The Mind Body Project
The Mind Body Project
Healthy Huddle: Metabolism Myths vs. Truth
We break down metabolism myths and show how habits, not age, drive your burn. Strength training, protein, smart cardio, sleep, and daily movement become a simple plan you can stick to and scale.
• what metabolism is and how it works
• genetics versus lifestyle influence on metabolic function
• why chronic low calories slow your burn
• strength training as the primary metabolic lever
• smarter cardio to protect muscle
• protein targets for maintaining lean mass
• aging and activity patterns versus “getting older”
• late night eating myths and real food choices
• practical RMR logic and fueling balance
• body fat scale accuracy and better options
• weekly challenges to lift heavier and keep moving
Welcome to the Healthy Huddle. Thank you for taking a little time to join us this evening. We're about to get ready and start with our live uh healthy huddle on our virtual call. So tonight we're gonna be talking about metabolism um myth versus truth. So um just um hope you enjoy our topic um and we're about to get ready to join our live virtual call. We will get started. So we are gonna talk about metabolism, it's the one thing everybody has, nobody gets away from it. So we're gonna talk about our myths versus some truths about our metabolism. So who might think they have a slow metabolism? Hey, some with a wave, some with a yes. Um, how many of you think that our metabolism gets slower as we get older?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, definitely.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes, that is that is something that does happen, but we're gonna talk about some of those reasons. So, first of all, our metabolism, we kind of have to understand what is our metabolism, it is how our body converts converts food to energy. Um, so you know, we know calories, we know food has calories, and that food then gives us energy, um, which is how we metabolize it. Um, so we metabolize uh foods in different ways. Um, you know, so often we blame metabolism. Um, how often do you hear people say, Well, I have a slow metabolism? Or what if somebody's really skinny? They go, Wow, it must be nice to have that fast metabolism. Um, but the real issue isn't metabolism, it's more of our habits and lifestyle. So for all the years we blame our metabolism as we get older, as we hit 40. Well, I can't lose it like I did when I was 30. Well, when I hit 50, I can't lose it like I did when I was 40. And then we hit 60 and 70 and goes, it's just gone, it's just gone to crap. But the good news is that our metabolism is trainable. And so we're going to talk about some reasons why, some myth about our metabolism and some real truth. So tonight's discussion will either give you hope or give you the sense of, well, crap. That means it's my fault. Well, poop. Because a lot of times we say we talk about all the time, what's it come down to? The three-letter word. You. You, it comes down to you. So unfortunately, it is gonna come down to a lot of you. So we're gonna break some of those myths that you'll be like, well, darn. So the first one we're talking about is a slow metabolism is just genetics. What if you know we like to say, well, my mom is big, my daddy's big, my grandpa's big, my great-grandpa's big. We just have our big family. Well, or or better yet, it's we're a big bone family. That's always that's always a good one. We're big boned or small bone people. That's just the way we are. My mom always told me, you know, we're from like a German descent. We're just big people. Well, okay, mom. But unfortunately, it's not really true. Yes, size-wise, you can be bigger, but it's still not gonna, you still have control over your metabolism. So, yes, genetics plays a role in it, it really does. But lifestyle influences 80 to 90 percent of our metabolism function. So you only get to blame 10% on genetics, which is not much. That means you get to be responsible for 80 to 90 percent of your metabolism. So, some of those things that that are part of your metabolism metabolism function is our muscle mass, it is our sleep and stress, it is our eating patterns, it is our movement. Do you have control over your muscle mass? Yes. Do you have control over your sleep and stress? Yes. Do you have control over your eating patterns? Yes. Do you have control over your movement? Yes. So that would mean do you have a lot of control over your metabolic functions? Yes. So we're not so whatever metabolism you feel you have right now, the good news is that you can change it. So we're gonna talk about how you do that. Along with the myths and the truths, but we're gonna talk about how you can do that. Have you ever heard cutting calories will help boost your metabolism? Some people might say if I eat less, it's gonna make my metabolism faster. The truth is, as we've talked about numerous times on here, that too few calories actually slows down your metabolic rate. So, why does it slow it down? Because our body is super efficient. So if you're giving it too few calories, it goes, I'm