Why My Slow Metabolism Makes Weight Loss Harder

As if weight loss wasn’t already hard enough

My coworker eats out every day. But it’s never something healthy like a salad. It’s always junk food. Pizza, sandwiches, burgers — all of it. But somehow she is tiny. She eats whatever she wants and yet she still stays the same weight.

I have never had this luxury.

Even when I was a kid, me and my friends would consume piles of junk food. It wouldn’t affect them at all, but for me, the high amounts of fat and sugar clung to my body, transforming into flabby bits and extra pounds. I couldn’t keep up.

Today, people my age, women specifically, worry about their metabolisms slowing down as they near their 30s. But this does not worry me because I know: I have never had a metabolism. At least not one that ever helped me out. My metabolism has always been slow and never steady, so if it slows down now I probably won’t even notice.

The Curse of the Slow Metabolism

Thin people are quick to pass judgment on the overweight. They think fat people became fat by their own doing. And for some, that might be true. But for others, it might just be that pesky metabolism causing trouble.

It may be other issues entirely. But what is likely true is that it is a million different factors all coming together.

No overweight person woke up one day and said, you know what I’m going to do today? I’m going to pig out on pizza and cookies and hopefully it’ll make me even fatter.

That’s not how it works.

A fat person may be eating the same things you are. They may even be exercising the same amount. Just because they’re fat doesn’t mean they’re not trying.

Our Bodies Aren’t Always Fair to Us

I used to think if only I could reach a certain weight. If only I was skinny. Then everything would be okay. I wouldn’t have to diet anymore. I wouldn’t have to count calories or obsess over food. I could be normal. Just eat what I wanted.

But that isn’t really true. I know that I will always be dealing with my weight. I will always have to watch what I eat. Even if I one day I do reach that unicorn weight. That number that says I’ve made it. It won’t mean it’s over.

Bodies are weird and each one is different and food affects all of our bodies differently. For some of us, thinness comes easily, while others have to work much harder at it. It’s not fair and we can spend countless hours and months yelling at the world, cursing our metabolisms and wallowing in it.

Or we can get up and put in the extra work that’s required. It won’t be easy and it won’t be fair, but it’ll be worth it.

Thinness Shouldn’t Come Easy

Weight loss is not easy. Every single pound is a struggle. And when you’re overweight with a slow metabolism, it can seem like all the cards are stacked against you.

But you can’t let it stop you.

All those hours meal prepping, all that counting and measuring, all that time spent in the gym — it adds up. Yes, you may be working harder than say, my coworker who eats out every day. But she didn’t earn her thinness. It was merely given to her. And with the way she eats, she’s disrespecting that gift every day.

But when you reach your goal weight, you will have earned it. You will have poured blood, sweat and tears (trust me, a lot of tears) into that body of yours. You will have molded it by hand, manually stripping away the excess fat.

And all that work you did will make the feeling of reaching your goal that much sweeter. You will have done it all by yourself. You will have beat the odds. And you will have lost that weight that threatened to never leave you. So take that, metabolism.

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