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Where fitness and outdoors meet. In this space we chat all things hiking, exercise, wellness, adventure, motherhood, and metabolic health from a female perspective! Get ready to learn + be inspired to live your fullest, most adventurous life!
Metabolic Flexibility: The Hidden Key to Staying Lean for Life
Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a long time fitness professional and midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. And combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for hiking podcast. What's up guys? Welcome back to the show. Today we're going to be getting into a very kind of nitty gritty, um, explanation I guess, of what is metabolic flexibility, kind of understanding how the metabolism works and why having a flexible and strong metabolism is so important for being able to stay lean long term, and not constantly feeling like you're doing this uphill battle with your body. When it comes to not only getting lean, but actually staying lean. Because a lot of people and I used to feel this way, to kind of feel like they're clawing their way to their dream body, where it's just such a struggle. And, you know, some people can stay lean without obsessing over food, without having to do tons of cardio, while others feel stuck dieting forever in this like one step forward, two steps back dance. And it's so frustrating when you feel like you're in that. And I wish that someone would have broken this down and explained this to me. You know, 5 or 6 years ago when I was really, really struggling. Um, you know, if you're unfamiliar with my personal story, I was definitely stuck in this. Constant, frustrating limbo of working out like six times a week, oftentimes doing two days. Tons of cardio, tons of running. Tons of hit. All the types of workouts that you would think like would equate to a very lean, toned physique. I was following all the diets, cutting carbs, restricting food, all of these things, and yet I was gaining weight. I was constantly feeling like my body was working against me, and I was just so confused and and defeated, honestly. And it wasn't until I got educated on this and really changed my approach, that I finally was able to slowly lose £30 over time, maintain it even after two pregnancies and still going strong. Seeing progress, feeling leaner than ever in my mid 30s now. Um, so I want to share this with you so that you don't have to constantly feel like you are struggling to get lean and actually keep that physique once you achieve it, right? Because anybody can lose weight, anybody can get skinny. But actually being able to maintain those results and be happy with your body composition long term, that to me is a way bigger win because it's much harder to do because it requires you going about it the right way and really supporting your metabolism while you are focusing on losing weight and leaning out. And I think that's a component that a lot of people are missing. So we're going to get into. What is metabolic flexibility? Um, you know, many women end up stuck in like this yo yo cycle. And it's not because they're doing everything wrong. Oftentimes they are doing the right things, but in the wrong context for actually losing weight while focusing on metabolic health. So things like chronic dieting under eating during the week, adding more cardio, um, instead of fuel, or doing things to build muscle. Constantly trying to lose weight. Like you basically are just in this constant state of like, I want to lose weight. And so you're never not in a in a fat loss phase, if that makes sense. But it kind of quietly pushes your body into this state of adaptation where energy expenditure drops, hunger signals are increasing, and progress stalls. It just feels like you're stuck. So over time, this can really erode things like insulin sensitivity and make it harder to efficiently switch between fuel sources, which we'll get into later is a really key part of metabolic flexibility too. So even with all of the discipline and consistency, your body is becoming more resistant to fat loss and more prone to regain weight. Once your calories come back up to like a maintenance level and you're eating just a normal amount again. So it's not from a lack of effort, it's just a mismatch between the strategy and what actually supports a resilient, responsive metabolism long term. Okay. So the goal is a high output metabolism not a survive on as little as possible metabolism. So it's really important to kind of understand that as you are approaching fat loss. And that's why we explain what this means. Anytime I'm talking to someone about the Mountain Metabolic coaching program, because it's such a missing component of when you're trying to change your body composition or get lean, a lot of people, it's just all about that quick, like, let's just lose weight as fast as possible and without the correct strategy. That's when you end up frustrated and with a compromised metabolism. Okay, so what is metabolic flexibility? If your body's ability to switch between using carbs and fat for energy, depending on what's available and what you're doing? So when you're eating a meal, especially one with carbs, your body should be able to use those carbs for quick energy. When you haven't eaten for a while, or you're or you're doing like lower intensity activity, it should smoothly switch to burning stored fat. That ability to switch gears efficiently is metabolic flexibility. So a simple way to think about it is like a hybrid car that can run on gas or electric power without issues. A metabolically flexible body does the same thing with fuel. So this is very closely tied with insulin sensitivity. When insulin