Metabolic and Mental Health

How to Boost Sluggish Metabolism with Three Solutions Like Edward

He shed 60 pounds in a year, making him healthier and happier.

Optimally Functioning Metabolism for Health

Our physical and mental health depend on well-functioning metabolism to survive and thrive. Metabolic health is tightly coupled with mental health.

Conversely, when our metabolism slows down enormously, we might face metabolic issues that adversely affect our health and life satisfaction.

Unfortunately, metabolic disorders affect millions of people. Common metabolic disorders include metabolic syndrome, type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, and some cancers.

The solution to optimally functioning metabolism requires addressing metabolic risks with healthy lifestyle changes.

Additionally, solving underlying conditions with the help and support of qualified healthcare professionals is essential.

Edward’s Metabolic Issues

As he got older, Edwards’s metabolism slowed down noticeably, causing him to gain substantial visceral fat. Besides, his waistline grew to indicate metabolic syndrome symptoms. As a result, he lost his energy and stamina to exercise.

His family doctor diagnosed Edward with obesity at the onset of type II diabetes. Due to chronic stress and inflammation, he also felt joint and muscle pain, usually in his upper and lower back, similar to Audrey.

While his waistline grew, his muscles shrank. Furthermore, his testosterone levels dropped. Thus, like Alberto, he lost intimacy with his partner. Consequently, day by day, his stress and anxiety increased.

Fortunately, by taking personal responsibility, Edward sought helped and obtained support from qualified healthcare professionals timely.

For example, experts in metabolic health, including an endocrinologist, a psychotherapist, a dietician, and community members in the gym, holistically helped him find sustainable solutions.

In this story, I summarize three steps Edward used systematically with help from others. These three solutions significantly reduced his chronic stress and inflammation, improving his hormonal balance.

After boosting his metabolism, Edward enhanced his happiness and life satisfaction by balancing his hormones and neurotransmitters.

Here are the three solutions under broad categories: sleep, nutrition, and movement, with takeaway points at the end of the story.

Solution 1 — Improved Sleep Reducing Chronic Stress

Sleep was the easiest and most effective way to improve Edward’s metabolism and mental health.

Edwards experienced sleep deprivation for many years. His insomnia, directly and indirectly, contributed to slowing down his metabolism.

When Edward couldn’t sleep enough, he had no energy to move his body for the next day. In addition, he felt hungrier and craved comfort food.

We know that sleep deprivation triggers the spikes of the cortisol hormone. If we have continuous cortisol spikes, the elevated levels signal the body to preserve energy during the day. Consequently, metabolism slows down.

Sleep deprivation is one of the major causes of cumulative stress, increasing inflammation in the body and disrupting homeostasis.

After fixing his sleep issues, Edward felt more energetic to move his body and consumed less food. His hormones are balanced. Reduced cortisol also contributed to insulin and leptin sensitivity putting him in a metabolically advantaged position.

I also documented the situation of another friend who suffered from sleep deprivation affecting his body in this story titled: Sleeping Better Enabled Frederick to Lose 44 Pounds.

Solution 2 — Re-Adjusted Macronutrients Improving the Density of Micronutrients

The second contributor to improving his metabolic rate was re-arranging his eating regimen. Edward did not pay much attention to his diet in the past. Unfortunately, he ate heaps of junk food with a hedonistic tendency.

As he craved comfort food due to cumulative stress, he used to get most of his calories from refined carbs. Sugar gave him quick energy, but his blood glucose increased, making his body insulin resistant.

Since sugar burned very quickly, he was topping up his energy need by consuming several cups of coffee daily. But unfortunately, coffee was one of the causes of his insomnia and sleep deprivation.

As mentioned in the previous section, the lack of adequate and restorative sleep elevated his cortisol and made his body more insulin resistant. So it was a catch 22-situation.

Edward found the solution when his family doctor referred him to a dietician who designed a personalized diet suiting his lifestyle and metabolic needs.

The critical adjustment to his diet was increasing bioavailable proteins and healthy fats. This simple adjustment made a considerable difference in improving his metabolism. Protein is a vital macronutrient to boost metabolism.

In terms of micronutrients, the dietician also introduced him to take supplements like chromium and green tea extract, which boosted his metabolism slightly.

