The Truth About Metabolism Repair

00:00Trust me now and believe me later. Metabolism damage is real, but it's adaptation, not destruction. Your body just got efficient to survive what you were putting it through. And things that adapted can be readapted. So your body is adapted to where you're at right now, and it can be readapted to taking on more food, building muscle, and getting into the body composition you want to have. What's going on, you guys? Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of The WarriorBabe Show with your host, Nikkie Stott.

00:34And on these episodes, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. On today's episode, we're going to get into a topic that I get asked constantly. And this one, I feel like in the fitness space, on social media and marketing, all of the jazz, it has so much noise and confusion around it that today I just want to cut straight through all of that and give you a real, honest answer.

01:06So the question that I consistently get daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, is this like metabolism repair thing? And like, is it actually real? And if it is, how long does it actually take to repair a metabolism? Because I know a lot of you have been in a diet cycle for a really long time. You've restricted, you've eaten less, you've pushed through plateaus, you've done all the things.

01:37And at some point, something stopped working. And either your results slowed down or they stopped entirely, your energy tanked, your hunger felt unmanageable, and someone told you, hey, your metabolism is damaged, or your metabolism is broken, or your metabolism has stopped working. And maybe now you're here wondering, like, is that actually what happened? Is my metabolism broken? Is my metabolism damaged? Can it be fixed? And what does fixing it even look like?

02:08So today, I'm going to answer all of that. I'm going to get into it with you guys and just give you guys, hopefully, you know, just cut through all the noises in social media and marketing and just dive straight into the answers and that you walk away, hopefully, with some type of clarity leaving this episode. Okay, so let's get into it. So before we even talk about repairing something, we need to understand, like, what it actually is. Because let's talk about metabolism. Metabolism gets thrown around constantly in the space. And I think people have a pretty fuzzy idea of what it actually means.

02:42So your metabolism is essentially the sum total of all the chemical processes that your body does on a daily basis. Your body runs to keep you alive and to keep it functioning from breathing to circulating blood to regulating your body temperature to repairing your cells to producing hormones. All of the things. All of it requires energy. The rate at which that your body burns energy to do all of those things is what we call your metabolic rate. Okay? So these terms, I just want you to keep these in mind.

03:13So this, your metabolism requires energy to do it. And where that energy comes from is what we call your metabolic rate. When people talk about having like a fast or a slow metabolism, what they're actually talking about is their TDEE, their total daily energy expenditure, which is the total number of calories that their body burns in a day across four different components. One being your basal metabolic rate, your BMR, which is the calories that you burn just existing, just keeping your organs running, your heart beating, your brain functioning, all the things.

03:54This accounts for roughly 60 to 70% of your total calorie burn on a daily basis and is largely driven by your body composition, specifically how much muscle mass you have. So me just saying this, your BMR, this is maybe anywhere from like 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day just to keep you alive, you guys. And that's what majority of you guys are eating on a daily basis. You're already burning. I just want to side note right here. You're already burning that many calories just to keep your body alive, 1,000 to 1,200 calories.

04:31So, and then most of you are just eating that much on top of that. So you're just, you're not eating it right there. You're not eating enough food. And I'm going to get to that in a second. Another way which your body makes up this TDE, your total daily energy expenditure, again, the number of calories your body burns on a daily basis, is from the thermic effect of food. The calories that you burn just digesting what you're eating. And protein has one of the highest thermic effects of food of any macronutrient, which is one of the many reasons why it's so important.

05:02So you burn calories through BMR. You burn through calories through your thermic effect of food. You burn calories through NEAT, which is a non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which is all of the movement that you do that isn't formal exercise, which is me here sitting here and finishing and moving my arms up and down and fingers out. You know, like if you talk with your hands, you're burning calories doing that. You burn calories by walking, by standing, by taking the stairs.

