Do You Have These 3 Big Symptoms of Metabolic Damage?

metabolism Sep 23, 2020

Today, we are going to do a little mini-metabolic assessment and help you see if you are indeed suffering from a damaged metabolism and if The Freese Method would ultimately fix your weight problem for good.

As a clinical dietitian, I love a good assessment.  Because if you can get a good assessment, then you create a good differential, and then you can start to formulate your best plan forward without wasting a bunch of time or energy or money on stuff that doesn’t apply or matter to you. 

Like supplements or working out 6 days days a week…. or protein powder.

Metabolic damage is a real. It can be measured.  It can be assessed on a spectrum of severity.  It’s not just a hooky name I came up with.  

You also may be curious about how The Freese Method program is different from say... Weight Watchers or Noom or whatever and if it’ll work for you, right?

You’re reading this piece because you want to lose weight and nothing you’re doing is working.

So, to answer the question, "will it work for me and why would this be any different from past attempts," I say:

Yes. My plan does work, predictably and consistently because it’s laser focused on teaching you how to repair your metabolism.  And true health and lasting weight loss can only happen with a healthy metabolism.

So step number one for you is to answer the question, do I have a damaged metabolism? Right?

The Freese Method is a specialized metabolic repair coaching program only for women over 40.  So, if you’re wondering if my plan will work for you ask yourself this:

  1. Are you a woman?
  2. Are you over 40?
  3. Do you have a damaged metabolism?

The first two are easy to answer, but you may not be sure about the answer to the third question, do you have a damaged metabolism.

So that’s what we’re going to discuss and assess today to help you understand if the Freese Method is a good fit.

Symptom [1]: Stubborn Belly Fat

The first sign of a damaged metabolism is stubborn belly fat.  

Do you have stubborn fat that is accumulating more and more around your belly?

This is the classic symptom.  More importantly, is the circumference of your belly more than 35 inches?

Metabolic damage causes your body to preferentially store fat in your belly.  And it’s ridiculously stubborn.  Even if you do lose weight, it comes off your tummy last.

This stubborn belly fat is a hallmark sign of metabolic damage.  This means, in order to burn inches of fat off your belly, you need to repair your metabolism, not do more situps. 

You need to learn what and when to eat to get your metabolism to a place where it stops storing fat in your belly and starts burning it.

Without this repair work, without fixing this root cause, you may lose a little weight in your face, arms or legs, but that belly will just continue to grow.

This is actually dangerous as well, because what’s really happening is that your body is storing fat inside your organs like your liver and your pancreas.  This leads to things like diabetes and fatty liver and can make you very unhealthy.  It’s also storing fat around your organs, this is called visceral fat.  This is the dangerous fat associated with heart disease.

If you have stubborn belly fat, especially if the whole area from your breasts to your legs is growing, that is a big warning sign that you are suffering from metabolic damage and Weight Watchers and Noom don't address this.

At all.

*A special note on this symptom:

If you fell like you eat healthy, or like your not even eating that much or exercising a lot and nothing is happening, especially in your belly, this is a screaming signal that you're dealing with metabolic damage.  This comes down to an energy and metabolism problem. 

If you are exercising and feel like you already eat healthy, but nothing is working, nothing is moving, you my friend, are suffering from a damaged metabolism and need to repair it. 

You can’t keep exercising more.  It won’t work. 

You can’t eat less.  It won’t work. 

You have a fundamental energy machine problem and that needs to be fixed.  Once you fix it, it’ll all fall into place.

If you are trying to lose weight and nothing is working, you may be dealing with metabolic damage and if you are, that needs to be fixed before anything else will work.

Not addressing the root cause of your excessive body weight is like rolling a big boulder up the hill in the form of a restrictive diet and then watching it roll back down again, over and over.

Which most of us have already experienced.  I’m trying to spread the word that most women over 40 with excess weight need to stop counting calories and start repairing their metabolisms by learning how to eat smarter.

Symptom [2]: Low to No Energy

Low energy is a blaring sign that you’re not creating good clean energy from your food or your fat and this is due to your damaged metabolic machinery. 

