But can shedding pounds actually make your metabolism slow down and turn sluggish?
If you’ve hit a weight-loss plateau you may be wondering, what gives?
Metabolism gets a lot of attention around weight loss.
It also gets a lot of unnecessary credit and blame.
Your metabolism is important when it comes to weight, but it’s not the only factor at play.
What Is Metabolism?
Metabolism refers to the necessary chemical processes that happen in your body to make it maintain life.
Think about your body as a car.
If you put gas in a car, it uses that fuel so that move.
you might also burn extra calories by adding activity, such as walking, dancing or exercising.
Afast metabolismis one that burns a lot of calories to support its metabolic functions.
Your friends who can eat whatever they want without gaining weight likely have fast metabolisms.
In contrast, aslow metabolismdoesn’t burn through as many calories to support the same metabolic functions.
you might blame genetics for this.
Can Losing Weight Slow Your Metabolism?
Yes, it can.
If you eat fewer calories than you burn off through daily activities and exercise, you will lose weight.
The hard part is maintaining that weight loss.
There are several factors at play during this process, and metabolism is just one of them.
Evolutionarily, this was a protective mechanism to keep you from starving.
Today it is a major cause of weight regain.
This may seem depressing, but you do have some control over the rate at which your metabolism falls.
“Slower dieting has a smaller effect.
Your metabolism is lower because you are now a smaller person, but not disproportionately low.”
This is a double whammy if you are severely restricting calories to lose weight.
The ratio of fat to muscle in the body also affects metabolic rate.
Weight, or body composition, is made up of fat, muscle, bone and water.
Muscle is more metabolically active than fat.
In other words, it burns more calories.
Losing calorie-burning lean muscle mass slows your metabolism.
“This is one reason why you see a change in metabolism over the lifespan,” Knott says.
“As you age, you naturally lose muscle mass, which results in a decreased metabolism.
This can be influenced by maintaining muscle mass throughout the lifetime with weight-bearing physical activity.”
Can Your Metabolism Fall Below a “Normal” Level Because of Weight Loss?
There is no “normal” metabolism.
What is normal for you is based on your genetics, age, sex, weight and activity level.
It is unclear if this always happens or why it happens, she added.
Can You Boost Your Metabolism?
Read More:Trying to Lose Weight?
Nix the crash diets, and work on changing habits over time.