05:33This one is more variable than people realize and it plays a huge role in your total calorie burn. People don't realize that you just like I am burning calories by just doing this. I'm burning calories by just walking. I'm burning calories by going up and down the stairs. I'm burning calories by, you know, moving my legs over another one. It's small, but you're still doing something. And then the other one is the exercise activity.

06:06So BMR, thermic effect of food, your NEAT, your non-exercise activity thermogenesis, and your exercise activity, the calories that you burn during intentional training. Why does this matter? Because when we talk about metabolism being broken or being damaged or slowed down, we're talking about changes to one or more of these components. And you understanding which ones are affected is key to understanding what actually, what repair actually looks like, what to actually pay attention to.

06:43Okay. So just keep those in mind. Now, the big question, is this actually a real thing or is this just an excuse? Is metabolic damage real? And the honest answer is yes. Yes, it is real, but it's probably not what you think it is. And the term damaged or broken is doing a lot of misleading work in this space. Your metabolism hasn't broken. Your metabolism isn't broken.

07:14It hasn't stopped functioning. If it stopped functioning, you'd be dead. What has happened, what chronic dieting, especially under eating, chronic under eating actually does, is that your body has adapted to survive on less. And that adaptation looks like a lot, like it looks a lot like a damaged metabolism from the outside. But what's actually happening biologically is that when you eat in a significant calorie deficit for an extended period of time,

07:46your body perceives that as a threat. It doesn't know that you're trying to lose fat. It knows that energy is scarce. And so it does what it's been evolutionarily programmed to do, which it downregulates. So what I mean by that when I say it downregulates is it lowers your BMR. Your body becomes more efficient, burning fewer calories at rest.

08:18It reduces your non-exercise activity thermogenesis. You unconsciously move less. You fidget less. You take fewer steps. Oh, I'm going to park closer. Target because, you know, just your body is burning fewer calories. It takes, it's conserving energy in ways that you don't even notice it's doing. It reduces the thermic effect of food. So it increases hunger hormones to drive you towards eating more.

08:48And it preferably is going to burn muscle tissue because muscle tissue is metabolically expensive and your body is trying to cut costs. This is called metabolic adaptation. And it is very, very, very real. And this is what a lot of human beings experience. And it's very real. It's very measurable. And the reason why the same calorie intake that probably produced fat loss in one month produces nothing in month four.

09:24The key distinction that I want you to hear is that your metabolism hasn't been destroyed. It has adapted. That is why people that go in a calorie restriction, they lose weight. They'll see results in month one, but it'll stop by month four. Why? Because it's adapted. And things that adapt can be readapted. That's the entire premise of a metabolism repair. And it's why the process works. So before we talk about diving into how to fix it, I want to talk about what makes metabolic adaptation worse.

10:00Because a lot of women are unknowingly, a lot of women, a lot of men, a lot of people are unwilling, unknowingly doing these things and wondering why they feel so stuck. So one being a chronic, severe restriction. The deeper and the longer the deficit that somebody is in, the more, and let me not even just say deficit. It's the way that people eat on a regular basis. They don't eat enough food to obtain all of those ways that I already said the calorie burns energy, burns calories.

10:34Alone, your body is burning 1200 calories every single day to keep you alive. You're only eating that. What about all of the other ways that your body is burning calories that I just went through? People aren't eating enough to keep up with that. And it's not your fault. It's just what people think that they're in a deficit. I'm going to eat less because I'm going to lose fat. They don't realize all the other ways of which your body is already working. It is a machine. So people just eat less and less and less. And the longer that they do this, the more aggressively your body is going to adapt.

11:06So women who have been eating very low calories, think under 1200 calories, sometimes under 1000 calories for months or years, are dealing with a little level of adaptation that takes real time and real intention to reverse. The body has been in survival mode for so long that rebuilding it, it takes trust. And that trust for your body to trust you, rebuilding that trust, that is a process. Okay, so it's one way that you're wondering why you're feeling so stuck.

