Do THIS to Boost Your Metabolism, Lose Fat, & Feel Better Now With Dr. William Li

1. 0:00 – 2:30

   Meet the Guest

   1. WLDr. William Li0:00

      Your body's metabolism is your energy source, and if you want more energy in your life, what you wanna do is-

   2. MRMel Robbins0:08

      Well, hold on. Let me just stop you right there.

   3. WLDr. William Li0:09

      Yeah. Everybody can do it, no matter where you are in your health journey, no matter what type of struggles you've had, in order to be able to lose weight and be able to achieve better health.

   4. MRMel Robbins0:20

      The world-renowned Dr. William Li is back to unpack the science of metabolism. Dr. Li is a renowned physician and scientist. Dr. Li's work has impacted more than 50 million people worldwide and has led to the prevention, treatment, and even reversal of diseases spanning cancer, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Whether you're looking to lose weight, burn fat, or just be healthier, Dr. Li has the science, the research, and the simple steps to help you unlock the power of your metabolism.

   5. WLDr. William Li0:49

      Everyone thinks they know a lot about metabolism, but there are a lot of myths about it. Everyone's metabolism is different.

   6. MRMel Robbins0:56

      Is that true?

   7. WLDr. William Li0:56

      Not true. The second myth is that when we reach middle age, our metabolism's gonna automatically slow down. Not true. Third thing, teenagers, in their adolescence, their metabolism is going sky high. Not true. Fourth myth is that-

   8. MRMel Robbins1:15

      Holy cow. What do I do to jumpstart my metabolism?

   9. WLDr. William Li1:19

      All right, so... (clock ticks) (drum roll)

   10. MRMel Robbins1:23

       Dr. Li, I'm so excited that you're here, and the way that I wanted to start is, could you tell the person that's listening how they could experience life differently if they take to heart everything that you're about to teach us about the science of metabolism and they put that to use in their life today?

   11. WLDr. William Li1:41

       Your body's metabolism is your energy source, and if you want more energy in your life, what you wanna do is tap into your, what's already hardwired into you in order to be, to unleash that energy, and everybody can do it, no matter where you are in your health journey, no matter what type of struggles you've had previously, in order to be able to lose, uh, weight or, and be able to achieve better health.

   12. MRMel Robbins2:06

       Wow. Well, uh, about a third of our listeners have set a goal to either lose weight or to start a new diet, and I would love to know how to leverage my metabolism to be healthier, to be in better shape. But what does metabolism mean? Because maybe when you say metabolism, I'm thinking something else. Let's start there. What does metabolism actually mean?

2. 2:30 – 6:28

   What is Metabolism?

   1. MRMel Robbins2:30

   2. WLDr. William Li2:30

      Okay, so if you go to (clears throat) Google-

   3. MRMel Robbins2:33

      Yes.

   4. WLDr. William Li2:33

      ... when you look up metabolism, they'll give you as, a chemistry definition, a science definition of it. It's the sum of all the chemical reactions in your body, blah, blah, blah, to give you energy. I like to think about it (clears throat) in a much simpler way.

   5. MRMel Robbins2:45

      Okay.

   6. WLDr. William Li2:46

      Metabolism is how your body gets energy and burns down energy, just like if you were a car, okay? So think about it. I mean, most of us, um, have driven a car that uses gas, and, um, you know, when you're driving a car which relies on fuel to actually drive forward, you are just sitting in the driver's seat, going about your way, thinking about how to get to point A to point B. You're not thinking about the fuel, and that's basically how we operate with our metabolism. We just keep going, doing our thing. We got the checklist. We gotta go shopping. We gotta go pick up the kids from school or whatever, okay? Um, we don't think about our metabolism, but like a car, which requires fuel, when the fuel gauge goes towards Empty, suddenly if you're sitting in your car, all of a sudden you're like, "Where do I find that filling station?"

   7. MRMel Robbins3:35

      Right.

   8. WLDr. William Li3:35

      "I gotta get some gas."

