays have no idea what they are eating. Latte loaded with sugar, heavy carbs breakfast , 6 meals a day, eating out 3-5 times a week, highly boxed and processed foods, bread, ketch up. Stores are adding sugar in everything. People here are awesome in leetcode but very poor when it comes to nutrition knowledge.
Stay away from sugar. Request a standing desk if you can. After lunch go for a short walk. And don’t eat anything 3-4 hours before bed.
^this . But not only cane sugar but also hidden sugars. Bread, cake , ketchup, boxes foods you name it
What are we supposed to eat then? Survive on fruits and veggies only? 😧
Eat fiber (food or supplements) to help you digest. Also make going gym a habit so that you don’t feel painful. It is like if you leetcode everyday you can’t live without it ;)
Yes this is a good point but supplements are only absorbed at 5%. Best way to get this through organic non GMO self cooked foods.
Please go to a doctor instead of asking random techies here!
There is no cure in medicine for lower metabolism and it is likely that doctors will just tell her there is nothing wrong with her since her labs are ok. There are many people out here who are not doctors but have researched their way out of health issues.
I know a friend of mine who has similar problem, and for him it was diagnosed as hormone imbalance issue. He had a treatment and he is doing fine now.
I got it checked, I am doing ok.
If your doctor ordered a thyroid hormone test (which they should given your symptoms), make sure to check your results against the most up to date guidelines. Many doctors use the old numbers which leave people in a subclinical state of hypothyroidism. I was that way for years and it sucked until I did research and found a better doctor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothyroidism
Protein and carbs both have 4 calories per gram. Fat has 9 calories per gram. Equally replacing carbs for protein will still give you the same amount of calories. I'd recommend you learn a bit about proper nutrition. Proper knowledge will greatly improve your efforts. Essentially, if you're not willing to exercise more, your only option is to eat fewer calories.
I read about it and concluded that carbs less to weight gain, and so for people who gain weight easily a low carb high protein diet is better. Let me know if you have other suggestions.
Your body handles carbs differently than protein but if you don't exercise enough, it doesn't make a difference. It's the principle of calories in vs. calories out. If your daily intake of calories is greater than your daily burn of calories, you'll always be in a calorie surplus, regardless of what the source of the calories is. And all excess calories your body isn't using gets stored as fat. Whereas if you lift weights regularly, you're body will use the protein to build muscle, but if you're not doing resistance training, your body will just store it as fat. So from the limited info i have based on what you've said, replacing carbs for protein won't make too much of a difference in your case. It's also important to make sure the majority of your carbs are from whole grains.
I am not a health expert but my PhD was in medical science plus I have keen interest in this area. Your body is trying to tell something. It is unusual to have slow metabolism at this age and I think you have a gut problem ( not enough bacteria diversity to digest the food you are eating ). Are you having enough sleep or anything stress related that recently happened in your life ? Also your stomach Ph level might be messed up and may not be producing enough acid. You also may have adneralin hormonal issue. Don’t worry everything can be fixed. Focus on creating health first and weight loss shall come automatically . You can message me and I can help you the best I can.
Yes, I have enough sleep. Indeed, it's hard to get out of bed in the morning but I try to push myself out of it and am doing ok. Sometimes I feel so lazy at work, I come home early and take a nap (and then lose the motivation to go to the gym). No stress or hormonal issue (got it checked).
Ok that’s very good to know. Generally sleep and stress are one of the prominent reason doctors often ignore. Clearly we have a food problem so that should be fixable. May I know how many meals or snacks you eat ? Also where is your fat mostly located is it belly fat or legs ? . If you can send me roughly your meals of weekday and weekend, I think I can help you with that. You can post here or message me if you don’t want to post your diet here. Are you eating heavy breakfast or eat out a lot in morning . I have a feeling there is sugars hidden in your breakfast or through your day.
Calories in, calories out. Stop eating so much or choose better food if you don't eat that much as you're clearly eating in excess
This equation for dummies and oversimplification of health. This is true if Marco nutrients are healthy. But most of the techie aren’t doing that. 100 cal of Apple is way different than 1.5 tbs of cane sugar ~100 Cals. It depends where calorie is coming from and if your body has enough bacteria and minerals like potassium to absorbs those.
If you’re going to be lazy then change your diet. The diet is hard to maintain, but it works. https://www.reddit.com/r/keto
^this. It really works. It also helps with pcod
I laugh at people when they talk about diet esp keto. Don’t get me wrong keto is powerful. But the best diet in the world is what you can follow. Keto isn’t sustainable for long term for techies. Stop the keto diet and weight will shoot at twice the rate. Btw there are more than 6000 diets and almost 100% will fail