11:37This is the way that you're making that metabolic adaptation worse. Severe restriction. Then there's yo-yo dieting. There's repeated cycles of restriction followed by overeating followed by restriction again. That teaches your body to become increasingly efficient at storing fat and increasingly aggressive at defending against the deficit. So every cycle can deepen the adaptation. This is one of the reasons women who have been dieting for 20 years often find it significantly harder to lose fat than someone who's never dieted before in their life.

12:15Even at the same calorie intake. Because over time, if you've been dieting for 20 years, cycles of restriction, overeating, then restricting again, then overeating, then restricting again. Every cycle you do that deepens the body's metabolic adaptation to thinking that it needs to store and survive and then gain it all back when you've been in the restriction, right?

12:45That's why it's hard for people to lose the fat if they've been doing it for 20 years. Think about that unwiring that the body needs to go through. Again, to rebuild the trust. And to rebuild the trust is a process. That's why for some of you, and I'm going to talk about this in a minute, but for some of you, this is what we preach inside of Warrior Babe. This is why Warrior Babe has so many success stories because they go through a retraining phase for upwards. Some people are in it for three months. Some people are in it for nine months. Some people are in it for a year joining Warrior Babe.

13:18But I will tell you out of the gate, it's not sexy for someone to say that, oh yeah, it's probably going to take a year to see some type of results. But this is why. This is the deeper understanding of it. This is why it takes time. For those of you that want results in four weeks, those of you that want results in two weeks, for those of you that want results in three months, I'll tell you right now, it's probably not feasible because of the amount of damage that your body has gone through. Let me not say damage. The amount of metabolic adaptation your body has gone through.

13:50Other ways that your metabolic adaptation can be worse or get worsened is through chronic cardio without adequate fuel. Long periods of doing high cardio volume combined with not eating enough, being on a low calorie intake is one of the fastest ways to drive metabolic adaptation and muscle loss together simultaneously. You're burning a lot of calories doing the cardio, eating very little, and your body responds to becoming more efficient and eating its own muscle to meet energy demands.

14:27The result of that then, and this is why people are skinny fat, is a smaller body with a slower metabolism, which is the opposite of what most women are going for. That is why you will hear in Warrior Babe, me, if you've seen our ads, our marketing, this is why we don't want you doing tons and tons and tons and tons of cardio without eating enough food. Because it's just going to get you the opposite result of what you're going for. You're putting in all of this work.

14:57You think you're doing all of this work only to get to the end point of where you don't want to be with your body. Quick break. If you're finding this episode helpful so far, it would mean a lot if you could hit pause for just a second, leave a quick rating or a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from it. Your support helps more women discover these tools to build muscle, lose fat, and feel confident. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me. Another one is not eating enough protein.

15:28You guys have heard me say this over and over and over and over and over again. Protein is the macro most protective against muscle loss during a restrictive deficit. Women who restrict calories without prioritizing protein lose significantly more muscle than those who eat adequate protein and are in a deficit. They're doing it the right way. And since muscle is the primary driver of your BMR, losing it directly lowers your metabolic rate.

16:02So every pound of muscle that you lose in a poorly constructed diet is your metabolism getting a little slower. Just a little slower. It makes you think why aren't a lot of women walking around with muscle? Why aren't women walking around with tone? Why aren't more people looking like that? Because this is what majority of the world is doing. And then one more is ignoring your non-exercise activity thermogenesis. This one is subtle, but it's significant.

16:32As your body adapts to a deficit, it unconsciously reduces your non-exercise activity thermogenesis. You move less without realizing it. If you're also consciously avoiding movement outside of your structured workouts, you're compounding that adaptation. So the need can account for hundreds of calories of difference in daily expenditure between two people with the same workout routine.

17:03So just think about that. Like when you are significantly eating less, I mean, I remember the respect of my bodybuilding days. I got more, more, more tired at the end. I didn't want to have to go and do my cardio. I didn't want to have to go exercise. I didn't want to have to go, like I'll be parking closer and minimize my steps unconsciously. This is what it's doing when you're, when you're restricting your body and it's adapting to less and less intake. This is why people feel tired. This is why people have low energy.

