Weight Just Not Coming Off
Applying the simple advice of ‘eat less and move more’ doesn’t work well for most who’ve attempted it.
If you’re one of those people who’ve stayed consistent with a healthy diet and exercise program with no results, your metabolism may either be slowing down or not effective enough to lose weight.
Your metabolism is just the body’s chemical processes needed in order to maintain itself.
Metabolism is largely impacted by the amount of lean mass that your body has, but there are also a few other reasons outside of that could cause your metabolism to slow down.
6 Reasons Why Your Metabolism May Be Slowing Down
- Inactive Thyroid: Your thyroid is one of the main contributors to your metabolic rate because of the hormones it releases: T3 (Triiodothyronine) and T4 (Thyroxine). T3 and T4 activate on the various cells in the body to release energy, so without them in your bloodstream, your metabolism will grind to a halt. In fact, over 27 million people living in America have conditions of an underactive thyroid.
- Low Growth Hormone Levels: Growth hormone is released from the anterior pituitary gland and is one of the hormones responsible for the building or anabolic processes in the body. Growth hormone helps our bone muscles grow larger at the growth plates, helps release fat from stores for energy in creating muscle, and partially aids in protein synthesis. So imagine if you were deficient in growth hormone and what would happen to your ability to burn fat over time…
- Low Testosterone Levels: Testosterone is another hormone that helps build muscle and aid in protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is important in metabolism because it’s our lean body mass that helps us burn many of the calories we take in every day in order to sustain itself. In fact, testosterone has been proven time and time again to greatly improve muscle mass, as in this study.
- Not Eating Enough Calories: Barely eating enough calories each day is just another way of starving yourself, and your body knows better. What happens when you severely restrict your calories well below maintenance levels for long periods is that your body responds by holding on to as much fat as possible to survive. Not only that, but your muscles will be stripped away as a source of energy that it needs, which means your metabolism will be slower than before.
- Not Exercising: This seems obvious, but some people who are concerned about weight loss aren’t even active enough in the first place. Usually, this is due to adherence to a mainstream diet that’s supposed to work like magic but fails to deliver in the long run. In my honest opinion, if you’re not exercising, you might be a little lazy. You always have to factor in what you burn every day, in addition to what you put into your body.
- Cortisol Out of Whack: Cortisol is a hormone vital for responses to stress. This response can be both good and bad: we need it for survival, but excessive cortisol release can have negative effects, including fat gain in the stomach, face, and around the abdominals.
The Wrap Up
An individual’s metabolism may be slower than normal due to a hormonal imbalance. If you’re struggling with a slow metabolism despite your diet and exercise program, getting blood work from your physician to check your hormones is a good start.
