Metabolism is key to various life processes in your body. Therefore, it helps to understand how yours works to help maximize its functions for a healthier overall you, which a metabolism tracker can help you do.

However, metabolism trackers were once reserved only for clinical use, so they are fairly new to the mainstream, which means few people are confused about why they should own one.

According to health experts, learning about your metabolic health helps you see how the foods you eat affect your body’s ability to burn them for energy or to simply store them as fat, which can cause you to gain weight. Hence, if you are trying to lose weight, it is the main reason to own a metabolism tracker.

In fact, after looking into several metabolic trackers, we found that there are plenty of reasons to own one, which we will look at next.

Why Own a Metabolism Tracker?

It Helps You Know if You Have a Slow Metabolism

A slow metabolism, which means your body burns fewer calories than it should even during physical activity, can be irritating when you’re trying to lose weight and can’t understand why you’re not able to.

It can also cause various symptoms, such as thin hair, brittle nails, a lack of energy, slower movements, and more, which can interfere with your daily life and self-esteem.

However, using a metabolism tracker helps take the guesswork out of knowing your metabolic rate by providing you with an overall flex score after consistent daily use.

If your score is high, which on most devices is typically any number close to 21, then you know you most likely have a slow metabolism and can then take the personalized instruction offered by the tracker to change it.

Best Metabolism Trackers

Everlywell Metabolism Test	#1 Recommendation – Lumen Metabolism Tracker	V2 KETOSCAN
The Everlywell Metabolism Test is an easy to use at-home test that allows you to get results from the comfort of home utilizing lab resource.	The Lumen Metabolism Tracker is by far the best metabolism tracker on the market today and is for those who are serious about tracking and managing their metabolism.	The V2 KETOSCAN is another nice addition to your arsenal if you’re on the Keto diet that can help you determine your optimal ketosis state.

It Helps You Get More Efficient Workouts

When you use a metabolism tracker in the morning before your workouts, it will test your C02 levels to determine whether your body is using stored fat for fuel, in which case, you may not need to eat before your session because it will enable you to burn more calories.

Otherwise, you may need to fuel your body with food before your workouts to burn carbs for energy.

In general, if your breath returns low C02 levels, it means your body is burning stored fat for energy. On the other hand, high C02 levels mean carbs are your body’s energy source.

In either case, the device’s app will advise you on the proper way to fuel your body to get the most out of your workout.

It Helps You Lose Weight/Stubborn Body Fat

When you consume extra calories, it gets stored in your body as fat, which often leads to stubborn, unwanted fat around the belly, hips, thighs, and other areas, depending on your genes and other factors.

Therefore, you need to get rid of this stored body fat to lose weight.

Your body gets its energy from carbohydrates, protein, and body fat. However, when it uses body fat for energy, it helps you burn more fat from your body, which results in weight loss in stubborn areas and more.

Meanwhile, you must also burn more calories than you consume to shed pounds, and when stored body fat is used for energy, it also increases calorie burn.

However, to utilize body fat for energy requires doing the right type of physical activity and eating the right foods, which a metabolism tracker helps you do.

And it does so based on the specific way your body uses calories for fuel for more effective results.

It Helps You Achieve Metabolic Flexibility

When you have metabolic flexibility, it means your body has the ability to switch between using fat and carbs for energy more efficiently.

This helps maintain energy balance during intense physical activities and when you have a calorie deficit or an excess of calories.

It also helps keep your blood sugar levels stable, which helps prevent insulin spikes that can cause mood swings and that hangry feeling between meals.

You will also notice that you have greater appetite control, so you don’t binge eat and can make it through your workouts and overnight fasts without being hungry.

And then, during times your body uses fat for energy to fuel your workouts, it helps increase endurance by reserving your glycogen stores until they are needed for more intense moves.

One of the main goals of metabolism trackers such as Lumen is to help you achieve metabolic flexibility for greater overall fitness.

Hence, it supplies you with workout advice and personalized meal plans based on what your body is using for fuel at the time to help you achieve a more efficient metabolism.

Your sleep also plays a role in healthy metabolism; therefore, the device also provides you with advice on how to get a quality overnight’s rest, so you awake refreshed and revved to burn calories for the day.

With strict adherence to the program, you can begin to see results of metabolic flexibility in about 8 weeks.

However, it will take your body about 2 years to fully adapt. But you find that after this time, you can occasionally enjoy a high carb meal without insulin spikes, and your body will easily resume metabolic flexibility with your next balanced meal.