sensitivity is good, your body handles carbs well and can store them appropriately. When it's poor, your body struggles to use carbs efficiently and becomes more reliant on constant eating, leading to energy crashes, cravings, and easier fat gains. So in practical terms, a metabolically flexible person can go hours without food and feel fine. They have steady energy without the big highs and crashes in their body can tap into fat stores when needed. So it's not about avoiding carbs or forcing fat burning. It's about having a metabolism that can adapt easily, which makes staying lean and energized much easier over time. Okay, so think about it like a thriving metabolism isn't about being naturally skinny or burning endless calories. It's about your body running more efficiently, responsibly, responsibly, and with enough energy to support your life. Okay. So another way to look at metabolic flexibility is your body can use the food you eat effectively, not just store it, produce enough steady energy throughout the day, and adapt to different situations too. So also metabolic flexibility is being able to eat more food without constantly gaining weight, and not feel like you're relying on constant diets or, um, constant excessive cardio to stay lean too. Okay, so in real life, a thriving metabolism looks like you're not constantly thinking about food or fighting intense cravings. Your energy is stable, not spiking and crashing. You can eat a normal amount of food without gaining weight rapidly. That's a big one. If you do not have a flexible metabolism, you will constantly feel like anytime you go out to eat or socialize or go on vacation or whatever, you are going to gain a ton of weight. Um, your body responds well to training. You get stronger and recover well, and you're not relying on excessive dieting or cardio to maintain your physique. Also, it's about output, not just input. So a thriving metabolism is usually supported by eating enough food chronically. Okay, so you're not just dieting all the time. Adequate muscle mass, regular movement and strength training. Good sleep and stress management. Okay, so a helpful way to frame it is that a struggling metabolism is trained to conserve energy at all costs. That's why it adapts a thriving metabolism is comfortable using and spending energy freely because it trusts that it's going to be fueled and supported. Okay. So hopefully that kind of I know it's a lot, right? We're getting into, like I said, some nitty gritty science today, but I'm going to break it down a little bit more and hopefully it won't feel too overwhelming. Okay. So let's talk about the problem with underwriting and how this affects your metabolism. In the short term, yes, the scale will drop. So it kind of tricks people into thinking, okay, great. All I have to do is just eat less. This is why like the the big weight loss shots are so popular and people are kind of using them and abusing them when they aren't really being prescribed them by a doctor, and they don't actually need them because it suppresses appetite. So you're you're going to see fast weight loss because you're not going to be eating okay. This is like a prime example of how not to support your metabolism while going about fat loss, because in the long term you're going to reduce your energy expenditure. You're going to increase your hunger hormones and your lower your lowering your ability to like, train well and actually build muscle, which also affects your basal metabolic rate. And you are experiencing metabolic adaptation. Okay. So this is where your body is going to downshift the amount of energy that you need to match, the amount of intake that it's expecting to get. This is kind of like a a mechanism that your body has just to eliminate starvation, honestly. So that's where kind of this like myth of starvation mode came about. It's not that you can starve your way into gaining weight. That's not how it works. That's why starvation actually exists. But your body does adapt. So what's happening is now your body is used to fewer calories constantly coming in. So then when you go back to normal, when people go off of these shots or the diet ends or whatever, or you just have a a week where you go crazy because you're on vacation or you finally just are so hungry you can't stick with the low calories anymore. Your body is more prone to hold on to that weight because now its baselines are really low and so it's expecting lower calories. And then when you overeat and go back to normal calorie intake, you're going to gain fat. Okay. So that is kind of what metabolic adaptation looks like in real time. And that is why under eating is a very incomplete strategy for fat loss. If you want to actually see sustained progress in body recomposition, simply eating less is not going to really help. Yes, you do need to be in a calorie deficit, but you've got to do it with strategy, with a way to support your metabolism. That's such a big part of what we do in mountain metabolic coaching. It's not just like going willy nilly into a fat loss phase that lasts forever with no strategy, because we want to make sure that our clients can succeed on the back end and actually maintain. Okay, so it's not that your body is broken, it's just adapting. Okay. So it's important to understand metabolic adaptation and kind of the effects of that. So how do you eat? Enough to support a strong metabolism. So you got to kind of understand your macronutrients here. So let's break those down. Protein is going to be a very, very important macronutrient. If you're working on body recomposition it supports your muscle retention and growth. It's going to really boost your satiety and also your thermic effect of food meaning you burn