going to survive as long as I can. So it slows down, it doesn't get rid of it as much. So that's why when we go, well, you know, I'm not losing weight and I'm on a 500-calorie diet. Why is that? Because we're taking in too few calories. So our body's in preservation mode. I'm not letting it go. I'm keeping as long as I can because you're trying to kill me, you're trying to starve me, or we're about to die. So I'm gonna hang on to it. So it it holds, it holds on to your fat and it burns fewer calories. So cutting calories actually is more detrimental to our metabolism than it actually helps. So when I say if somebody says they're on you know a 1200 calorie diet and they're not losing weight, um, and I say add more calories, they freak out. Um, because why would I add more calories if I'm trying to lose weight? It's because you're finding a balance. Um you're trying to find a balance of um just the right amount that your body says, You're not trying to kill me, so I'm gonna let go of some of this stuff. Um, so here's a good one. Um, we see this a lot. Uh, cardio is the best way to speed up your metabolism. How many of you at one time, um maybe you're a cardio queen, uh, maybe you know some cardio queens um that uh especially in the gym um at Synergy, I see so many people walk by because you know, all the cardio equipment's at the back wall, so they have to walk by all the weight equipment to get to the treadmill. Um, and then they would spend a long time on the treadmill. Um there's this there's this one lady that comes in and she just uses the gym. Um, she really doesn't come to classes, and um, she's a little younger, and she walks for a long time on the treadmill. And you know, she doesn't ask for my advice, so I don't give it. Um, but I really want to save her a lot of time and say you could you could do something different in 20 minutes on the treadmill and get way more bang for your buck than the hour and 20 minutes you just spent on there. Um, because it really does make a difference. Um, so cardio isn't the best way to what's the best way to speed up your metabolism? Cardio or strength training?
SPEAKER_01:Strength training.
SPEAKER_00:Why strength training?
SPEAKER_01:Builds muscle, muscles burn more fat and for longer.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. So when we build more muscle, we burn more calories at three to five percent, uh, three to five, three to five more times more calories with fat with muscle than we do fat. So that's why weight doesn't matter. You know, how much we weigh doesn't matter because what really matters is our body fat percentage. Um, where are we at um with body fat percentage? Um, and and that really does make a difference um on you know how many calories are we burning. Because if you have if you have a lower body fat, then you have more muscle mass, so you're gonna burn more calories. And what does that do to your metabolism? Okay, yeah, it speeds it up. So somebody somebody at 140 calor of 140 calories, 140 pounds with a low body fat percentage is gonna be burn way more calories at rest than somebody that's 140 pounds and has a higher body fat content, body fat percentage. So that's why weight doesn't really matter. So somebody, you know, might take in 2,500 calories and you go, holy cow, that's a lot. But their body's burning it. Um, they might be 40 and being able to take in 2,000 to 2,500 calories because their body's burning it um at a uh faster rate than somebody with a hot and higher body fat. Um, so we think of muscle as our uh metabolic engine. So the higher more muscle mass we have, the more calories at rest we burn, um, which is what we want. So why is it then the myth? Let me find it here. Uh the the the myth that as we age, our metabolism slows down. Is that true?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think it I thought it was.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:What it is true because we slow down as we age.
SPEAKER_00:Bingo. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Our metabolism, as we get older, that's what people think. Um, and it does. I mean, they're not wrong, um, but again, it slows down because you slowed down. Um, and you know, we have um 20 some um energetics that uh majority are 16 over, um that are doing weight training, that are coming in doing circuit a couple times a week. That is so extremely important. We live in a town of 5,000 people. I wouldn't say there's just a real big number out there in our community that are doing weight training that are 16 over. Because why would I do that? I don't want to get bulky muscles, and we've talked about that. Are you gonna get bulky muscles by lifting weights?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, it depends on how you live.
SPEAKER_00:It well, it even well, most women aren't gonna get bulky unless they're taking something extra, um, that may be not legal, um, because it just don't quite have that. Um that's true, Renee. Not bulky. Now, defined and a little more muscle mass is one thing, but bulky and look like a man, not gonna really happen.