17:33Okay. So let's define what we're actually talking about when we say a metabolism repair, because I think that's where that's, there's a version of this concept floating around the internet that sets up women for feeling really, really, really frustrated and having a very frustrated experience. Because people want results like yesterday. And they can't because their metabolism needs, needs this focus. So a metabolism repair, if it's done correctly, is the process of gradually increasing your calorie intake back towards your true maintenance level while minimizing gaining fat.

18:11While minimizing or focusing on you rebuilding muscle and allowing your metabolic rate to upregulate toward where it should be for your body and your body, your body size and your body composition. This is essentially what we do in the first, for at least 90% of our babes in the first nine month period. I mean, just do a rough, broad estimate. This is essentially what a reverse diet is.

18:41And the goal is to get you eating as much food as possible while maintaining your body composition. So that when you go back into a fat loss phase, you have a much higher calorie ceiling to work from. And you also have a way more responsive metabolism, you have better energy, a better hormone function, and significantly more room to create a deficit without bottoming out. That is why you see in our success stories on our website, how women have worked their way up to 2500 calories.

19:14And when they go into a deficit to lose the fat to show more of the tone, they're doing it the right way one in that when they're doing it that way. Now their metabolism has repaired, it's been it's responsive at this point. You may hear some women say that, oh, yeah, we tried to go into a cut, but my body just wasn't having it. That's a telltale sign that your body isn't ready to create a deficit yet. It hasn't healed. So going back to what I was just saying, when you do go from 2500 and you're doing it right, your metabolism is responding, your better energy, your better hormone function.

19:47And someone would get down to 1900 calories and they've lost all the weight, but they're eating 1900 calories still, not 1000, not 1200, not 1400, depending on your body size, right? Because they're doing it the right way, but they're still they're not bottoming out, they created a deficit, they create significantly more room to create the deficit without bottoming out, without being at 1500 or 1400 or 1300 calories and being fatigued and tired. So that's what a metabolism repair is when it's done correctly. And this could take months, you guys.

20:20So here's what a metabolism repair is not. It is not eating everything in sight and hoping that your metabolism magically resets. Uncontrolled eating after a period of restricting. Sometimes people call this me eating healthier, me intuitive eating, but really just re it's just reactive overeating. Typically, this is going to if you were just eating whatever, and you're not being you're not being conscious about having the right intake protein, fats and carbs. This is going to result in significant fat gain without that without the metabolic benefits of a structured reverse protocol.

20:57Because that calorie surplus is too large. And it's too fast for the body to use it in its work in the right way to use it efficiently to use it, how it's supposed to be used. If it's taking on too much, it's just the excess is going to get stored. It's not a quick fix. And the internet sells, what metabolism boosting. Oh, as is two week protocol boost your metabolism in two weeks.

21:29That is not how it works. That is not how it physically works or how it physiologically works. And it's not a guarantee that you'll return to exactly where you were before years of dieting. Metabolic adaptation can be largely reversed. Yes. But the degree of reverse depends on how long the adaptation has been in the first place. How severe was it your age or hormone health and how well you're actually able to execute the repair process.

22:00Because I'll tell you, you need to be consistent. And this is why a lot of people are where they are these days, you guys, like, this is why a lot of people are overweight. This is why a lot of people, I mean, understanding these things and executing on it are hard to do. But that's why you need to get a coach that's able to help you through it. So this is our bread and butter at Warrior Babe. This is why women are so successful. And I bet, how long does it actually take? Because I know that this is a question everyone wants an answer to.