   9. MRMel Robbins3:36

      Yes.

   10. WLDr. William Li3:36

       Okay? Same deal in your body. When your energy runs low, suddenly you gotta get fuel, and it turns out the fuel that we use for a car, which is gasoline, petrol, depending on where you live, if you actually, uh, look at what happens in the body, the fuel for our body is our food.

   11. MRMel Robbins3:53

       Yeah.

   12. WLDr. William Li3:54

       We call, uh, gasoline in gallons or liters, depending on where you live. Food, the, the measure's in calories. So it's very simple. When we eat food, we're actually putting in fuel into our bodies, all right, and we call them calories. Don't get confused about the word calorie, that there's a lot of misunderstanding about that. It's just fuel. Now, in the car, you're putting, you know, you pull by the filling station, you're taking out the nozzle, you're filling up the tank in your car with fuel. It fl- fills up to the top and now it goes click, and now no more fuel will come out, thank goodness.

   13. MRMel Robbins4:29

       Yep.

   14. WLDr. William Li4:29

       And you put the nozzle back on the, on the pump, get back in your car. Now you're not even thinking about the fuel anymore.

   15. MRMel Robbins4:35

       Right.

   16. WLDr. William Li4:36

       You're g- you're on your way.

   17. MRMel Robbins4:37

       Yep.

   18. WLDr. William Li4:38

       In our body, the same deal. We sit down. We're looking, our fuel's running low. Our body says go find some fuel. We sit, go to the dinner table.

   19. MRMel Robbins4:46

       Right.

   20. WLDr. William Li4:46

       Go to a restaurant, go get delivery, food delivery.

   21. MRMel Robbins4:49

       Or stand in front of the fridge and open it up or pull out the drawer and put your hand on the chips-

   22. WLDr. William Li4:53

       Wherever-

   23. MRMel Robbins4:53

       ... if you were with me last night. (laughs)

   24. WLDr. William Li4:54

       ... it's your choice. And this, and this matters. This matters a lot.

   25. MRMel Robbins4:57

       Okay.

   26. WLDr. William Li4:57

       And I'm gonna tell you, this is how you derail your metabolism. So this is actually the unlock, what you just said, is about the choice that you can make when you need fuel, all right? You can put good quality fuel into your body or poor quality fuel. So think about it. Pull your car up to the filling station and you got a choice of, uh, three or four different kinds of gasoline you're gonna put into your fuel tank. Now, most of people will tell you, "Put the best quality fuel you can into the tank."

   27. MRMel Robbins5:24

       Yep.

   28. WLDr. William Li5:25

       Um, but you know, all of us, "Ah, you know, I'm running a little low in, on cash this month," and so what do you do? You go out and like, "I'm gonna put some of that cheap stuff in there."

   29. MRMel Robbins5:32

       Right.

   30. WLDr. William Li5:33

       You know what? You, you fill up your car with a tank full of cheap gas once in a while, you're not gonna know the difference. But if you do that every single time you go fill up your tank, all right, day in and day out, week after week, month after month, I guarantee you, your car's not gonna run as well or as long as somebody who really takes care of their car by putting higher quality fuel into their car. And by the way, beyond the quality of the fuel, that person who's choosing, making that choice is probably also taking better care of their car in general. And that's exactly what happens to our body. When we're actually needing fuel, we go for food, we reach for choice, choice A, choice B, choice C, just like at the fuel tank-And what, what we'll know is that if you actually choose higher quality fuel for your body, it's actually gonna be a lot better for you in the long run.

3. 6:28 – 13:49

   The 4 Biggest Misconceptions About Metabolism

   1. WLDr. William Li6:28

   2. MRMel Robbins6:28

      Dr. Lee, what are the misconceptions when it comes to the topic of metabolism?

   3. WLDr. William Li6:33

      Well, I love the fact that you, um, are inviting me to myth bust.