This is as clear as night and day.

If the car engine is broken, no matter how much gas you put in, it’s not running at 45 mph all day.  Nope.  It’s sputtering around, barely making it and needs to stop all the time.  

Low-energy can look like this:

  • Waking up super tired like you never even slept
  • Needing caffeine first thing in the morning or you’re a total mess
  • Craving high carbs, sweet foods for breakfast
  • Needing snacks at 10am to help perk you back up.
  • You need “perking” with food all the time.
  • You’re hungry all the time
  • You have to eat every 2 hours 
  • You can’t think well and get foggy without food
  • You get cranky if you don’t eat every 2 hours
  • You need caffeine by 3 or 4 in the afternoon 
  • You always feel sluggish
  • You say things like,” I need rest” or “I better not overdo it”
  • You take naps
  • You can’t stay awake while reading or watching TV or a movie
  • You’re just tired

This is what it feels like to suffer from metabolic damage. 

If you feel you’re propping up your energy levels all day, especially with food or caffeine, you are most certainly suffering from a damaged metabolism.

Symptom [3]: High Blood Sugars

Now, with this third symptom we are going to get more concrete.  And to be clear, you don’t need all three symptoms to know you have metabolic damage. One yes and that’s your answer. You know what you need to do: stop dieting and repair your metabolism.

This symptom is helpful because it can show you that metabolic damage is a real clinical thing, not one that I made up and one that you can see get objectively better as you repair your metabolism. 

How do you know when it’s fixed?  We have objective measures for that too.

The answers are found in our lab numbers.  We are going to look specifically at your fasting blood glucose level, or your fasting blood sugars.  There are others but this one is a good starting point.

Your fasting blood glucose is the canary in the coal mine. 

Normal levels for the US should be 70-99 mg/dL or if you’re Canadian, 3.9-5.5 mmol/L.  I see the beginning of metabolic damage and belly fat at a fasting blood glucose of around 88 mg/dL.  

Did you catch that?

88 mg/DL.  Still within normal range... but this is just because your poor body is compensating and working very hard at this point to hold it all together.  As it holds everything together, you are putting on weight.  Your blood glucose may be ok-ish, but your body and health are suffering already.

Metabolic damage is not a trick or a marketing angle but a real thing.  A real thing with real numbers and real consequences.

When it gets fairly extreme, your doctor would use the term Metabolic Syndrome, Pre-Diabetes, or Type 2 Diabetes.

But in the beginning you may be just suffering with stubborn belly fat and low energy.  You haven’t advanced to bad labs or diabetes yet. But it’s all the same spectrum of you having metabolic damage.

So the sooner the fix it, the better.

Let’s summarize what we’ve talked about today.

  • If you are a woman over 40 with stubborn belly fat that won’t come off with diet or exercise, or if you feel like nothing you’re doing is working and you can’t lose weight you are dealing with metabolic damage that needs to be fixed. Once you fix it, you’ll be able to lose weight and keep it off. 

 

  • If you are a woman over 40 with low to no energy and need snacks and caffeine all day.  If you just feel sluggish and tired and like you’re not at your best energy levels you are dealing with metabolic damage that needs to be fixed so that you can have energy.  No amount of sleep, snacks or caffeine will fix this.  Once you fix your metabolism, you’ll be able to burn your body fat for energy and feel amazing.

 

  • If you are a woman over 40 with high blood sugars, you are certainly dealing with more severe metabolic damage and your body is in a state of reactive crisis everytime you eat.  No amount of exercise or portion control is going to fix the metabolic damage that is being shown in your lab work.  Once you fix your metabolism, your blood sugars will normalize.

 

* These are not the only symptoms of metabolic damage, but they are three big ones.  

The Freese Method is a 12-week metabolic repair program for women over 40 who need to lose weight, especially belly fat, achieve glowing health, and never gain back a pound.  We use 5 foundational steps to help you do the right things in the right order.  To know what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat, why you eat and how to protect your new metabolism using all real food, no supplements or weird things.

This is real transformation.

This is the way you should be eating forever. 

JOIN FREESE METHOD TODAY