3 Parts of Your Metabolism You Can Control in Midlife

Think your metabolism is broken? It’s not. But there are parts of it that may be underused—especially in midlife. In this video, I’ll show you the 3 daily parts of your metabolism you can actually control—no crazy workouts or crash diets.


In this episode, I’ll break down the 3 parts of your metabolism you can actually control:
✔️ NEAT (daily movement)
✔️ TEF (what you eat + protein)
✔️ EAT (exercise that builds muscle)

💥 And why building muscle through strength training is the *most powerful thing* you can do to protect your metabolism after 40.

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✨ Not sure what’s standing in your way?
Take the 2-minute quiz to discover your Midlife Strength Blocker—and your next best step:
👉 https://www.camoyler.com/QUIZ

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💪 Want to start strength training in a way that fits your life?
Get Menopause Minis: 10-minute strength workouts for midlife women—now just $47 (50% off)
👉 https://www.camoyler.com/QUIZhttps://www.camoyler.com/QUIZ

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📲 Subscribe for weekly episodes on midlife strength, metabolism, and feeling good in your body again.
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#menopausemetabolism #midlifehealth #strengthtrainingforwomen
#youcandochange #menopausestrength
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Chapters:
00:00 Decoding Midlife Metabolism
04:48 Muscle: Key to Metabolic Health
08:56 Boost Daily Activity with NEAT
12:25 Midlife Strength Training Guide
13:30 Daily Metabolism Tips