SPEAKER_01:Not broad shouldered and walking through like right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you're not.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I agree.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, you are gonna have some definition. You are gonna have definition, you can look firm, have that muscle mass, have that very toned muscular shape, but it's not gonna look like a guy. But yes, lifting important, lifting heavy is important because as we get older, we lose that muscle mass because we stopped doing those things. And and and think about when you're I mean, you probably know plenty of people that are your same age, and are they lifting weights on a regular basis that aren't that aren't coming here? Yeah, probably not. And so so are the chances that when they turn 60, all of a sudden they they find the love of weight training? Probably not. Um, unless a friend says, hey, come with me, um, and and does that for numerous reasons. One, I don't know what to do, I'm too nervous, um, all those things. Um I'm too old. Yes, too late now. Um, I think I've told you about Sally that used to come to um Synergy. She was 83, 84 at the time, um, and she'd been lifting, working out for 45, 40 years, 40, almost 45 years. And she didn't start until she was 40. Um, and so the thing is it's never too late, but um, it makes a huge difference. I mean, you she got around better than than some of us do. Um, she was doing pull-ups, assisted pull-ups. I mean, she was just um, and the thing was she'd come in, hit the treadmill for do a mile and a half, and then she spent twice that amount of time on weights um doing things. And again, keeping the metabolism moving, keeping it up and not bringing it down. So the only reason it slows with age, yes, we lose muscle mass starting in our 30s. So, yes, it does slow down because we slow down. And it's so hard to explain that to people and get them to believe that I'm just getting old. Well, you can't move and you can't do those things because you're slowing down, you're stopping, and you're not doing those things.
SPEAKER_01:I think a lot of it is just that's what they want to do, you know. Because I'm getting older now, I can slow down. It's kind of like, oh, I'm pregnant now. I can eat whatever I want. But in the long run, you pay for that.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. It and I don't know, you know, when you when you speak of a pregnancy, I I don't know how there's been I've trained several pregnant women, and all of them had told have told me, and I've I've trained them all until birth, until you know, within weeks of having birth. Money was supposed to come train with me that day, and she said, I'm not feeling good, and she her water actually broke at home. So I'm so glad she didn't come because that'd have been awful. But they all said that it's made such a difference in giving birth and after and recovery and all of that. Now, do we have to make some adjustments during pregnancy? Yeah, there's some things we can't do. There's some core exercise we can't do, certain things we have to be careful of. But it it makes a world of difference. And so many times we use those things. I'm pregnant, I don't need to do that. I'm getting old, I'm gonna slow down. I can start taking it easy. You know, you go from working and then all of a sudden you retire and go, I'm gonna just take it a little easy. But then that's when we start to get into habits and get into some problems. Another one is we've talked about this one about eating late-night snacks. It the myth is it'll mess up your metabolism. No. Typically, again, eating at night, and when we eat late at night, we're not eating the good choices. We're eating the not so good force because we want something quick, we want something salty, we want something sugary, and we want some bluebell. But I'm not calling you out or anything, Melissa.
SPEAKER_01:I was like, oh my gosh, I one day I tell you I eat blue butt bell. And I'm like, here we go. We're fixing here about my bluebell. Yeah. Ask him if he eats any little bantinis this week.
SPEAKER_00:Now be quiet about that.
SPEAKER_01:Uh well, you're calling out Melissa.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's true.
SPEAKER_01:I have uh what are what are they called?
SPEAKER_00:Well bantinis. Well, Kim's making little bantinis for the wedding, and so she's had a bunch that she really had to practice on. So if she's practicing, I have to practice the eating part.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, we're the taste test.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we can't serve them to guests, and they go, This is awful. So, I mean right.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that wouldn't be a foo bah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, she she has a cake reputation to to to uphold, and I want to make sure it's to the highest standard. So I mean, you know, you know, baseball has a what is it?
SPEAKER_01:You're just helping. You're just trying to help.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, baseball has a cleanup batter, right? Like he like he he wins the game. I'm like the cleanup eater, you know. Um I I'll make sure everything goes all right.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm the taste testing like the auto new bluebell. So I can't buy there and and where is it made at? Brenham.
SPEAKER_00:Brenham. Yep, they just haven't hired you down there in Brenham to keep taste testing. You just you mean you never know.
