Avoid Metabolism Confusion: Learn How Your Metabolism Works
Scrolling through Instagram a few weeks ago, I saw a post about a cool product that helps us understand our metabolism. Knowing that metabolism slows down as you get older, and its importance in weight loss and maintenance, I was intrigued. Now, as a Lumen partner, I’ve got my own Lumen, I can avoid metabolism confusion and I’m newly on the road to using the data it provides to help me eat properly and better follow a healthy lifestyle.
My first thought, as I unboxed this really cool piece of technology, is that I finally have a missing piece to my weight loss puzzle. I can stop guessing and actually eat what my body needs, and when.
I work out (when my RA lets me), I’m not a snacker, and I rarely have dessert or sweets. I also don’t eat red meat and I rarely eat fried foods. My diet’s not bad, but I still struggle with weight loss. I tried intermittent fasting, with no results. I had some success with increasing my protein and lowering my carbs, but not everyone responds to that in the same way. I did research and learned there’s a term called metabolism confusion, signifying we really need help understanding our metabolism. Fun words for a serious topic.
Thanks to the Lumen, I know what kind of fuel my body is burning, and when it burns it. I can see, any time I want to test it, what my body’s doing and make changes accordingly.
No more metabolism confusion!
I’ve only been using my Lumen, and its accompanying app, for a few days. It takes about two weeks to get a Flex score, which is kind of a baseline; this means that the device has learned enough about your body to offer appropriate suggestions as far as how much protein, how much fat and how many carbs I should aim for.
That’s amazing, right?
It’s so easy! I take a reading when I wake up, before I eat, and then I do it several times throughout the day, mostly before/after meals within and hour or so. The device tells me whether I’m burning carbs, fat or both, on a scale of 1 through 5. One means I’m burning fat and five means I’m burning carbs. Right now, I’m getting mostly threes, meaning I’m burning both carbs and fat. Pretty cool, right?
I’m still learning how to apply the stats to my day, but I get the basics and that’s the most important part. I know I’m aiming for metabolic flexibility, which means my body is enabled to burn more fat for energy; in short, my body can switch back and forth from fat to carbs based on their availability. We want our body to use fuel properly, because otherwise, we end up with extra energy stored as fat….which means we then end up needing to lose weight.
Using the Lumen is simple, and the app talks you through it. Open the app, hit the Breathe icon, and turn on your lumen. (It’s a simple little button on the front of the device. When it’s on, the circle will light up.) The app recognizes your device is ready and talks you through the timing. Inhale through the device for ten seconds. Hold your breath for ten seconds. Exhale for ten seconds, through the device. Boom, you’re done! The app then shows you where you are on the rating scale.
Knowing your metabolism, and using the device doesn’t make you lose weight, to be clear. That’s still on you, but with the information you get from the Lumen, you’ll learn what your body does, and how to eat to make it function as it needs to to burn fuel rather than storing fat. The benefits? Better sleep. Weight loss, or weight maintenance. Energy. Muscle health. And more.
Used in conjunction with the app, you’ll see updated daily macro suggestions, such as how many grams of carbs, fat or protein you need to eat. The device gets to know you first though, so you won’t see these immediately. I’m on day 3, and it’s got me on a low carb day. (And that’s hard for me, because carbs are my downfall: bread, tortillas, etc.) The app provides meal ideas, recipes and food lists, so I can quickly reference what’s good and what’s not. The app does it all!
If you’re intrigued like I was, head over to the Lumen site with my affiliate code to purchase your own! It’s an investment in your health, one that will put you in charge.
Use code DONNA when you checkout to save 10%!
You can avoid that dreaded metabolism confusion. It’s basically an education that you can use going forward in life. Speaking of going forward, it’s just a few inches long and fits easily into a small purse; it comes with a traveling bag and while mine arrived charged, you charge it via USB when the battery goes down. I’ve had mine sitting on my counter for three days now and it’s only at 60%, so I’m pretty confident I’ve got at least 2-3 more days before I have to charge it again.
Lumen offers a coach via the app, as well as a lot of support and videos. You can work on your daily goals, and if you have a question, there’s help in the app, and online, to get you back on track fast. I love how accessible it is. (I had one question during set-up, as I lost an email I needed, and their support was fast and helpful. When you spend money on a tool, that’s really important to know.)
I’ll update more as I go. I’ve still got another 10-12 days before I get my first Flex score. It’s then that I can go to the next level of knowledge and focus, and I’m so here for it! Again, here’s my link to the website for more information. Let me know what you think!
Post update! After using it a few months, here are a few additional thoughts on using the Lumen device to help with weight loss and understand or avoid metabolism confusion. My biggest tip is patience. It takes a few weeks to really get in the routine of using the Lumen consistently. I was very gung ho about it the first few days, then slacked a little bit and did a reading at different times of day. This was informative, but didn’t allow for comparison. Try to compare properly with whatever times of the day you’ll find easiest to stick with.
Another tip is to not get frustrated. Several times, I’d do a reading, so sure I’d blow a good number. I hadn’t eaten carbs the night before, I followed the rules and boom, still showing I was burning carbs. Once I picked up on habits and how it worked for me personally, I was able to compare properly and know more about my body’s processing of food. This is the whole point of the Lumen! Your body is not going to work the exact same way, or on the exact same timeline, that someone else’s will. If you have expectations like this, you may find yourself disappointed. Set realistic expectations but be open to learning new things, and that’s how you end up truly learning about your metabolism and avoid confusion.
Keep it charged in advance. The app tells you what level it is at, so pay attention to avoid any surprises when you wake up and want to do an early morning reading.
When you realize it’s time to do a reading, don’t get excited and rush to wherever you keep the device. I cannot count the times I hurried to do a reading before I had coffee, before I ate lunch, etc., and the device would tell me I needed to wait a minute so I was not out of breath. (And sometimes, I was like WHOA, it was hard to blow enough air on the exhale.)
It’s easy to be complacent after a few weeks of not seeing immediate changes in your weight. You didn’t put the weight on that fast, and it won’t come off that fast. I joined the Lumen Facebook group and a lot of people grew annoyed with the device. They expected it to somehow help them to lose the weight, when the reality is that this is just a tool to help you learn HOW to modify your diet so you can make the necessary adjustments to lose the weight. The Lumen device — well, no device — is going to be a magic pill for weight loss. You will need to learn to utilize it get the best advantage from your investment.
I fell off the wagon a few times, but got it charged back up and paid attention to what it was telling me. I’m going on vacation next week and I won’t be taking it with me, but when I return, I’ll be back in the habit. The app is really helpful, so work through the program — you pay for it, benefit from all its help!