Transcript

0:00

What would it be like if your metabolism wasn't such a mystery in midlife, but rather a formula you could actually decode? Hey there. I'm Cam Allen. Welcome back to the menopause method. That's what we're talking about today because I promise you your metabolism isn't broken or slow, and midlife isn't the end of your energy. I promise you that. We're gonna talk about things I know I was never taught, and these are things we can influence that makes a difference in our metabolism. And today, I'm breaking down those three parts so you can take back control and you can stop feeling like your body is the problem. Because I'm gonna break it down so your metabolism isn't a mystery anymore. It's part math problem with some movable parts. So these three pieces that you can control, we were never taught. And once you start to use them, you'll understand and take back your control. If you have a fear or a negative idea about your metabolism, I have a quick reframe for you. So reframe is the idea of taking a concept around a situation and giving it a new belief, shining a new light on it. So if you feel like your metabolism is broken and your body is failing you, here's the reframe for you. You've just been using an outdated program. You see, when we think about diet culture of the eighties and the nineties, it was fat free everything. It was starve yourself, and it was do a whole bunch of cardio. And I'm telling you that those things do not work in midlife. Maybe you've noticed that yourself because the insanity is, well, we'll just go back to that old way that always worked for me when I was younger. And you try it now, and it doesn't work. And it's frustrating, and you double down even more, and it still doesn't work. So if you're struggling with that, here's your reframe. That's outdated. That doesn't fit me anymore. I hope that's helpful. We do need to acknowledge that in midlife, when we go into postmenopause, perimenopause, endemopause to postmenopause, there are hormone changes, and those certainly do influence our metabolism. I'm not saying that they don't. We actually have part hormones, and we have parts calorie in, calorie out. That those two pieces actually make up your whole metabolism. What exactly is your metabolism? How much calories do I need? So we all have something called TDEE, and that stands for your total daily energy expenditure. That's your whole metabolism, and it actually has four parts. And three of those parts are modifiable every single day and equal about 30% of your total calorie burn. So every day, we have influence over 30% of our metabolism. But let's start with the first part, the 70% about. These are estimations, and that's called your resting metabolic rate. That is how much your energy your body needs at rest. It just is enough to keep you alive. We know that the resting metabolic rate declines with age primarily due to muscle loss. Muscle is so expensive for your body to keep around. It takes effort in the gym. It takes recovery for your muscle to regrow between strength sessions and get stronger. That's what happens. And then also it requires a certain kind of protein, a certain kind of nutrition to actually build it. So muscle is expensive, and that is exactly the problem with the weight loss drugs that you hear about today. If you are using those, there's no shame in that. There's been some great studies on micro dosing. However, protein and strength training need to be part of the formula. Let me explain why. If you experience rapid weight loss, you are losing muscle and fat, and we do not wanna lose muscle. Muscle helps us with our blood sugar. It helps us be strong and sturdy and capable as we age and upright. Let's add that in there. Muscle is our organ of longevity. We wanna do everything in our power to keep as much muscle as possible. I want you to imagine that frail old lady that's hunched over. She's what kind of quality of life is that? That's not what I'm working towards. I wanna be upright, stable, strong, doing the things I wanna do for as long as possible. So strength training really plays a part when it comes to your resting metabolic rate. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest, period. End of sentence. So we know that muscle burns three times more calories than fat at rest, just doing nothing. That's amazing. However, we don't want that rapid weight loss because we're also losing muscle. And, again, we're losing part of our metabolism if we're losing that much muscle. So the bottom line is maintaining or building muscle is maintaining or building your resting metabolic rate. That is important. Muscle also improves your glucose disposal and your insulin sensitivity, and that has to do with blood sugar and type two diabetes. In fact, the latest studies I've seen, ninety six percent of Americans have some form of metabolic dysfunction, meaning they have some kind of issue when it comes to blood sugar. That's a big deal. Muscle is like your suitcase storage area for your blood sugar. So the more muscle you have, the more places you have to store your your blood sugar. I'll do another episode about that because I love talking about that. Okay. So let's actually get into the three parts that you can change on a daily basis. The first part is called EAT. It stands for exercise activity thermogenesis, and that's your thermostructure exercise. It accounts for about 5% of your daily calorie burn. That's it. 5%. I grew up thinking diet culture told us that exercise was everything. You didn't exercise, you weren't burning any calories when the real truth is it's only about 5% of your metabolism. Again, I'm gonna plug strength training here. If your structured exercise includes strength training, you're also, influencing that 70% your resting metabolic rate. Oftentimes, we use apps and they they overestimate how many calories you're burning. So, yes, it's good to keep using apps. I use an Oura ring to keep yourself accountable, but, also, we can't say you're burning that many calories when you're doing that exercise. That is not accurate. Most women, including myself, before I learn this, think they need hours in the gym. But actually daily ten minute strength workouts like the menopause minis, my favorite, or doing like thirty minutes two times a week is actually enough to keep your metabolically active tissue, which is also known as muscle, active. That's really important. There's a lot of studies, and you probably know this, that in postmenopausal women who strength train, they lose more fat, but they preserve more muscle. And, again, if you preserve more muscle, you're influencing that metabolic rate even at rest. That's 70% of your metabolism. Okay. So that has to do with formal exercise, 5% of your daily burn. Let's talk about the second section of our metabolism. This actually burns twice as much as formal exercise. That should be mind blowing to you. It is called the thermic effect of food. About 10% of your daily calorie burn is our body digesting food and turning it back into your body, giving it nutrients, helping you rebuild your cells, helping you grow muscle. Out of the three macronutrients, we have fat, carbs, and protein, protein actually has the highest thermic effect. It takes anywhere from 20 to 30% of the calories to digest and process the protein. So let's do a math problem here. If you ate a hundred calories of protein, 20 or 30 calories of that protein would actually be burned by your body while you digest it, leaving you on the other side 70 or 80 calories, you know, left for your body. That's fascinating to me. Carbs burn anywhere from five to 10% of the calories, and fat is zero to three. Now you've probably experienced that with carbs before. If you've eaten carbs, like, maybe you had a carb heavy breakfast and you noticed you got hungry faster. So in translation, protein rich meals have a higher calorie burn and they have more satiety and they help build your muscle, which helps build that 70% of your resting metabolic rate. So whatever you do ladies in midlife, put protein on your plate. You're burning more calories when you digest it and also you're helping other parts of your metabolism. The third and final section of your metabolism that you can influence on a daily basis is actually three times more than exercise. It's called non exercise activity or NEAT. NEAT includes everything that's not structured, walking, standing, doing the laundry, dancing, fidgeting. All of those things influence your nonexercise activity. Knee can vary from person to person, like, by 2,000 calories, which is crazy. So whenever you add movement to your day, like movement snacks, like, every time you go in the kitchen, do 10 counter push ups or walk up and down their stairs or get up and have a walking desk, stretch, whatever that is. Standing desk is one of my favorites, and sometimes I use a walking pad if I'm on Zoom. If you can stack in your day with more movement, like, for example, if you're on the phone, just do laps around your yard or around your house. Whenever you can move more, that's a big deal. Now as far as tracking goes, I do like tracking my steps or a recently updated how they track, and I notice it's more difficult for me to get my steps. So me typing and moving my hands was counting as steps previously, but actually it's not. So I actually like the update. I'm still adjusting to it honestly. But anytime you can add more movement into your day, this is a huge part of your changeable metabolism. Okay. To sum this all up, your metabolism has movable parts, things that you can change. The first part is called your resting metabolic rate. That's about 70% of your metabolism. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, Lift those weights, lady. If you ladies, if you need help, please reach out. The first part of your metabolism that you can influence on a daily basis is your exercise activity. That's about 5% of your daily burnt calorie burn. Strength training, interval training, any kind of movement variety, formal structured exercise falls in that 5% bucket. The second thing, the second bucket you can change is called the thermic effect of food. That's about 10% of your calorie burn. We know that all food is not created equal. Protein matters so much in midlife, and it burns more calories in the digestive process. So put that protein on your plate, ladies. Build those muscles and feed those muscles. The third thing would be the NEAT is the nonexercise activity. This is your daily movement and your step goals, which I think is a really good idea. Because, honestly, in midlife, when we have low energy, this takes a big hit. I'll tell my own personal story. When I went from coaching in person in the gym to not coaching in the gym, my metabolism took a huge hit. I was walking miles and miles a day just by coaching people and moving around the gym. It was not formal exercise. It was just movement. And when I stopped doing that in 2021 and moved everything online, that took a big hit to my metabolism. You know, as life changes, you have to adjust. Now I have a standing desk. Now I have a walking pad. Now I track on aura. I've got things set in place in order to make sure I'm moving more. Some final thoughts about your metabolism. Diet culture burned into our brain to slash those calories and overtrain. That actually tanks our metabolism in midlife. I cannot tell you how many women I know in real life that were overtraining when they were training for, like, a marathon or a half marathon. And every single person I can think of, they were inflamed and they gained weight from overtraining. I realize that makes no math sense. Have you do you know anyone that's overtrained that actually gained weight during that process? When it comes to midlife, there is the trifecta, and it is building muscle, eating enough protein to support that muscle, and move throughout the day. I just want you to know that you're not too late, and you're right on time to work with your body, not against it. If you're not sure what's standing in the way for strength training, take the two minute quiz to discover your midlife strength blocker, and you'll get your next best step. If you're ready to start strength training without draining your energy, please check out the menopause minis. They are the best ten minute strength workouts made specifically for you in midlife. I personally have been doing them since December. The scale is down. I've had more energy, and I'm being more consistent with myself, which is great. No pressure. Just progress. Check those things out. Take the quiz. Check out the minis. If you're on Instagram, make sure you stop by @heymomma_cam. I love hearing from you. I would love to know what you took away from this episode. And what are you gonna try to change for your metabolism? What's easy for you to change right now today because these things change on a daily basis? Be sure to subscribe. I appreciate you being here, and I'll see you next week.