How to trick your metabolism and why is it good to know this?

Has this ever happened to you: the kilos start to melt away, and then suddenly the weight just stays the same? It’s as if your body decides to sabotage you. In reality, this happens to everyone at some point. Your body doesn’t understand. It doesn’t know when it’s supposed to starve and when you’re just trying to get back in shape.

But why does weight loss stall?

When we drastically reduce our food intake, our body perceives this as a potential threat to survival. Instead of saying "Great, now we'll lose weight and move more easily," it does the opposite. It switches into energy-saving mode, trying to preserve as much energy as possible. Even if you eat less, the body starts using even less. Your heart beats slower, your body temperature drops by a couple of tenths of a degree, digestion slows down, muscles use less energy ... In short, your body activates every possible alarm, as if a winter with no supplies is coming.

According to the American clinic Mayo, your metabolism can slow down by an average of 10 to 20% if you drastically cut calories. In some people, it can even slow down by 30%!

Why is this important when it comes to new weight loss drugs?

In recent years, many people have used medications such as Wegovy or Ozempic, which were originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes but are now widely used to aid weight loss. These medications can help reduce appetite, leading people to lose 20 to 25% of their body weight. But then, the effect often stops.

Scientists are now researching whether we could somehow switch off this “brake,” which is essentially the body’s defense mechanism, so metabolism keeps working at full speed, even when you eat less. And this is where things get interesting.

A surprising discovery in mice: when the liver ‘forgets’ it’s starving

Scientists from a prestigious university in Texas, while researching a certain gene in mice (called Plvap), made a surprising discovery. This gene plays an important role in the liver, specifically in special cells called stellate cells. These are the “housekeeper” cells of the liver—they help with regeneration, storage of vitamin A, and detoxification.

When this gene was switched off in mice, the liver stopped detecting starvation. As a result, the liver continued to behave as if there was enough food—even when there wasn’t. Instead of switching to economical fat-burning mode (which we normally do during fasting), the liver kept burning all available carbohydrate energy reserves.

So: without this gene, the body doesn’t detect starvation.

And the most interesting part—the mice kept losing weight, had lower blood sugar, greater insulin sensitivity, and did not suffer any harmful side effects.

What does this mean for us?

If we could get human livers to “forget” they’re starving, we might be able to:

• extend the effectiveness of weight loss drugs,
  
  
  
  
• avoid the classic plateau effect, when weight loss stalls,
  
  
  
  
• improve the body's sensitivity to insulin and thus lower the risk of diabetes.

Of course, these are still early studies conducted in mice, but it’s a big step in science. Remember, even insulin—now a life-saving drug for millions—was once developed based on experiments in dogs.

How people used to “beat” metabolism

Folk medicine has known ways to stimulate the body to burn more for centuries. Our ancestors didn’t talk about calories, genes, or livers—they used to say: If you want to lose weight, you have to “heat up” your blood. This was often achieved with bitter herbs, warm teas, physical labor, and fasting.

Hawthorn, wormwood, sage, and especially nettle … These are all plants that, according to traditional knowledge, get the blood moving. Nettle, for example, contains iron, vitamin C, calcium, and silicon, and also acts as a mild diuretic, which means it helps the body get rid of excess water.

Fasting was also common. Not because people wanted to lose weight, but because food was not always plentiful. When we talk about intermittent fasting today, we like to think it’s a new trend, but in reality, it’s just old wisdom in new clothes.

What do modern studies say?

Research from Harvard Medical School confirms that the body is indeed remarkably adaptive. When calories are reduced, the body also lowers its energy expenditure. One study found that people who rapidly lose weight (e.g., 10 to 15% in a few months) burn 300 to 500 fewer calories per day than before. Simply put, the body tries to conserve.

This means that, even with the same habits—exercise, diet, and sleep—weight loss can stall. And this is exactly where new discoveries about the liver could bring a revolution.

What can you do?

While we still can’t buy a pill that turns off the metabolic brake, there are practical things you can try right now:

• Alternate your eating patterns. Instead of a monotonous diet, try eating more for a few days, then less, so your body doesn’t become too predictable.
  
  
  
  
• Include more movement, especially muscle-based activity. More muscle means more energy used even at rest.
  
  
  
  
• Drink herbal teas that aid digestion. Sage, dandelion, artichoke, and ginger are not just for flavor—they also “fire up” your digestive system, as our ancestors would say.
  
  
  
  
• Prioritize sleep. Less than 6 hours of sleep per night means more cortisol (the stress hormone), which slows metabolism. A study from the University of Chicago showed that people who sleep less also burn up to 300 fewer calories per day—because of slower metabolism.

And an interesting fact: muscles and sugar

The above discovery also showed something else: that the body may now be able to redirect fats away from the liver and towards the muscles, improving the insulin response. This is important, because fatty liver is a silent enemy of health. According to the World Health Organization, as many as 25% of the world’s population has some form of fatty liver. Even people who are not overweight!

So this is not just a question of weight loss but of overall health.

And finally: Don’t forget—your body isn’t sabotaging you; it’s trying to protect you. Remember the old folk wisdom: A wise person teaches the body that it is not the master, but the servant.

New findings suggest that someday we might be able to tell the body: You don’t need to be afraid—just help me live more easily. And while there’s no miracle pill yet, you can decide today to become the main director of your metabolism—with smart decisions and a little help from ancient folk wisdom.

Information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.