SPEAKER_01:That'll do my brain job.
SPEAKER_00:Wouldn't that be great? So it's a late nights like you know, we have a buntini or we have some ice cream. Those aren't the best choices, but they're good and they happen. I'm not knocking them. But typically, that's what we think of when we think of late night snacking. It's not the carrot stick, it's not the celery, it's not, you know, it's not that kind of stuff that that's getting us in trouble. It's the not so good choices. Then another myth is we hear some of these foods are magic, boost metab, they boost our metabolism. They're just magical and they boost it. There's no single food that is gonna boost our metabolism. It's just not gonna happen. It doesn't matter if it's a pill. How many times how many times have you seen a bill pill that says it'll increase your metabolism?
SPEAKER_01:Lots of caffeine.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, there's things that are gonna speed things up, but I mean, because what does caffeine do? What does it give you more of?
SPEAKER_01:Energy energy energy.
SPEAKER_00:And what do you do with more energy?
SPEAKER_01:Well, these people sit on their butts and gripe.
SPEAKER_00:Or you might do more and go, well, that's a magic metabolic enhancer. No, you just got up and moved more. Goofball. So, I mean, so you know, the our lifestyle hacks that we stack up are way better. It's our daily movement. So when we talk about protein, why do we want to take protein? Why is it what is it?
SPEAKER_01:Helps build muscle.
SPEAKER_00:Helps, yes. And also, it helps us as we build muscle, it helps us to sustain that muscle. Because a lot of times, what else happens when we get older? What do we stop eating? We we stop eating less or more less of. What do we protein? Yeah. Oh, so wait a minute. We're eating less protein, we're being less active, we're losing muscle mass. I wonder why our metabolism is slowing way down. All those things are controllable. We control all of those. So it's really important that we continue to take in protein. Now, actually, we're talking about building muscle and muscle mass and things like that. It gets a little bit more complicated with carbs and protein and all that. But our our protein is really important because we don't want to lose muscle mass. We want to at least sustain what we get. So you might say, what is the perfect amount of protein? And this isn't just singling out protein, it's saying that carbs are just as important, but protein, you know, anywhere from half a gram to 0.75 grams per pound of body weight. So that may be if you're trying to lose weight, then that is your goal weight. Whatever weight you're trying to get to, it would be those amounts times, so 0.5 grams per pound of goal body weight. If you're if you're happy with your current body weight, then you do it times your current body weight. And that'll give you. So if you're 140 pounds, you're looking at 70 grams of protein. It's real simple. I mean, and that can be, I mean, that's not always easy, especially if you're not used to eating protein or meat or something like that. You know, you can supplement with a shake, but I would try to get, as we've talked about before, as much from Whole Foods as possible. And we talked a little bit about thin people have fast metabolisms. They they don't really, you know, really at rest, a bigger person is gonna burn more calories. Why? Because it takes more for their body to to keep everything going. So we call that a resting metabolic rate. So a resting metabolic rate is if you were to lay on the couch all day long and do nothing, how many calories would you burn in a day? And you are gonna burn calories. There's tests that you can do and all that. You know, you can do little calculators and they're gonna give you a rust rough estimate. But I'm gonna throw a bunch of numbers out, and it'll be real confusing, but it'll kind of show the importance of how we take in food. So if your rest of metabolic rate is 1,200 calories, so if you sat on the couch and did nothing today for 24 hours, you'd burn 1,200 calories. And most of us aren't gonna do that. So we're gonna be active, we're gonna work out, we're gonna do all that. Let's say we burn another 1,200 to 1,500 calories just through our activity. On top of that, 1200 calories. So now we're at about 2,700 calories, 25 to 27. And we decide to take in 500 calories today. Can you see then where the problem is? We're burning all these calories and we're not feeding our body. So it says you're starving me to death, so I'm not doing anything. So that's how we try to find the balance of the calories we take in. And so we can speed up our metabolism by strength training, limiting our cardio, or as you notice with our cardio, we don't do all long, slow, steady state runs. We mix it up. 20 minutes is one of the best ways to maintain muscle mass, burn calories, get that uh benefit from the short-term cardiovascular exercise, and still maintain muscle mass. Our goal is to tone to make you cardiovascularly fit. And some of you will probably notice when you do 5Ks, 10Ks. And you might just be trained on the treadmill most of the week. You might go do a long run on the weekend, and you notice that you have the energy and you go, well, how is that possible after only doing 20 minutes three or four times a week? It's because of the way we're doing it, it makes a difference that you can go out and do a longer, slower, steady state run. So, again, that's a way that we can increase metabolism because we're building muscle when we work out. We're not burning all that muscle when we do, we're not doing hours and hours of cardio. So we're maintaining that. We're increasing our protein. And so you see all these little things. Who's responsible for your strength training? You. You not me, you. Who's responsible for the the you know when you come to cardio?
