The Curse of High Metabolism

The type of curse you might want on your head

Miracle Otugo
Nov 8 · 4 min read

“Always embrace the specialness of your own body, and never forget that health comes in every size.”- Miracle Otugo

Photo by Mike Mayer

Bernard is a healthy and mentally disturbed 21-year-old male, he has this condition that has plagued him since childhood; his metabolism might be off. Oh well¸ it might not be something we think about all the time, but our metabolism is an important part of our health, fueling our body’s necessary functions like energy and fatigue, your periods, or even your hair and skin health. And like Bernard we’ve neglected this important part of our health. Metabolism is quite easy to explain if it is high you’re most likely always hungry, tired, urinating frequently and gaining weight is a herculean task. If metabolism is low you’re most likely struggling to lose weight and the exact opposite of Bernard who eats everything he can, sleeps by 9 pm wakes up by 2 am to eat and his body temperature is high even when he’s sleeping. If Bernard was female he’d most likely have an irregular menstrual cycle, miss his period even if he isn’t pregnant. All of this is true save for the menstrual cycle part if you believe what Bernard’s doctor tells him and might I add his doctor is Nigerian.

Signs of the curse

1. You’re tired, like really f*cking tired. I mean you didn’t expect something positive, right?

2. Your Heartbeats really fast or is on some irregular pace. It’s effects of acceleration because the rate at which your body is converting fuel into energy is higher than what’s “normal” for you.

3. You’re Breaking Out

4. You occasionally get mood swings.

5. You’re Feeling Depressed. Bernard’s doctor says mood and psychiatric disorders are often closely tied to metabolic health, and depression could be a symptom of a slowed-down metabolism.

6. You’re losing your hair. That totally explains Bernard’s receding hairline plus a study in 2018 found that people with metabolic syndrome — a collection of disorders that include high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and other issues that can increase your risk for heart disease or Type 2 diabetes — were at elevated risk for a kind of hair loss. This study could be incorrect, Bernard’s dad is bald anyways.

7. You’re a heat engine of some sort. Your body uses metabolic process to convert food to energy helps your body generate heat. always feeling hot can be a symptom of an overactive metabolism, because it’s working harder than usual to create energy(which is a term that can be replaced with ‘heat’ in his context)

8. You love bread.

Photo by Hermes Rivera

How to acquire the curse

Stay calm, this isn’t some occult article, you won’t be needing magic wands or the balls of a rainbow-colored iguana. Getting a fast metabolism is easy. All you need to do is you can do is increase your body’s lean muscle mass. This is the weight in your body that is attributed to muscle, not fat.

To increase lean muscle mass, consider increasing your physical activity like getting excited about leaving your bed, racing through flights of stairs, taking a long walk at sunset, laughing and smiling at everything and anything.

Other ways include;

1. Never starving yourself

2. Staying hydrated

3. Not letting anyone or anything stress you.

4. Obviously eating healthy

5. Staying hydrated

Photo by Mariana Medvedeva

Becoming like Bernard

Are you liking the curse? Want to eat your cake and have it? Want to have a high metabolism and still gain weight?

Bernard’s secret’s been told since the beginning of this article; never stop eating but don't just eat anything. Bernard likes nuts, seeds, bread, pasta (not really but he eats it), rice, beans, and fruits.

You might think that having a fast metabolism is better than a slow metabolism, you really cannot know what you want ’til you’ve got it. People with high metabolism are susceptible to binging on unhealthy foods like soda or candy. careful what you wish for.

Always embrace the specialness of your own body, and never forget that health comes in every size.

Miracle Otugo

Written by

Photographer / Writer / Graphic Designer / Movie Director / Creative. IG:@miracle.otugo Twitter:@photomanlogos

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