more calories just eating and digesting protein. So you're going to want to bring this number up so that you can maintain muscle while you are focusing on leaning out in that body, because you don't want to lose equal parts muscle and fat, that's going to, again, make this harder in the long run. Because your muscle is metabolic tissue. It makes it easier to burn more calories at rest. The next macro we're going to look at is carbs. So a lot of times carbs are demonized, especially for women. For some reason. It's like, oh, don't eat carbs, you'll just immediately gain weight. And this is not true at all. You can have a ton of carbs in your diet and still be lean, but it's important to understand kind of how to pair them with your meals, like we were talking about earlier for, um, you know, regulating your blood sugar and insulin. So. Carbs are amazing for supporting your training intensity, supporting your hormones, and regulating your hormones like leptin and thyroid and improving recovery and performance. So like simple way to say it is, if you're not having any carbs, you're going to be really dragging. Your energy is not going to be great. You're not going to be performing well. You're not going to be able to train well. Okay. I always notice when I am like lagging on my hikes or my lifts are sucking. I'm like, wow, probably because I haven't had any carbs in the last day or it's just not enough. Okay, so it's really important to to not look at carbs as the enemy. Okay. Fats is our next macro. And so fats are really, really necessary for hormone support and production. They also are going to help with satiety and nutrient absorption. So you don't want to cut out any of these. I hate it when people talk about these diets that they do to try to lose weight. And they're all about just like cutting out certain food groups. And that is really not the answer. If you want to optimize your health and feel your best and also like, who can do that long term, it's not a good long term solution. Um, so it's important to make sure that you are getting a well-rounded macronutrient breakdown and that you're not cutting out any of these things to support your metabolism even while you're trying to lose weight. Okay, so now let's talk about how to use muscle to leverage your metabolism. Why muscle matters. So like I mentioned before. More muscle equals a higher resting energy expenditure. So you are literally building a stronger metabolism when you are building muscle. So you're going to also experience better nutrient partitioning. So more calories go to muscle versus fat. And you're going to improve your insulin sensitivity. Okay. So all of these are going to benefit your metabolism. And you're just going to have a better body composition. You're going to actually be able to look toned and you're going to be more capable improve your bone density. There's so many benefits to to actually having muscle on your body okay. So you don't want to just focus on losing weight. You want to actually build a strong body and a stronger metabolism with muscle. So the cardio trap. The issue with excessive cardio. When it comes to metabolic health is that it's easy to overdo, especially when you're losing fat. I talked to so many women who are like, all they're doing is cycling, running, hit classes, things like that. And I fell into this trap for years thinking, well, once I lose weight and I'm skinnier, then I'll start lifting weights because then I'll like, you know, once I'm small, then it makes sense to lift weights. But right now I don't want to get bulkier. Why would I lift weights? Now instead, I just need to burn calories. However, there's a couple issues with this one. It's going to increase your hunger significantly when you are just focusing on burning calories all day. Um, so yeah, it's going to be really, really hard to actually stick with your calorie deficit, which is going to be the the main driver for fat loss. So you don't want to rely on a ton of cardio because it's just going to make you crazy hungry. It also is going to interfere with recovery. If you're trying to do a ton of cardio on top of lifting and it doesn't build muscle, it's not going to do much for you when it comes to building that strong basal metabolic rate. On top of that, it can also lead to more metabolic adaptation because sometimes when when we overdo the cardio, your body becomes so adapted to that it almost expects it. So now it's like used to you burning so many calories a day through cardio. And once you stop doing that, if you don't have time anymore, you're just getting burnt out. Now your body is expecting that, right? So you want to use cardio as a tool, not doing it as the foundation of your fat loss. I also prefer to do more low intensity cardio forms like walking, like incline walking, um, hiking, things like that that are not going to not only jack up your hunger as much, but they're also not going to stress you out quite as much. They're not going to increase cortisol. Um, so cardio is going to burn calories, but muscle changes how your body responds to those calories. Okay. So it's really important to understand that. And that's not to say you can never do it. I just would be mindful of it. If you are in a fat loss phase, you don't want to be focusing on trying to hit the cardio really hard. I know it seems counterintuitive, but trust me on this you don't need to be doing lots of cardio to see fat loss. A lot of our clients have actually come in doing a lot of cardio, kind of stuck in that trap, and we scale back on that and they finally start to see the results. I experienced that too. I remember being stuck in this place of like. I remember having a conversation with someone being like, so I'm already