#35: Your Metabolism Isn’t Broken: The 3 Things That Actually Improve It

Metabolism is often blamed for weight gain, fatigue, and difficulty losing weight, but most conversations about metabolic health oversimplify what metabolism actually is and how it changes. Your metabolism reflects how your body uses and manages energy over time and constantly adapts to your sleep, stress, nutrition, movement, hormonal shifts, and lifestyle demands.

In this episode of The Vitality Formula, physician Dr. Marie Livesey breaks down the three major levers that have the biggest influence on metabolic health: muscle and movement, blood sugar regulation, and stress and recovery. You will learn why muscle matters far beyond aesthetics, how blood sugar stability influences energy and cravings, and why chronic stress quietly affects metabolism more than many people realize.

Dr. Livesey also unpacks some of the biggest myths around “fixing” metabolism, including why extreme dieting, overexercising, underfueling, and chasing quick fixes often backfire. Most importantly, she explains how to start supporting your metabolism in a way that actually works with your real life.

If you’ve ever wondered why what used to work no longer works, or feel frustrated trying to “boost” a metabolism you’ve been told is broken, this episode will help you think about your body differently.

What You’ll Learn:

• What metabolism actually is and how it works
• Why metabolism is not simply “fast” or “slow”
• The role muscle plays in metabolic health and blood sugar regulation
• Signs your blood sugar may not be as stable as you think
• Why stress and recovery affect metabolism more than most people realize
• The biggest mistakes people make when trying to “fix” metabolism

This episode is for you if:

• You feel like your metabolism has slowed down
• You are struggling with fatigue, cravings, weight changes, or low energy
• You feel frustrated that what used to work to lose weight no longer works
• You want a physician-led explanation of metabolism without hype or quick fixes
• You are looking for sustainable strategies that fit a busy life

If you want a physician-led framework to help you think clearly about weight loss, hormone care, and modern health advice, you can download The Metabolic Clarity Guide .

Connect with Dr. Marie today!
Instagram: @dr.mlivesey
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/drmlivesey
Website: https://www.livelyholistichealth.com

This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice or establish a provider–patient relationship.