22:34I mean, when Warrior Babes are three weeks into their, and it's just, I don't know, man. It's just the way that psychologically people have been ingrained to expect results when it comes to fat loss. Because people think it happens fast. And it's just how it's been for decades on decades. But, like, I'm going to give you the most honest answer that I can. Which means I'm going to, I'm going to be straight with you. It depends. But I'm also going to give you real ranges so you can actually have something useful to work with. For someone with mild metabolic adaptation, maybe you've been in a moderate deficit for, like, a few months.

23:11You haven't lost significant muscle. Your energy is somewhat suppressed, but it's not completely crashed. Repair can happen relatively quickly. We're talking maybe six to 12 weeks of a structured reverse diet before your metabolism is operating closer to its full capacity like it once was. For more in the middle, maybe you've been restricting for years. For a year or more, maybe you lost some muscle. Your energy and your hunger hormones are noticeably off. Right? This is, like, these two are a far and few between of the humans.

23:45People are more in the next category that I'm going to get into. You know, maybe you've, your energy, like, you've hit multiple plateaus. Like, so, if that's you and you've been just restricting for a couple, maybe a year or more, a realistic timeline is probably maybe closer to three months. Now, the ones that have been in it for a long time, that for severe long-term, chronic restriction for many years, significant muscle loss, severely suppressed appetite, followed by, you know, having just uncontrollable hunger and being hungry all the time. Hormones are off.

24:17Extremely low calorie intake that just become this normal thing. I just don't eat enough. I don't eat on a daily basis. This is a longer process. Guys, we're talking six months to a year. That's why I just rounded up to nine months earlier, depending on what phase you're in, depending where you're at. And that's why it's so individualized for each person going through this. So, for those of you that have been in it for, you know, that long and are more in this bracket, it takes that long to genuinely rebuild metabolic function. Not because it can't be done. It totally can be.

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25:22Imagine knowing exactly what your body needs to see real results and results that last. Look, don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. Yeah, and it can be reversed, but because the body needs time and consistency to reestablish that trust and to upregulate again gradually.

25:57You know, you don't just increase the calories when you're doing it the right way up to where you should be at maintenance. It takes time to gradually get up to that maintenance while in the interim your body is trusting you with this food. And it's, you know, healing internally. That's why I say take time. I'm going to get into some practical stuff that you guys can do. But each time you increase the calorie intake, it takes time for your body to adjust to that calorie intake safely without you gaining weight. So mainly with that timeline that I just said, the one thing I want you guys to really hear with that timeline, the women who try to rush the process almost always end up either gaining a ton of fat because they increase calories way too fast or way too aggressively, or they bail on the process before it's even complete because they're uncomfortable with eating more and not seeing the scale move.

26:49The scale going up or it's staying the same during reverse diet is not a failure. It is physics, you are eating more food, the food weighs something. You are also rebuilding glycogen stores, which hold on to water. What you are building underneath all of that is a body that will actually respond when you go into a deficit instead of a body that is adapted so hard that it has nowhere to go.

27:21So again, it's not sexy to say but slow, structured and consistent is the only way it works. Period. Okay, so some quick practical steps for you guys to implement it. And again, if you guys have implemented and tried this already on your own because I've talked about this in episodes before and you're not where you want to be yet, here now, listen to this episode again, or some type of this episode, get a coach. Check out Warrior Babe. Go to warriorbeap.com forward slash start and talk to the team and get in with a coach.

27:55I'm telling you, just think about the time that you will be able to save working with a professional to get this all figured out. So step one would be find your intake. Before you do anything, you need to know where you're actually at and where you're actually sitting at. So you have to track your food honestly for like one to two weeks without changing anything. Get a clear picture of what you're currently eating. That's your starting point. And then from there is where you're going to increase calories slowly. So the standard approach to reverse diet that I tell people like broadly speaking, depending on where you're at, is just increasing weekly by like 100 calories, maybe 150.

28:32And it sounds painfully slow, yes, but it's intentionally slow because gradual increases gives your body time to upregulate its metabolism at roughly the same pace the calories are coming in, which is going to minimize the fat gain in the process. Step three would be prioritizing your protein intake. I mean, protein targets don't go down during a reverse diet. Anything, they stay the same or they go up significantly. Protein is what's going to support your muscle during this phase.

