If You Think Your Metabolism is Broken, Read This

Welcome to The Insider: Three weekly emails — Mindset, Meals, Movement — all based on my real daily life staying lean, building muscle, and living healthy over 40.

Recently I met with two different friends (in real life) who wanted to get my advice on weight loss. Their complaints were similar to the ones I had for 30+ years. And it was,

I don’t understand why I can’t lose weight, because I hardly eat anything!
Maybe my metabolism is just broken! I only eat 1200 calories per day.
I exercise every day, but can’t lose weight.

But here’s the truth I had to tell myself:

I’m not aloud to say “I hardly eat anything”, if I wasn’t tracking accurately!

My metabolism wasn’t broken, my tracking accuracy was. And only faced with good, accurate data I can turn my drama into science instead!

Once I decided, no more drama! Just get pure data, my body became my own science experiment. And I found out, my metabolism wasn’t broken at all. It worked exactly how it was supposed to. When I ate more, I gained weight. When I was in a deficit, I lost weight.

I wasn’t lying to myself on purpose. I really thought I didn’t eat that much. But, we underestimate our eating in ways like:

A handful of something here and there
A bite while cooking
A few snacks between meals
Forgetting condiments
Eyeballing portions
Grazing all afternoon and calling it “lunch”

These tiny things add up fast. And the more often they happen, the easier it is to convince ourselves that we’re “barely eating” while the scale stays stuck. These ladies weren’t lying to me. They really believed they “barely ate anything!”

This week has been a great reminder for me. I’ve been trying to come back to clear, defined meals instead of grazing, and on those days, everything makes sense. My tracking is accurate, my meals feel intentional, and my body responds exactly the way I expect. So, two important truths emerged for me:

Grazing creates room for error.
Honest tracking creates accuracy.

And accurate tracking is the most empowering tool women over 40 have when we’re working toward fat loss, muscle gain, or body recomposition.

When you track every bite honestly, you finally get the information you need to see progress. And you realize:

Your metabolism isn’t broken
You’re not the exception
Weight loss is possible
Your body will respond when you give it good data

You must have good data to make good decisions about your meals & movement.

There is no way to know whether you need more food, less food, more protein, fewer snacks, bigger meals, or different macros unless you’re working with accurate information.

The more accurate your tracking is, the more empowered you become, because you finally have the data to answer questions like:

Am I actually in a deficit?
Am I eating enough protein?
Is grazing sabotaging my totals?
Do I need to adjust my meals or my snacks?

Without this information, every plan feels like guessing.
With it, everything becomes obvious.

And this is why I’ve learned to love tracking. Not as a diet tool, but as a self awareness tool. When you collect real data about your habits and patterns, you can finally build a plan that actually works for your life, not someone else’s.

If you’ve ever thought, “I barely eat anything but I still can’t lose weight,” try this: