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CALIBRATE CLASS: FUNDAMENTALS
LESSON 2

How To Improve Your Metabolic Health

Prefer to listen? Check out the audio recording of this lesson.

¿Prefieres español? Escucha esta lección en español aquí.

You’ve undoubtedly seen us use the term “metabolic health” a lot during Calibrate Orientation. Metabolic health isn’t just about your metabolism. It’s how your organs, hormones, cells, and molecular messengers respond to environmental triggers in the form of food, exercise, sleep, and emotional health. Below, we’ll explain what we mean by that and how Calibrate uses lifestyle changes to lower your set point through what we call “metabolic balance.”

Your body in and out of balance

Over thousands of years, humans have evolved to respond to specific inputs from our surroundings. But here’s the problem: The world’s changed a lot in the past century or two and our bodies haven’t always kept up. 

Take sleep, for example. Darkness is your signal to produce melatonin—a hormone that helps you get the rest you need. But in modern life, some lights stay on all night, and that results in less melatonin production. When you sleep poorly, your body perceives that something’s wrong, so you produce stress hormones that signal you to conserve resources by protecting your set point.

When you give your body healthy environmental inputs (like a good night’s sleep), on the other hand, it will stay in metabolic balance. In this state, it won’t fight to protect its set point, so you can actually lose weight and keep it off. And when you keep that weight off over time, your body even adjusts—and that becomes your set point. 

The Four Pillars of Metabolic Health

Across Calibrate, we’re going to help you achieve metabolic balance through changes to four key environmental factors: food, exercise, sleep, and emotional health. Because they’re so foundational, we call these the Four Pillars of Metabolic Health, and during your time with us you’ll work toward one program-wide goal for each of them. Here are those goals:

  • Food: What you eat affects your insulin sensitivity, hormones, and gut microbiome. (Read more here.)
  • Your goal: Minimize fast-digesting carbs and maximize nutrient-dense foods that include protein, fiber, and healthy fats—without restricting or counting calories.
  • Exercise: Activity increases your metabolism. It also builds muscle mass, which improves (among other things) insulin sensitivity. (Read more here.)
  • Your goal: Prioritize at least 150 minutes of weekly movement (particularly after meals) including two to three or more resistance training sessions.
  • Sleep: The quality, duration, and consistency of your sleep can directly influence your metabolism and alter your appetite. (Read more here.)
  • Your goal: Develop a schedule that improves sleep quality and supports seven to nine nightly hours of restful sleep.
  • Emotional Health: Your mood and stress levels can influence triggers and hormones that affect how your body responds to nutrients. They can even shift your eating habits and, over time, your metabolism and weight. (Read more here.)
  • Your goal: Practice a daily stress reduction technique—be that mindfulness, recognizing your triggers, or anything else that helps you feel in control.

Kickstarting your progress with a customized clinical approach
These goals might sound simple in theory, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy. And when your body’s already out of metabolic balance, an extra nudge may also be necessary. For this reason, as you’re laying the foundations of your long-term pillar goals, Calibrate may support you with a type of medication called GLP-1s.

GLP-1s are powerful, naturally-occuring hormones made by your gut that send signals to your brain to address metabolism, digestion, appetite, and fullness. They also influence the hormones most important for sustained weight loss and metabolic health. 

In your video visit, your Calibrate clinician will work with you to craft your customized strategy and determine whether or not a GLP-1 medication is right for you. After that, the Clinical Team and the Support Team will work together to determine which medication is most appropriate and covered by your insurance. Note that you don’t need to line up your curriculum and medication start date to get the full program benefit; our program was intentionally designed to accommodate a variety of clinical approaches, and we guarantee results on or off medication.

In your next lesson, we’ll look at why we promise the results we do, and how losing 10% of your body weight can move the needle in huge ways for your health and life.