Many people wait all day to eat, only to cram most of their calories into the evening. But this pattern can negatively affect your metabolism. Think of your metabolism like a fire: to get it burning strong, you need to fuel it early — ideally within the first two hours of waking up. If you skip this, the fire doesn’t catch; it just smoulders weakly.
Eating something high in sugar first thing is like throwing paper on the fire: it burns up quickly, leaving you craving more fuel without any real substance. Instead, you want the right mix — the trifecta of fat, fibre, and protein — to act like kindling and solid logs, keeping your fire burning steadily for hours.
If you don’t feed the fire enough, it clings desperately to whatever it has — much like how starving populations sometimes show bloated bellies despite severe malnutrition. Eating too little or only low-quality foods keeps your fire sluggish, slowing your metabolism as your body braces for famine.
Then there’s low-quality, non-nutrient-dense food. The body doesn’t know what to do with it, so it stores it — in the form of fat and water – which contributes to inflammation (edema)
But when you fuel the fire properly — with the right amount of nutrient-dense food to match your activity level, and at timed intervals throughout the day — you keep the fire burning strong. This approach supports lean muscle growth and allows fat and excess water (inflammation) to be released.
Overfeeding, however, smothers the fire with excess, causing the body to store energy as fat instead of burning it.
There are even certain foods that help your fire burn hotter — this is called the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). TEF is the energy your body uses to digest, absorb, and process the food you eat. Protein has a much higher TEF compared to carbs or fats, meaning your body burns more calories simply by digesting protein.
As you start moving more and cleaning up your diet, it’s important not to judge your progress solely by the number on the scale. As mentioned last week, the scale can fluctuate for many reasons that have nothing to do with fat gain: hydration changes, hormonal shifts (especially under calorie restriction), water retention in muscles after workouts, salty or carb-heavy meals, and even the stress of long-term dieting (which can spike cortisol and cause water retention). None of these fluctuations mean you’ve gained fat — often, it’s just water weight.
Bottom line:
When it comes to weight loss, eating less isn’t always the answer.
It comes down to matching your intake to your activity, prioritizing protein, and fuelling your body at consistent intervals throughout the day to keep your fire burning strong.
This is the last week to join in on our Summer Shape-Up Challenge (no scale involved) and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out!
Mikkie Nettles-Pollon, Certified Personal Trainer/Holistic & Sports Nutritionist
Not sure where to begin, contact me at info@deemhealth.ca
250-541 -0411.
www.deamhealth.ca
DEEM Health on Facebook/Instagram