It Helps You Take Control of Your Health

Since metabolic flexibility helps keep insulin levels in check, it also helps prevent insulin resistance, which is a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

Otherwise, frequent insulin spikes, which can occur when you eat too many carbs, can cause your cells to become insensitive to insulin, in which case, they will cease opening up to receive carbs as fuel, also known as insulin resistance.

According to studies, when you are metabolically inflexible, it also disrupts mitochondria production, which not only makes it difficult to burn stored body fat between meals but also opens you up to developing various pathological conditions, such as metabolic syndrome, cancer, and more.

Hence, when you use a metabolism tracker to obtain metabolic flexibility, it also helps preserve your health.

Sports Clinics, Trainers, and Nutritionists Use Them for Athletes in Training

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), knowing your metabolic rate is important to help athletes enhance their training performance and gain the right lean muscle mass to fat ratio for their activity.

Therefore, their trainers and dieticians use some form of metabolic testing to accurately measure their client’s metabolic rate and 24-hour energy expenditure prior to their sport to create a personal training plan and eating schedule for maximum endurance, weight loss, improved health status, and more to meet the metabolic demands of their sport.

They also use them to monitor the athlete’s body composition during the off-season to help maintain their sport’s physique.

The experts at NSCA state that it’s also good for health-conscious people to know their metabolic rate to get the most out of their exercise performance. So if your goal is to train and get results like a professional athlete, then a metabolism tracker can help you as well.

Those on a Keto Diet Can Also Use It To Know When They are Burning Fat

A metabolism tracker, such as Lumen, is designed to help users sustain a more permanent state of weight loss by helping them achieve metabolic flexibility, which enables the body to switch between using carbs and fat for energy more easily and to use solely one or the other based on what’s available.

This differs from the keto diet, where the goal is to get your body into a state of ketosis, which enables you to burn fat for quick weight loss.

However, a metabolism tracker can still be used by those following a keto diet to determine if they are burning fat for fuel, which is important when you are in the state of ketosis.

It can also be used to track your metabolism over time while also gaining other important insights from the app.

Vegans, Vegetarians, and Gluten-Free Eaters Can Use It Too

As a vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free eater, weight loss and/or achieving metabolic flexibility may also be in your goals. Therefore, you can also benefit from a metabolism tracker’s nutritional program.

In fact, many metabolic trackers also offer customized meal plans for vegans, vegetarians, and gluten-free eaters.

They also provide you with plant-based and gluten-free alternatives that can be used in place of meat-based meal suggestions.

For instance, if the app returns a meal plan suggestion that contains grilled shrimp, and you don’t want grilled shrimp, in most cases, you can simply click on the meal and look for a plant-based or gluten-free alternative for the ingredient.

This way, you know a good vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free substitution for the shrimp that still provides the same ideal of protein, carbs, fat, etc.

Most apps are also constantly adjusted to include new foods and meal plans, so be sure to keep your app updated for the latest meal plans.

It’s Easy to Use And Cheaper Than Going to A Clinic

For years, professional athletes have been undergoing metabolic rate testing to help improve their metabolism. And until now, this type of testing was only offered in clinical settings using costly lab machines that require a skilled technician to operate.

However, metabolism trackers for home use enable anyone looking to track their metabolism for improved fitness and health to do so from anywhere. And they don’t require any special skills or lab analysis for use.

In fact, users simply breathe through the mouthpiece and into the integrated sensor and flow meter, which then measures your C02 levels to determine if your body is using fat or carbs as its fuel source.

Then, based on your reading, it will provide you with personalized recommendations on nutrition, sleep, and fitness activities to do for the day to help boost your metabolism.

They also cost just a fraction of the cost of visiting a clinic, which can be priced as high as $200 or more per test.

And because they are designed for at-home use, it allows you to test as often as you need each day for more accurate and up-to-date readings to go on, rather than having to periodically schedule appointments and then planning your program from one clinical visit to the next.

Final Thoughts

There are many reasons to own a metabolism tracker, and they can also be used by a wide range of individuals for improved weight loss and overall health.

And they also range in design and price, so you can choose one based on your specific taste and budget.

Many are also small enough to fit in your travel bag or purse, so you can continue to track your metabolism and eat, exercise, and sleep efficiently even while away from home.

You can also feel good using it, knowing you are taking steps towards a more fit lifestyle like your favorite athlete for comparable results.

So, if, of all the reasons we listed to own a metabolism tracker, you have found yours and are excited to get started tracking your metabolism and receiving daily personalized feedback on ways to improve it, then, hopefully, you will begin researching metabolism trackers as soon as possible to find the best one for you.