5 Habits That Slow Your Metabolism and Create Belly Fat

As registered dietitians and personal trainers for more than 15 years, we’ve seen the crucial role that metabolism plays in weight loss, belly fat, and overall health.  The first book we wrote was dedicated to metabolism and the various ways it can be sped up because we witnessed what the science showed: an efficient metabolism means a leaner, stronger, fitter, and better functioning body in every way–with less fat. However, we also noticed that there were also habits that slow metabolism, and create belly fat.

Increasing your metabolism means boosting energy and preventing weight gain that typically comes with age due to changes in lifestyle and hormonal changes, as well as the loss of lean muscle tissue that occurs naturally with age (if you don’t work to prevent it). However, although many of us believe we’re making the best choices for our optimal health, sometimes even seemingly harmless habits can slow down our metabolism while creating belly fat. We see this all the time with new clients that come to us struggling to get results.

From food and exercise choices to lifestyle patterns, you may be surprised to see that some of the things you may be doing may be negatively impacting your waistline.  

Here are 5 habits that slow your metabolism and create belly fat:

1. Going vegan.

While there are many benefits to eating a plant-based diet, if you simply try to avoid animal protein without carefully considering how you’ll consume adequate plant protein to replace it, it’s easy to miss out on metabolism-boosting protein and get most of your calories from pasta, cereals, and other grains. Research on energy expenditure consistently shows that if you make this mistake and eat a high-carb diet compared to a higher-protein, lower-carb diet, you’ll slow your metabolism.  No wonder some people gain weight when going vegan. 

About a year ago, we had a recent college graduate who came to see us after she had gained weight following a vegan diet. She complained that she had no muscle tone, even after working out consistently.  Although she was eating several nutrient-rich, wholesome foods, like steel-cut oats and berries at breakfast and a bowl of brown rice and veggie stir fry at lunch, she barely was getting any protein.

Skimping on protein can lead to bad habits that slow metabolism

Adequate protein would have helped her to feel satisfied, but instead, she was starving by the afternoon and would binge and eat a large bag of pretzels, and often still not feel satisfied at dinnertime and eat a large bowl of pasta. Sometimes, she’d finish the night with fruit and a pint of non-dairy vegan ice cream.  We helped her readjust her diet and get more protein; we had her add at least 20 grams of protein at each meal, which was what she needed for her body (and we had her try protein-packed snacks like edamame, which became her favorite).

This made an enormous difference; she wasn’t starving by mid-afternoon or dinner, and she was able to control the portions of food she ate. She also started seeing more muscle tone throughout her body, starting in her legs, which made her happy. She is finally seeing results from her exercise. Despite being vegan, She is still very diligent about getting adequate protein at each meal, and she admits that her weight loss and muscle tone are driving factors in her motivation. 

2. Prioritizing yoga and stretching. 

While these exercises are important for keeping muscles and joints youthful and limber, if you skimp on strength training, you’re missing a big piece of the metabolism/weight loss puzzle. Women lose up to 8% of lean muscle tissue per decade after age 30 (and typically replace it with fat!) if they don’t strength train. It’s lean muscle mass that burns more calories than fat, even when we sleep, and day after day, this can make a difference. 

If you’re afraid of getting bulky, keep in mind that women don’t put on a lot of mass since they don’t have the same muscle-building hormone levels that men do. Our female clients typically rave about us and love the way their bodies look after they start strength training—they’re leaner, firmer, and more toned! And we know personally, it makes an enormous difference for us too.

3. Eating salads for main meals.

While eating leafy green veggies is one of the best things you can do for your health, if you’re making a salad with a sprinkle of protein like a spoonful of beans, cheese, or an egg, you’ll be skimping on the protein you need to support your lean muscle tissue, so you likely could lose metabolism-revving lean muscle tissue. In our experience, most women benefit from about 20 grams of protein per meal. And a good deal of our female clients need a good deal more than this.

Make a point to add a protein source to your salad to avoid creating belly fat. If you’re out at a salad bar, be mindful and add in a protein source, like grilled chicken breast or turkey breast, tofu, shrimp, or adequate seeds and beans. A spoonful of beans that they give you at most salad bars won’t cut it—you’ll get closer to 8–10 grams of protein. Pay attention to how you eat your greens and salads! Replacing main meals with them is one of the habits that slow metabolism!

4. Going on a “detox” cleanse.

Now and again, this may be OK for some females, and it can be very beneficial for many men. But there is a delicate hormonal balance when it comes to women, and if you’re hoping to jumpstart weight loss by going on juice “detox,” you may want to think again and check with your functional practitioner or registered dietitian.

After a day or two, you may start to use your muscle tissue for fuel, and you may notice that you don’t feel so great. Your body will reduce the amount of calories it expends as a protective mechanism to prevent starvation, so your metabolism will start to take a hit.  This metabolic slowdown is very similar to what happens when you eat a diet that is below 1200 calories for a prolonged period of time. We see that our clients who have done this in the past require an even deeper metabolic repair and hormonal “reset” than others.

5. Spending too much time on social media before bed. 

Not only do you stay up later and cut into precious sleep time, but the blue light negatively impacts quality sleep by interfering with melatonin production and disrupting the circadian rhythm. One study showed that ongoing sleep restriction in combination with circadian rhythm disruption slowed the resting metabolic rate by 8%. 

This is something we see with our clients (and our family members!) all too frequently. A big one we see is waking up in the middle of the night and looking at your phone when you can’t sleep. This is disruptive when it comes to circadian rhythm since the blue light triggers the brain, and it makes it too hard to go back to sleep. Also, since blue light wakes you up and stimulates you, it triggers the production of the stress hormone cortisol (a.k.a. the belly fat hormone) and the release of ghrelin, the hunger hormone.

Get ready to replace these habits that slow metabolism and create belly fat for better choices. Keep on reading!

Karen’s Success Story

This was the situation with our client, Karen. She was 42 years old when she came to us. She was struggling to lose 15 pounds and said she was exhausted all of the time. Karen initially didn’t realize what was causing some of the weight to creep on and blamed her older age, but we quickly dove into some of her lifestyle habits and learned that she would sleep a couple of hours. Then her husband or her dog would wake her, and she was unable to fall back asleep, so she’d start scrolling through her phone, either internet shopping or scrolling through social media.

She’d finally put the phone down and fall back asleep for a couple of hours, but wake up completely exhausted, despite having been in bed for 9 hours. Also, she said she would crave sugar or caffeine all day long for a pick-me-up, and several times a day she was too tired to have the willpower to turn down cake, cookies, donuts, or anything else that she got a whim for. We immediately had Karen go to sleep with an eye cover and make a deal with herself not to look at her phone.

The Results

She admitted that the first three nights were a bit of a challenge, but after that, knowing that she couldn’t look at her phone, she fell back asleep much more quickly and woke up feeling significantly more rested. So much so that she no longer craved caffeine and sugar, and if she did, she was rested enough to be able to make a rational decision and choose a healthier option that fueled her weight loss.

Once she did this and a few other dietary tweaks that we made sure were easy changes for her lifestyle and that we helped her find, after 12 weeks, she lost 15 pounds! Once she achieved that goal, she realized she wanted to lose an additional 3 pounds. She kept up with the previous habits, and we helped her to make an additional few changes in her morning routine, and the three final pounds fell off—and have stayed off! Congratulations Karen! 

If you’d like personal attention and guidance like Karen did,  we’re here to help you; simply fill out the form here!