   4. MRMel Robbins6:37

      (laughs)

   5. WLDr. William Li6:37

      Because there's so much myth when it comes to weight loss and metabolism, uh, and- and everyone thinks they know a lot about metabolism, but there are a lot of myths about it that everyone needs to find out.

   6. MRMel Robbins6:49

      Okay.

   7. WLDr. William Li6:49

      'Cause we've all heard of them, right?

   8. MRMel Robbins6:50

      Yeah.

   9. WLDr. William Li6:50

      So you basically say, "Well, uh, everyone's metabolism's different."

   10. MRMel Robbins6:55

       Yes.

   11. WLDr. William Li6:55

       It's the roll of the dice. Uh, my sister's skinny as a stick and she can eat anything, and I've been fighting with- with weight my whole life and I have to be careful with food. That's one myth, uh, or one idea. The s-

   12. MRMel Robbins7:07

       Well, hold on. Let me just stop you right there.

   13. WLDr. William Li7:08

       Yeah.

   14. MRMel Robbins7:09

       So are you saying, Dr. Lee, that it's not true that everybody's metabolism-

   15. WLDr. William Li7:15

       Not true.

   16. MRMel Robbins7:15

       ... is different?

   17. WLDr. William Li7:16

       Not true.

   18. MRMel Robbins7:17

       What?

   19. WLDr. William Li7:17

       Not true. We're all born with the same metabolism, because our metabolism is like the operating system of a computer. So Mel, if you went to the computer store and I went to a different computer store, we bought the same model of laptop. Out of the box, plug it in, charge it up, start it, operating system would be the same. You'd hear the same sound, and then the screen would come on the same way. That's how we're born. We're born with the same kidneys, the same eyesight, the same brain function, the same ability to move our tongue. What makes us think metabolism's different?

   20. MRMel Robbins7:51

       Well, I guess because I've just always thought that some people have a metabolism that's faster and some people have a metabolism that's slower. And is, I mean, is that true?

   21. WLDr. William Li8:03

       It's not true.

   22. MRMel Robbins8:04

       What?

   23. WLDr. William Li8:04

       So let, um, let, so let, well, let's come back and talk about that myth based on a research study that was done. So that's one myth.

   24. MRMel Robbins8:10

       Okay.

   25. WLDr. William Li8:10

       The second myth is that, um, y- when you've got teenagers and they are growing up and they're eating two or three dinners and bouncing off the walls, you're thinking that in their adolescence, their metabolism is going sky-high.

   26. MRMel Robbins8:25

       Yes.

   27. WLDr. William Li8:25

       Right? 'Cause they're f- feeding themselves, they're packed with energy. That's also a myth. Not true.

   28. MRMel Robbins8:30

       You're kidding. I- I remember my mom saying to me when I was a teenager, "Oh, you better enjoy that, you know, hamburger now, because it's gonna not be, you know, you're not gonna be able to eat like that when you get older." And I've said that to my kids. That's not true?

   29. WLDr. William Li8:45

       Not true. Third thing that's a myth, we all think that when we reach middle age, 40, 50, and beyond, our metabolism is gonna automatically slow down, and we all dread that kind of portion of our lives where we're saying, "You know what? I'm not gonna fit into these clothes anymore. I just gotta get used to it." Um, you look at other people and you go, "Well, they must be entering their middle age." And you sort of just have this culture of, like, giving up with your former body relationship.

   30. MRMel Robbins9:18

       Yeah.
4. 13:49 – 22:30

   How Your Metabolism Changes Over a Lifetime

   1. WLDr. William Li13:49

      W- they discovered that human metabolism across a lifetime follows only four phases.

   2. MRMel Robbins13:56

      Okay. What are they?

   3. WLDr. William Li13:57

      We're all born the pha- Phase one, we're all born the same way. Phase one is from day zero to one year old. Human metabolisms go, skyrockets higher, higher, higher, 50% higher than the adult level of metabolism. So a one-year-old is firing up their jets big time. All right?

   4. MRMel Robbins14:14

      They have to- ... 'cause they gotta grow, fast.

