[spoiler title=’Click for video transcript. ‘ style=’default’ collapse_link=’true’] will intermittent fasting screw up your metabolism or make it better let’s talk about it so a common question about intermittent fasting is what will it do to your metabolism and this was something that I was really concerned about when I first heard about it back at the end of 2014 I was really afraid that if I did it it would just totally mess up my metabolism but that was kind of ironic because at the same time I was obese and I blamed my obesity on my slow metabolism I was just convinced that everyone else was eating however much they wanted and they were just staying at a healthy weight and I wasn’t eating that much and and for some reason I was obese so I just figured it’s my metabolism so I guess I was just kind of paranoid about that so for a long time I didn’t really stick with intermittent fasting I was scared to go you know really commit to it and do it full throttle so as time went along I’ve started to think you know I keep blaming my metabolism and if I really think that’s the problem then maybe I should go get it tested and I ended up not doing that because the test was too expensive and we couldn’t afford it at the time so I did a little thought experiment I asked myself if I went and got the test and if it said that I had a slow metabolism what would I do about that and I knew I wouldn’t you know go on any medication or anything and so I thought well really what I would end up doing is just eating less because if you have a slow metabolism it just means your body is more efficient and it doesn’t need so many calories and I thought well you know I can I can do the other side of the equation too I can move more and so that’s what I did so I decided okay well I’m gonna try intermittent fasting like if I’ve already got a slow metabolism what could it hurt and so as I got consistent with intermittent fasting I started to see that I was losing weight so I started to see that my my metabolism wasn’t really the problem and as I got more consistent with intermittent fasting I started to see that actually I was eating a lot when I was obese I was eating enough to maintain my 222 pound frame and with intermittent fasting it helped me stop stress eating and it stopped me from snacking around all the time and I started to see like wow back when I thought I just had a slow metabolism the real truth was I was eating too much so you know as I was practicing intermittent fasting for a long time it was in the back of my head what if this is hurting my metabolism in some way and at this point I’ve been practicing intermittent fasting this is my fifth year now of doing it and I’ve gotta say like I don’t think my metabolism is any different now than it was back then I think that probably you know if I was ever tested they would probably say yeah you have a little bit of a slow metabolism I tend to gain weight really easily and I tend to lose weight really slowly my husband on the other hand has kind of the opposite problem he will gain weight really it’s really hard for him to gain weight and it’s really easy for him to lose weight it’s almost like a problem with him losing too quickly so but what I did notice about him also was that he really doesn’t eat as much as I thought he did back when I was obese I thought oh he just eats a lot all the time but really he doesn’t and he moves a lot more than I do I started to observe my behavior and his behavior and I saw you know he fits around a lot and he’s just up moving around all the time doing stuff and I tend to sit in one place lot so I’ve tried to overcome that by you know moving around more getting up and just you know making myself move around more like he does and you know also watching that I don’t overeat or that I don’t snack around or emotionally too – so now again I have not been tested but I still feel like you know I’m pretty much the same as I was back then I feel like I can gain weight just as easily but I also don’t feel like that intermittent fasting has given me any kind of edge with my metabolism I still have to make sure that I don’t overeat and that I keep a check on the fact that I’m not emotional eating and really I think that’s kind of what it all came down to for me back then was I wanted a faster metabolism so I could eat more without gaining weight and so now I just learned how to eat the proper amount and I still eat all the foods now and instead of having things feel like well like they’re off limits or whatever I just eat whatever I want and that has helped with that end of the equation so right now if you are thinking about doing intermittent fasting and you’re kind of worried like what will it do to my metabolism I can say from my experience it really hasn’t affected anything I mean I was able to get the weight off and keep it off and I’m eating whatever I want and I would encourage you to think about you know how would you change your behavior if you know you wouldn’t got your metabolism tested and if it said you have a slow metabolism you know what might you do and of course if you feel like you have a medical issue then talk to your doctor about it they can do you know an actual professional test to see you know if there’s anything wrong with your metabolism and check it out don’t just sit there worry about it take some sort of action on it and remember even if you do have a slow metabolism that is not some sort of sentence to being overweight for the rest of your life it just means you’re gonna have to work a little bit harder and of course you know I’m not a medical doctor I’m not a nutritionist I just wanted to share what my experience has been with intermittent fasting and metabolism and I hope that that’s helped you on your weight loss journey thank you for watching that video I hope you found it useful and if you’d like more information about intermittent fasting head on over to my website sixmilestosupper.com and you can find tons of information on how to lose weight sustainably and keep it off for good [/spoiler]
Video Notes
- For a long time I was afraid intermittent fasting would mess up my metabolism, which prevented me from practicing it consistently
- When I was obese, I was convinced I had a slow metabolism and that was what caused my obesity
- I finally realized that if I got my metabolism tested, and if the result said I had a slow metabolism, I would simply need to eat less and move more in order to lose weight, so I decided to try intermittent fasting to see if it would help.
- As I got consistent with intermittent fasting, I started to see that I had been eating a lot more than I had realized when I was obese.
- When I became consistent with intermittent fasting, I started to lose weight, and I saw that my metabolism wasn’t the problem, my habitual overeating and emotional eating were the culprits.
- I am in my fifth year of practicing intermittent fasting, and I feel like my metabolism is the same as it’s always been: it hasn’t made it worse, but it also hasn’t given me an edge.
- Intermittent fasting helped me lose the weight and keep it off. If it had damaged my metabolism, I would have failed at weight loss
- I tend to gain weight easily and lose weight slowly. My husband has the opposite problem (he has trouble gaining and loses too easily).
- I learned from observing myself and my husband that he naturally moves around and fidgets a lot more than I do, and he really doesn’t eat as much as I used to think he did.
- For me, back in 2014 my desire to have a faster metabolism came down to wanting to be able to eat as much as I wanted and being able to eat whatever I wanted.
- With intermittent fasting I’ve learned how to eat to satiation
- When I started allowing myself all the foods, that took away the desire to speed up my metabolism so I could eat whatever I want
- If you are worried about your metabolism, take action! Talk to your doctor and get checked out if you feel like something’s off.
- Even if you do have a slow metabolism, you can still get the excess weight off: it just may require more effort.