Most people who are obese or who are overweight, either blame their weight issues on their genetics, age, lifestyle, and/or slow metabolism.  We have no control over our genetics and aging is inevitable. However knowing and understanding your family’s health history can help you prepare and sometimes even prevent serious predisposed health issues from occurring. And even though aging may be inevitable, how well you age, is really up to you. When it comes to lifestyle, I believe that the choices we make with regards to the foods that we eat and the amount of physical activity that we exert, will have a significant impact on our overall health in the long run. And as for our metabolisms – well, some people are born with a fast metabolism while others are born with a slow metabolism. And you cannot change what you are born with. Or can you?

Bro Science That Works 

Despite not having any true scientific data to back my theory up, I believe that we can in fact change the speed of our metabolisms for the better and for the worse. I also believe that unless someone has an inactive thyroid or suffers from adrenal fatigue syndrome or is taking a particular medication that causes weight gain or weight loss, that we all have complete control over our own metabolisms. If you had asked me 10 years ago if I thought this was possible, I wouldn’t have hesitated one moment to say that it was not. However after designing hundreds of nutritional plans and training programs for clients as well as for myself over the years, I’ve seen it happen. People ARE changing their metabolisms.

Fit for Life or Fit for 5 Minutes?

When someone wants to lose body fat the first thing that he or she does is start to follow a calorie reduced diet. If this person is also self motivated, they will usually incorporate some cardiovascular activity such as running, biking or swimming in addition to their diet to help speed up the weight losing process. Usually, if this person is able to maintain their new found fitness lifestyle, they will begin to notice significant results with their physique within the first 3-5 weeks of training and dieting. Now, the majority of people won’t even make it this far. In fact, studies show, that most people will give up on a new diet/exercise routine within the first 2 weeks. But for the few of us that are willing to push past the initial transition phase and break bad habits while creating new good ones, the results can become dramatic. But are they maintainable for life?

Maintaining a Healthy Metabolism for Life

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – It’s easy to lose fat and it’s easy to gain muscle. How you maintain either long term on the other hand can become extremely difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing. Whenever a new client requests to work with me on their diet, the first thing I ask for, is a copy of their 3 Day Food Journal of what they are eating, how much they are eating, and what time of day they are eating at. If my client cannot provide me with this information then I simply cannot help my client. If someone is serious and in need of my assistance they will provide me with this information. Once I have this information I will have a better understanding of the individual with whom I am working with. I will also be able to construct and design an effective nutritional plan that we can implement into their lifestyle without having to make too many drastic changes all at once, while still achieving and maintaining new results each week.

How Do I Do It?

Without divulging into too many of my weight loss and/or muscle gaining secrets (after all people do pay me for this service), I can tell that there are numerous factors to consider when trying to improve and maintain a healthy metabolism for life. Factors such as age, gender and genetics do play a role, however only at the beginning phase of our initial plan. My client’s goal might be to lose 10lbs of fat and/or gain 10lbs of muscle, but my goal is to not only help them achieve this, but to also be able to maintain it. We cannot simply just reduce calories and increase cardio if the goal is to lose weight, nor can we just add in copious amounts of protein if the goal is to gain muscle Each step has to be methodically thought out ahead of time so that each pound of fat that is lost and each pound of muscle that is gained, is maintained for life, not just for the Summer Season or some local fitness competition.

The Final Product

When I first started working out with weights, I did so purely for aesthetic reasons. Almost two decades later and I find my goals geared more towards prolonging my life and improving upon my overall health and fitness levels. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to look good on the outside. But I also want to feel good on the inside. I want to be able to enjoy my food, and eat whatever I want (within reason), and not have to worry about adding on unflattering body fat that will not only look bad externally, but can do extensive damage internally. I want to continue to add on muscle while maintaining a lean and athletic looking physique. I want to be healthy and I want to look fit. And to do this, I need to train, retrain and maintain a healthy metabolism.

To retrain your metabolism you’re first going to need to retrain your mind. If you believe that you were born to be fat, then you will remain fat. If you believe that you were born to be weak then you will remain weak. And if you believe that you were born to be the best version of yourself that you can be, then that is what you will become.

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Peformance