doing like a 40 minute hit class every day and running a couple miles every day. And I'm not losing weight and I'm stuck and I'm like, I don't know what to do. Because if I stop doing those things, my body's used to it already and I'm already under eating, I'm already dieting. And I just remember feeling so discouraged and like, how do I get out of this? And I really had to start with this foundation of building a stronger metabolism. Again, it doesn't happen overnight, but I trust me, it is so worth it because you will experience this like mental and physical freedom when you no longer have to be depriving yourself constantly and relying on burning a million calories a day just to even like maintain your body. It's exhausting to feel like you're on that hamster wheel. So the balanced approach, what actually builds a strong metabolism, eating enough, especially over time. So this means that you're not going to constantly be dieting. Yes, you can be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, but you want to be strategic with it, right? Do a modest deficit for a certain amount of time. Don't just live in a fat loss phase indefinitely lifting weights consistently. Like make this the the kind of cornerstone of your training of all the exercise you're doing. Make sure you are lifting weights 3 to 4 times a week for the best possible results, ideally with a structured program that is actually going to really improve your body composition. Prioritizing protein, using carbs strategically, strategically. So making sure you're not doing a lot of just like naked carbs naked sugars, meaning that you're not pairing it with fiber and protein. This is going to help balance your blood sugar a little bit better when you're not just like grazing on sugary things without pairing it with your protein and fiber to balance out that big glucose spike. Keep cardio supportive, not a dominant feature of your training, sleeping well and really minimizing stress as much as possible. Having it more of an anti-inflammatory lifestyle so you're not eating a ton of processed crap. You're watching the products that are in your house and in your beauty products, things like that, and then liver support, because your liver does also affect a bit of your basal metabolic rate. So you want to make sure that you are doing. And honestly, a lot of the things that we've talked about will support your liver. It's not like you need to go on a special detox or anything like that, but just making sure that you are sweating frequently, having regular bowel movements so that things don't get backed up in the liver, watching your alcohol intake and just trying to minimize all the processed foods that are so prevalent in our life. So here are some red flags that you are slowing down your metabolism. Constant fatigue plateaued despite low calories. Like you're just stuck. Like I mentioned how I used to feel obsessive hunger, declining strength in the gym, reliance on cardio to just burn calories day in and out and not being able to, like, go on a vacation or have a big socializing weekend without gaining fast weight. If you're someone who's like, oh, I literally look at a cookie and I gain weight, it might be that you need to work on building a more resilient metabolism. And I can say that from a place where I used to be in that exact position, I would compare myself to other people like my sister and other people in my life. Can I be like, gosh, why can they like, do more of like all of this, you know, social eating and they have whatever they want and they don't even think about it. And for me, I just had done a lot of damage to my metabolism and I had to get it to a better spot. So I hope that this has been a helpful explanation. Trust me when I say that this is so important. If you want to stay lean long term instead of just focusing on losing weight in the short term. This needs to be part of your long term strategy. You got to have an exit strategy at the end of like trying to lose weight. How are you planning to maintain it? And education and support around this is so, so important. This is a really big part of Mountain Metabolic coaching. So I know you've heard me talk about it a lot on here, but I cannot recommend it enough. I touch base with our clients who have exited out of the program as frequently as I can, and I am so blown away by how many come back and are like, I am still losing weight. I'm still seeing body recomposition. I'm still seeing progress. You know, years after being out from what I learned and all of the principles that I applied in the program that I'm still applying now. Okay. And that is the ultimate win. So if you are looking for that type of experience where you can just do this once and then keep the progress going and not do this constant yo yo anymore, do it the right way. Um, definitely recommend applying it for coaching. We do have a pretty full roster right now, but you can check the link in the show notes. Um, go through those application questions and then I will be in touch with you. Um, we can just kind of have a conversation around where you want to be as far as your results and if you're a good fit for the program. All right, you guys, thank you so much for tuning in today. Hopefully you've learned a little bit. And if you enjoy the show, give us a rating review or a review. You can also share us on social media. We so appreciate the shout outs. Um, it really helps little shows like this. So thank you for tuning in and I will chat with you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning into this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this. Be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at ponytail on Etrailer.com. Happy and healthy trails.