Transcript

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Most people talk about metabolism like it's either fast or slow, but our metabolism is so much more dynamic than that. And understanding its intricacies and what actually influences the metabolism can completely change how you approach your health. Hello and welcome back to the Vitality Formula. I'm your host, Dr. Marie Lipsey, physician, metabolism, and hormone health expert, and I help busy professionals take back control of their health in ways that actually fit real life. And today we're talking about metabolism. More specifically, three main levers that you can use to actually improve it. But before we dive in, I want to thank you for being here and for being so understanding for the break I took in May to reset myself. I had to get my energy right and do a little bit of healing. How can I expect y'all to take care of yourselves if I don't do it for myself as well? So thank you for being here. Thank you for understanding and for being amazing supporters. And anyway, let's dive into today's conversation a little bit more. If you spend enough time in a conversation with people at a social event or more than 30 seconds online, you'll probably hear people blaming everything on the broken metabolism, which I hate by the way, because we have so much outside noise already telling us we're not good enough or trying to frame our bodies like they're broken. So when you hear your metabolism is just effed, it's just another wall that you hit something else that you come up against, and just another way that you're being trained to I don't know, not trust and not like your body. And I don't like that. Obviously, our metabolism matters and can be negatively impacted by so many things, but a lot of conversations are oversimplified or disconnected from how our bodies actually work. Your metabolism is not a switch that can be just turned on and off, and it is not impacted by just one or two hormones. It's complex. It involves about eight hormones that are the key players and then many others. And your metabolism can't be broken. Because if your metabolism was broken, that would mean you are not alive. And well, you're listening to this, so you're alive. Your metabolism reflects how your body uses and manages energy over time and can adapt to situations where less energy is required. The puppers have some zoomies and itchy paws. Before we talk about improving metabolism, we need to define metabolism. When most people say metabolism, what they usually mean is how easily can I lose or gain weight, how many calories am I burning? And that's just part of it. Your metabolism includes how your body uses energy, how it regulates blood sugar, responds to food, adapts to stress, and how efficiently it supports basic functions in your body. Your metabolism is active all the time, not just when you exercise, and more importantly, it adapts, which means your body responds to everything, literally everything that it encounters: sleep, stress, nutrition, movement, hormonal changes, your energy intake over time. And that's why extreme approaches to try and improve your metabolism often backfire because your body adapts to those extremes to survive. So, what can we do to actually have an impact, a positive impact on our metabolism? We'll go through these three levers, as we're going to call them today. Lever number one is muscle mass and movement. If I had to pick one of the most important long-term metabolic investments you can make, it would be preserving and building muscle. The best time to start strength training and building muscle for your body was 10 years ago. And the second best time is today. Skeletal muscle acts as a dynamic metabolic organ. Yes, I said organ. It is not just a tissue in our body. And it burns more calories at rest than fat, which you probably know. And it increases your metabolism. So the more muscle mass we have on our body, the better our metabolism is going to be. It also improves blood sugar balance, strength, and overall stability in our bodies. Even with all these benefits, many people approach weight loss in ways that act actively sacrifice muscle, including through calorie restriction, over-exercising without adequate recovery, underfueling, and rapid weight loss plans without enough protein or that weight training. This is why exercise matters beyond just burning calories. Regular exercise improves our insulin sensitivity by allowing our muscles to take up sugar in our bloodstream without having to release insulin. This can be done through weightlifting, walking, biking, running. You get the point. An improved insulin sensitivity means that your body needs to release less insulin to respond to the same glucose load. The benefits of an improved insulin sensitivity are twofold. Number one, your blood sugar will be lower on average. Lower blood sugar means less damage to your blood vessels over time and a lower risk of heart attack and stroke. And the second benefit is less insulin means less signals your body receives to store fat. So A, you're going to get some of rid of some of that fat on your body that you are trying to. And B, you are also going to get rid of the tissue on your body that burns less calories at rest. Now, this does not mean that you need a six-day-a week gym routine. If you have the time and no physical restrictions, great. Please go for it if your doctor says that it's good for you. But many people, particularly those working through their health journeys or just starting out, have super packed schedules and consistency matters so much more than intensity and frequency. Three strength sessions per week and walking daily is a great starting point. Those things are going to compound over time. Over six months, it is much better if you can consistently lift three days a week and get your steps in versus hitting the gym for an hour six days a week for about a month and then doing very little the following five months because you either lost motivation because you didn't see a results or you got injured. So lever number one is going to be building that muscle mass and moving your body. The second major lever is focusing on a stable blood sugar. Because when our blood sugar is constantly spiking and crashing, it affects our energy, hunger, cravings, fat storage, and insulin response over time to see that insulin creeping in again. And a lot of people think that blood sugar and insulin only matter if you have diabetes. But metabolic health exists on a spectrum. And many people are going to experience signs of poor blood sugar regulation long before a diagnosis of diabetes or even prediabetes ever appears. Things like energy crashes, intense cravings, feeling shaky or irritable when hungry, Murphy, constant snacking, and brain fog after meals are all clues that you don't have the best blood sugar regulation. Now, this doesn't mean you need to obsess over every glucose fluctuation, that you need to get a continuous glucose monitor, though they are pretty cool and can provide you with a lot of information. But it does mean that supporting your blood sugar matters. And probably you, and you probably know this ad nauseum, but for those who don't, things like protein intake, fiber, movement after meals, a 30-minute walk will do wonders. Stress management, sleep, they all play a role in our blood sugar regulation. I want you to notice how few to none of these things are probably surprising for you. They're foundational, but foundations are often less exciting than hacks and they work. Lever number three, your stress and recovery. This is the piece that my high-performing peeps often underestimate. You cannot separate your metabolism from stress physiology because when your body perceives chronic stress, it is going to impact our hormones with many downstream effects. Sleep gets disrupted, recovery decreases, ravings often increase, blood sugar increases independent of what you're feeding it. And over time, the body becomes less resilient. Now, I want to be careful here because I think stress conversations online basically diagnose everybody with adrenal fatigue. And as a doctor, I can tell you that it's not an actual diagnosis, but chronic stress absolutely affects your body on a physiologic level, especially when paired with its friends, poor sleep, underfueling, constant stimulation, and a zero recovery. This is why rest, sleep, and recover matter metabolically, not because they're trendy wellness concepts, because we need to be these type B relaxed girlies, but because your physiology requires recovery to function at its best. One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to improve their metabolism through extremes, eating less and less, exercising harder and harder, relying on willpower without a system in place, adding more supplements, jumping on a GLP one without talking to a physician who has their full metabolic picture. Yes, I'm talking about your labs, and their capacity to pair it with lifestyle changes. What your body really needs to support it metabolically is eating enough protein and timing your meals so your blood sugar, followed by your energy levels, don't crash. Sleeping more consistently, an expert who understands your labs and life demands to guide you, lifting weights, building muscle, reducing unnecessary stress, and having a support system to stay consistent through life's demands. All of this is exactly what we do at Lively Holistic Health through our physician guided health strategy and telehealth offerings. Instead of asking, how do I boost my metabolism? A better question is what is my body adapting to right now? Because your metabolism is extremely adaptive. And once you understand that, your strategy can change to support it. And sustainable health is built through consistent support and changes over time. Your body is constantly responding to how you live, eat, move, and recover, as well as to expected hormonal changes that occur throughout life. And when you start working with your physiology, instead of fighting against it, things often begin to feel more manageable. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. That's it for today on the Vitality Formula. Until next time, take care of yourself. Remind yourself that your body is adapting and not broken. And as always, I'm cheering you on.