29:04And building muscle is a single most powerful thing that you can do to raise your basal metabolic rate long term. So you're going to hit your protein daily, every day. I would figure out what your intake is from step one, how much protein are you actually getting? Try and get it. If some of you guys are under eating under 100, get it to 100. If you're over 100, get it to your body weight. If you're 250 pounds, just go for a goal body weight of 180. And eat that much protein in a day. And there's tons of episodes I've done on protein that sounds overwhelming or hard to do.

29:39It may sound hard and overwhelming to do, but truthfully, it's not that hard. Once you learn the strategy, and there's tons of episodes I have on protein. Step three would be lift, strength training. It's a non-negotiable during this metabolism repair. This is how you rebuild the muscle that you may have lost during being in a restriction. And the muscle is the primary driver of your BMR, as I just said. And then move. Move in general. That's going to help with your non-exercise activity thermogenesis.

30:12That increases your daily movement outside of formal workouts. That's one of the most effective ways to raise your total daily energy expenditure without adding more structured training. Walk more. Take the stairs. Stand more throughout your day. If you sit at a desk, get a walking treadmill underneath of your desk. And then step six, the last one I would say, when you know your goal is to get to your true maintenance calories. That's when you know that you've arrived. The amount that you can eat without gaining or losing weight. For most women, this is significantly higher than where they are at the beginning when they started.

30:46A woman eating 1,100 calories and maintaining her weight has a metabolic rate that reflects 1,000 calories of daily output. After of being going through a successful reverse, that same woman might be maintaining 1,800 to 200 calories. 2,000 calories. That is the repair working. And that is where you want to be when you, especially when you want to go into a fat loss phase. From there. Done right. Okay? So that's all the things that you need to know in metabolism repair.

31:19It is a real thing, yes. But like understanding the why behind it, I hope gives you guys more of an insight to take the actionable steps of eating more food. Strategically. It's not just go eat more food. But when done right, you could be working with a healed metabolism in anywhere from 3 to 9 to 12 months. And that's going to be so worth it for the results you want to see for the long term. Trust me. Trust me now and believe me later.

31:50Metabolism damage is real. Yeah. But it's adaptation, not destruction. And your body just got efficient to survive what you were putting it through. And things that adapted can be readapted. So your body is adapted to where you're at right now. And it can be readapted to taking on more food, building muscle, and getting you to the body composition that you want to have. Remember that it's structured. It's a gradual process of increasing your calories, building more muscle, giving your body time and consistency.

32:22It's not fast. It's not comfortable. But it is absolutely worth it. And if you guys want to be, maybe you don't have the means or the financial resources to work with a coach one-on-one. But if you want to work through this that I'm talking about, you can do it inside of our community. It's completely free. And we go live weekly. We're actually doing a series in May where we're going to do Macros Unlocked. A Macros Unlocked series.

32:53There's going to be four calls that build on. We go live every week. But these specific four ones are going to build on each other in the month of May. And you can be a part of a community of women that are asking the same. So you're going to learn Macros even more. You're going to learn about this that I just went through for free. Completely free. So that link is right beneath this in the description below. Go click it right after this and get yourself inside the community. Okay? I love you guys. I hope this helped. I hope it brought more light and shed more light on what metabolism repair actually means.

33:26And I hope that you guys, you know, don't just listen to me until you're blue in the air. Go do something about it. Okay? Love you guys. I'll see you in the next episode. Peace out. Hey, really quick. Before you go, I have one small favor to ask. If this episode brought you value or sparked something in you, take just a moment to hit that review button. Your rating and review make all of the difference, helping more women discover the tools they need to transform the fitness and their confidence. It takes less than a minute, but it can change the path of someone else's journey.

34:00Thank you so much for leaving that review. I appreciate you so much.

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