His diet included foods from both animal and plant sources.

Solution 3 — Started Resistance Training

Fixing his sleep and diet increased Edward’s energy noticeably. As a result, he gained an appetite to exercise and wanted to move his body.

Timely, his partner gifted him a one-year gym membership as she wanted Edward to lose fat and gain muscles. Edward loved the idea. He met like-minded people in the gym.

Some experienced gym-goers helped him use resistance gym equipment. They helped him do proper deadlifts, squats, lunge walks, shoulder presses, triceps kickbacks, lateral raises, and bicep curls with dumbells.

In addition, he learned to do calisthenics using his body weight. He loved pull-ups in the gym and supplemented them with push-ups at home.

Later, he joined the 1,000 push-up-a-day challenge in the gym. It took him several months to adjust his body. Initially, ten-minute daily planks helped his body adjust to push-ups.

After a year, Edward’s metabolism greatly improved. His waistline shrank, and he lost 60 pounds in a year.

With this motivation in later years, he made his body fat adapted by switching from glucose to fat-burning metabolism.

Conclusions and Takeaways

Edward did not need any medication or surgery to get rid of his visceral fat. Instead, his solutions included only simple lifestyle changes.

Fixing sleep issues, adjusting his diet, and increasing resistance training made a noticeable metabolic shift in Edward’s body, improving his mental health.

Reducing elevated cortisol and making his body insulin-sensitive was the major contributor to boosting his metabolism and losing visceral fat.

In addition, Edward started drinking cold water between meals, especially half an hour before mealtime.

Later he tried cold exposure with daily cold showers. He also increased autophagy with regular sauna sessions. His brown fat increased, and his mitochondria got denser.

These new habits also increased his metabolism. Losing 60 pounds was a significant achievement for Edward. As he started feeling awesome, he continued his regimen, making them lifestyle habits.

These powerful habits kept him on track giving him a defined body, better mood, more energy, improved relationships, happiness, and life satisfaction.

Takeaways to Boost Metabolism

You might skip if some points are irrelevant to your situation.

1 — Solve sleep issues and diligently strive to have adequate and restorative sleep daily.

2 — Consider a personalized diet ensuring sufficient protein and healthy fats.

3 — Consider eating nutrient-dense foods, including essential amino acids, minerals, and vitamins.

4 — Move the body and incorporate resistance training using the body weight and tools.

5 — Reduce stress by taking regular breaks at work and having fun.

6 — Improve social connections to boost the mood.

7 — Finally, address underlying health issues timely by seeking support from qualified healthcare professionals and others.

In later years, Edward skipped a meal a day. Then, after seeing remarkable benefits, he decided to eat one meal a day like me.

Interestingly, Edward was one of those people who thought I was out of my mind when I started the one-meal-a-day plan. He understood the order behind my madness.

I don’t have to count calories anymore, as explained in the attached story.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

Besides aiming to increase the hormonal intelligence of my readers and writing about neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, and histamine, one of my goals as a writer is to raise awareness about the causes and risk factors of prevalent diseases that can lead to suffering and death for a large portion of the population.

I aim to educate, create awareness, and empower my readers to take control of their health and well-being.

To raise awareness about health issues, I have written several articles that present my holistic health findings from research, personal observations, and unique experiences. Below are links to these articles for easy access.

Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, and Major Diseases.

I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:

Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients to improve metabolism and mental health.

Disclaimer: Please note that my posts do not include professional or health advice. I document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives only to provide information and create awareness.

I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. My focus is on metabolic, cellular, mitochondrial, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.

If you enjoy writing and storytelling, you can join Medium, NewsBreak, and Vocal as a creator to find your voice, reach out to a broad audience, and monetize your content.

You may also check my blog posts about my articles and articles of other writers contributing to my publications on Medium. I share them on my website digitalmehmet.com. Here is my professional bio. You can contact me via weblink.

As a writer, blogger, content developer, and reader, you might join Medium, Vocal Media, NewsBreak, Medium Writing Superstars, Writing Paychecks, WordPress, and Thinkers360 with my referral links. This post includes affiliate links.

You might join my six publications on Medium as a writer by sending a request via this link. 22K+ writers contribute to my publications. You might find more information about my professional background.

You may join Medium with my referral link.