unknown:S.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. You who's responsible for the amount of protein you take in? Yeah. Uh so all these things you have control over increase in your metabolic rate, your metabolism. So we can't use that reasoning anymore now that you know, because sometimes we can because we don't know what we don't know. But now once you know these things, then you realize, oh, darn it, I'm in control of that. So when somebody tells you they have a really snow metabolism, I can guarantee you that they're not strength training, they're doing long, steady state cardio, and they're not taking enough protein. And and you and they'll go, well, it's just age. But it's those three things that have a big impact on it. So some of the boosters are we just get in the metabolism or the uh protein, and we lift, we stay active throughout the day. We prior to prioritize our sleep, we manage our stress, and we've talked about fueling when we eat, timing that out throughout the day. All those habits that we talk about over and over and over again are all part of what goes into our metabolism. And really, besides healthy huddle, we don't ever talk about all that stuff in the gym. And we don't really ever talk about restricting calories. We don't talk about that. We don't talk about going on crash diets. All these things are really how do we manage your lifestyle so these things don't happen as you get older. They just are part of your lifestyle. Any any uh questions, thoughts, or comments about metabolism in general?
SPEAKER_01:I have a question that might not be quite about metabolism, but I guess it kind of fits in. So I have a scale, and it does your like muscle mass, body fat percentage, and everything. How accurate do you think? Is there a like a better way to do your body fat percentage?
SPEAKER_00:So it it's it's a scale that is a bioimpedance, so you just step on it, correct?
SPEAKER_01:Correct, it's a Garmin scale, basically.
SPEAKER_00:So so those typically have a three to five percent error rate. It's about as close as you're gonna get to doing to having a good estimate. It's good as long as you keep doing it on the same scale. What's better is because you so on that type of scale, you have two points of contact, you have both your feet. So is what it does is run low-level electric current through your body for up one side and out through the other foot. Um basically is what you're doing. So if you ever have a pacemaker, nobody that does, they can't do it because it's gonna mess up the pacemaker. So if you have one with a four points of contact, in other words, you have two feet. Some of them have a handle that you can hold up. They're gonna be a little more accurate only because you have four points of contact. Ultimate or your nutrition.
SPEAKER_01:Mine has got two silver things on each side, like one up around the toe and one down by the heel. Is that four contacts, or are those just two?
SPEAKER_00:That's just two because you're still going up and coming out. So if you can get more points of contact on your body, you're gonna have a little more accurate thing. I mean, in-body scan, I know Complete Nutrition, Wichita Falls, does it. I mean, I think they do it for free at Complete Nutrition, but it's an in-body scan, and it's gonna be one of the most accurate things you can do as an in-body scan. I mean, and basically you're doing the same thing, only it's a$7,000 machine versus your$100 scale. So that's really the only difference. But those scales.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I don't want to technically know my body's fat percentage, really honestly, but so so the long the short answer is you have a three to five percent error rate.
SPEAKER_00:So long as you're consistent on that same one, you'll be fine. It'll give you a general idea. Yeah, yeah, perfect. Yeah, good question. Any anybody else have a question or or comment or thought? All right, so so the challenge is to be mindful of the protein you're taking in when you're lifting. Think about if I go a little heavier, I can help my metabolism. And and we and we keep moving, um, is the most important thing. So um, if you have any questions or thoughts or anything else, just let me know. And thank you to V to you for joining us on Healthy Huddle. Hope you joined uh joining in our virtual call. Look forward to seeing you right here next time on Healthy Huddle.