Slow Metabolism Can Lead To Weight Gain. Here's What You Can Do About It.

Some blame their weight gain on slow metabolism, which can affect the ability to keep off extra pounds, but other factors play a role.

Metabolism is the way your body processes energy for rest and activity, according to Dr. Luigi Meneghini. The executive director of Parkland Hospital’s Global Diabetes Program and professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center says the energy comes mostly from what you eat. Those calories get processed and then stored by the body for later use.

“There are people that, for example, have a faster metabolism and therefore, tend to burn energy more and are leaner,” he said, “and people who have a slower metabolism and tend to conserve energy more and store it as fat.”

To avoid storing fat, Meneghini suggests figuring out your metabolic rate, and then trying to plan caloric intake, physical activity and your lifestyle so that you maintain a healthy weight, or lose some calories if you’re already overweight.