Metabolism Reset For Weight Loss: What Is It?
- Laura Lambe
A metabolic reset is a diet that claims to boost your metabolism by resetting it. We are seeing quite a few things claiming to “reset” or fix your metabolism online now
Why?
The word “metabolism” is one of most trending words on social media right now, so, click bait
The rise of “fitness influencers” brings with it a rise of misinformation as they base their content on what words, phrases etc are trending instead of FACTS
There are quite a few variations of the metabolic reset diet going around but they all last between 21 days and 4 months. They restrict carbs and lower calories. Most are also described as a “detox” or an “anti-inflammatory diet to reset your metabolism”
Its VERY important to note that currently there are ZERO dietician-approved metabolism reset diets that's been clinically proven to have ANY meaningful impact to your rate of metabolism or weight loss.
The metabolism diets that exist have been written by people ranging from having NO nutritional backgrounds to a vague nutritional qualification but not enough medical research to quantify any meaningful findings.
ALL clinically registered dieticians that have reviewed and studied the Metabolism Reset diet agreed on a few points
- Restricting carbs is a NEGATIVE aspect of the diet. Restricting this food source can lead to malnutrition and insufficient vitamin intake. Removing carbs is NOT necessary to see weight loss
- The basis of the diet ie eating less is the basis of general weight loss. So its not doing anything unique or new
- The metabolism reset diet or the notion of “fixing” “resetting” your metabolism is not clinically proven by any source
Your metabolism is a complex system that cannot be easily manipulated. There are lots of things that can impact the rate of your metabolism and slow it down, which we will discuss below. But these won't slow it down to the point it “breaks” or stops working
Let's Bust Some Metabolism Myths
(1) Can you reset your metabolism?
NO - it's not a light switch, you can't just switch it back on again
(2) Does eating breakfast help to jumpstart your metabolism?
No - there are no studies that show any meaningful difference to meal times and the rate of your metabolism or weight loss
(3) Does eating smaller meals throughout the day boost your metabolism?
Again NO - there have been many studies carried out to investigate this, the most recent one being from harvard university and again concluded that there is no evidence to suggest that meal times have any meaningful difference on metabolism
(4) And finally do certain foods boost your metabolism?
Now there's actually some truth to this one, however its usually over hyped. The most common foods claimed to help metabolism are ginger, green teas and spicy foods. Studies show that these foods do help increase metabolism but only MINIMALLY. So, yes they are helpful but they don't override your entire diet
There is NO special diet, magical workout or supplements that can fix your metabolism - so save your money
What ACTUALLY Slows Our Metabolism Down?
As advised above our metabolism is a complex system, so there are quite a few different aspects that can slow it dow
Firstly - AGE
As we get older our metabolism starts to slow for many different reasons. One of the most common being that our muscle mass starts to naturally decrease
Secondly - EATING TOO LITTLE
Have you heard of “starvation mode”? Well that's another made up click bait term - no such thing scientifically as “starvation mode” - when people are actually starving their bodies don’t hold on to fat - have you ever seen a person actually starving who is overweight? No - so this is just a term made up by the diet industry
What does happen though when you eat very little food is that your metabolism starts to slowly decrease making weight loss harder over time
HOWEVER - the vast majority of people who say they can’t lose weight because they are eating too little are actually in a calorie surplus for their body they just didn't realize. I can count on one hand the amount of women out of the 1000s iv spoken to over the past few years that thought they couldn't lose weight because of eating too little who actually were eating too little
Thirdly - TOO LITTLE PROTEIN
Eating too little protein is another reason why your protein can start to slow down. This relates to point 1 and our muscle mass starting to decrease, if we then eat too little protein this compounds on this problem causing further slowing up of our metabolism
Fourthly - POOR SLEEP
Now, this is over an extended period of time. Not just after a bad nights sleep etc
Studies have shown that a lack of sleep disrupts metabolism by impacting hormones, inflammation, and the sympathetic nervous system, which regulates the fight-or-flight response.
What Can We Do To Optimize Our Metabolism?
Now that we are aware that these pills, magic diets and metabolism “resets” are false and that our metabolism is a complex system that can not be easily manipulated we can start our journey to ensuring it runs optimally over time
We have now explored the 4 main issues that impacts our rate of metabolism, so working to offset those is the MOST EFFECTIVE way to optimize our metabolism
So:
- Fuelling our bodies with ENOUGH food to run optimally
- Focus on our Sleep Health
- Eat more protein (access 32 High Protein Recipes BELOW)
- Include resistance training to offset the muscle mass reduction as we age
Furthermore eating a balanced diet in general can help aid metabolism as well as drinking more water
These should not be thought of as a quick fix to boost your metabolism to see fast weight loss. Boosting your metabolism should be considered as a by product of living a healthier lifestyle
High Protein Recipes