Optimal Weight & Metabolic Health

For those of us who live in the southern hemisphere and experience cold winters, it often comes with hibernation, inactivity and possibly a few too many ‘comfort foods’. I know for myself, this winter seemed to be longer and colder and after a day’s work, I loved nothing more than curling up on the lounge under a blanket with a good movie and some yummy treats. 

I feel it is important to lean into the qualities of the seasons, but not get stuck into the habits that don’t serve us well in the long run.

Now that spring has sprung, the flowers are starting to blossom, the days are getting longer, warmer and the motivation to be more active and health focused is here. Spring is all about new beginnings and transformations. A time to start fresh and start over.

When it comes to health, spring is the perfect time to reconnect to healthy eating habits and lifestyle choices. It is the time of year, I see more people coming into my clinic wanting to focus on improving their body composition, increase their energy and dusting off the cobwebs and becoming more physical.

One of the mistakes I often see people make is going too hard too soon and ending up having an injury and for many not achieving the fat loss goals they were hoping for. There are several reasons behind why this happens and for those who know me I am all about empowered knowledge and evidence-based education.

So, let’s unpack the factors that influence fat loss and optimal body composition and wellbeing. 

Metabolism & Fat Loss

These words can bring up many different interpretations for people when it comes to fat loss, such as “eat less + more exercise will increase my metabolism”. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Metabolism is more like a thermostat that is controlled by the hypothalamus pituitary in the brain and responds to many factors such as the amount of food eaten, specific micronutrients deficiencies, sleep deprivation, stress response, microbiome health, the types of food eaten, movement, hormones fluctuation, exposure to environmental pollutants and emotions.

The hypothalamus lives deep within our brain and its main function is to keep the body in a stable state of balance. It does this by sending messages via the nervous system or by influencing hormone production. Like a thermostat it has feedback loops to make sure it can co-ordinate the correct communication to the body and maintain a healthy metabolism. It thrives on change like the seasons.

When factors change such as, eating more comfort food during winter, or not getting enough sleep or being stressed the hypothalamus interprets these changes and sends messages to our organs such as adrenals, thyroid, ovaries, testes and pancreas and they respond by releasing hormones and other chemicals throughout the body that influences metabolism and fat burning. This is a normal response. 

When a metabolism is not balanced, it is often because these ‘factors’ such as restricted eating or overeating or stress have been continuing for too long and the hypothalamus will do its best to keep balanced, however, the most common result is a reduction in metabolism and an increase stored energy as visceral fat. Visceral fat is also known as ‘toxic fat’.

As you can appreciate, having a balanced metabolism is best managed with a holistic and individualized approach. This approach does not need to be complicated, however it will require a good foundation and addressing the drivers behind metabolic health, such as 

• Food, eating style and the microbiome
• Movement
• Hormonal Balance
• Nurturing the nervous system

Food, Eating Styles & Microbiome

I am hoping you are gaining the insight that there is no one structured diet, meal plan or eating strategy that will create a healthy balanced metabolism. The hypothalamus simply does not like it. What it does like is structured flexibility. 

Structured flexibility is having an eating style that additionally addresses the underlying drivers such as elevated cortisol, elevated insulin, insomnia, food reactions, energy slumps, sugar or carbohydrate cravings, or premenstrual syndrome. All of which are metabolic health issues.

Metabolic health issues are conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, heart disease, insulin resistance and increase waist circumference.

Structured flexibility is making sure there is enough structure to the macronutrients such as protein, carbohydrate, fats and water and then listening to your body and have a little flexibility to tweak as your body needs.

A low carbohydrate healthy fat (LCHF) or Mediterranean eating style, is often a great starting point as they provide balanced macronutrients. Making sure whole foods are part of this eating style will not only provide macronutrients but also be full of micronutrients that are vital in creating a balanced metabolism and a healthy microbiome.

The key symptoms to keep an eye on are cravings, hunger and energy slumps. If you experience these unwanted symptoms while eating LCHF or Mediterranean eating style, then flexibility is needed. This is why I have created the Optimal Weight Program. In this program we take you on a journey that is supported and will provide the individual tools to help understand what to do when experiencing hunger, craving or fatigue. 

Movement 

The human body is designed to move.  Physical activity and exercise are not the same and the body thrives on both. Physical activity can be incidental or deliberate, in fact it is any movement of the muscles. Because we are designed to move activities such as cleaning the house, leisurely walk, fishing, gardening, walking to work or the bus or train are all examples of physical activity. Exercise on the other hand is more focused on balance, flexibility, strength and aerobic activity. The Australian guidelines are to be active each day and engage in 2.5 – 5 hours of moderate physical activity a week or 1 – 2.5 hr of vigorous exercise. When it comes to optimal weight, the hypothalamus will receive feedback on the amount of activity a person is doing over time and adjust the metabolism accordingly. 

The three red flags I see in clinic that I feel negatively influence fat loss are;

• The sedentary workplace and lifestyle that goes with it.
• The sedentary workplace and moderate / intensive exercise under 5hr a week.
• The sedentary workplace and moderate / intensive exercise overexercises and high adrenaline workplace/lifestyle 

Hormone Balance

If only I could have a magic potion or pill to help create a balanced hormonal communication. Hormones are our communication network and influence different functions in the body such as energy, mood, reproductive health, stress response, sleep and ultimately affect the metabolism. Put simply, if the brain, particularly the hypothalamus and other parts of the nervous system detect threats such as not enough food, or fear, stress, nutrient deficiencies to name a few then hormones are released and influence cellular metabolism and cellular function. If this communication continues for too long, often in fat loss and metabolism, there are stubborn inflammatory driver that won’t go away easily and require consistent structured flexibility and tweaking to reduce this inflammation and metabolic chaos. This is where lifestyle medicine and targeted eating styles shine.

Nurturing the Nervous System

The unsung hero of the human body, the nervous system. It amazes me how much adaptation the nervous system goes through to keep it functioning until it doesn’t. The nervous system has many parts, but when it comes to metabolism and creating a robust body composition it requires healthy fluctuating communication between arousal and relaxation between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Dr Dan Siegel coined this term “Window of Tolerance”

Essentially, the more time spent outside the window of tolerance the more the body is stressed and ultimately a cascade of events will occur that negatively influence the metabolism and the ability to cope.  Insomnia, hypervigilance, racing thoughts, fatigue, low mood are all examples of symptoms when a person has a narrow window of tolerance or too many ‘stressor’ in their life. 

When it comes to nurturing the nervous system there are many lifestyle and behavioural solutions and when combined with structured flexibility around food choices amazing results can occur. 

If you need support in achieving your optimal weight, check out our new program Fat Loss & Optimal Weight. Our guided four week protocol where you also get 1:1 coaching support.

Fat Loss & Optimal Weight