   5. WLDr. William Li14:16

      Totally. Okay. Um, but I'll tell you what it tells us. It tells us whatever we're exposing them to in that first year of life, well, we better think about that. The microplastics, the whoopies, the pacifiers, the binkies, uh, w- what are we, what are we putting into this me- metabolic, uh, uh, engine, jet engine?

   6. MRMel Robbins14:36

      Yup. Yup.

   7. WLDr. William Li14:36

      All right? So phase one is, uh, uh, zero to one years old. Phase two is from one year old to 20 years old. This is that time where the teenagers are bouncing off the wall, eating two or three dinners, right? And you would think that their metabolism is going up, but this research shows that between the ages of one year old and 20 years old, metabolism going down, down, down, down, down to adult levels. Okay?

   8. MRMel Robbins15:03

      Okay.

   9. WLDr. William Li15:03

      So the teenager is getting bigger, but the metabolism is slowing down.

   10. MRMel Robbins15:07

       Okay.

   11. WLDr. William Li15:08

       Now, and this is the mic drop discovery, all right? So for anybody who's watching this, like, you're gonna wanna rewind and listen to this again. This research discovered between the... The third phase is between the age of 20 and 60, right the time when you think that, you know, your waistline is gonna expand and you're gonna gain all this weight. It turns out that when you remove the effect of excess body fat, our hardwiring for metabolism between the age of 20 and 60 is rock solid, flat as an ocean on a calm day, does not change. And what that means is that the way that we're hardwired is that 60 can be the new 20 when it comes to your metabolism if you follow y- what your body wants to do.

   12. MRMel Robbins15:51

       Wow.

   13. WLDr. William Li15:51

       Now, I'm gonna come back to this because obviously people's weight changes and their size changes, but there's a reason for that. In the fourth phase, the final phase is from 60 to 90 years old. Guess what happens to metabolism? It does start to slow down a bit. I mean, come on, you deserve it, 60 to 90, but only by 17%. By the time you're 90 years old, your metabolism's only s- 17% slower than when it was at 60. W- and 60 should be rock solid at 20.

   14. MRMel Robbins16:18

       Um, I have a couple things though that I wanna repeat back just to make sure that I understand this. So phase one, zero to one, through the roof. Phase two, one to 20-

   15. WLDr. William Li16:29

       Yep.

   16. MRMel Robbins16:29

       ... it's actually coming down-

   17. WLDr. William Li16:31

       Correct.

   18. MRMel Robbins16:32

       ... to hit adult levels-

   19. WLDr. William Li16:34

       Mm-hmm.

   20. MRMel Robbins16:34

       ... which is what you're in from phase three, which is 20 to 60. And you're gonna tell us the factors that can impact your metabolism, but if we remove those factors, your metabolism underneath the hood is hardwired to just work as well as the healthiest person you've ever seen your age. And then the fourth phase is 60 to 90, and it only comes down 17%, which basically means you're still cooking with a great engine. And I guess where I, I think maybe we should start as we start to unpack not only the myths you've just dropped a bomb on, but also how we unlock this exciting research, 'cause I can tell you're very excited about it, and what do we need to understand about just the science of metabolism? Because I think your message is really hopeful and it's very empowering 'cause you're basically, through the research, reminding all of us, "Listen, your body is designed to burn fat. Your body is designed to burn through fuel." If you understand the science, then you're gonna look at the topic of losing weight for overall health in a very different way because you can tap into your metabolism.

   21. WLDr. William Li17:49

       Yeah, so our metabolism is hardwired in our body, just like in a laptop, you know, the operating system is hardwired o-out of the box. It's gonna be firing up, and our metabolism is designed to store energy and it stores it into our body fat, and it burns energy just to allow us to do ordinary things. You don't have to run a marathon to burn energy. I mean, that'll burn a lot of energy, but doing the laundry, washing the dishes, walking up a bunch of steps, making the bed, that also burns energy. Okay? Talking on the phone burns energy, moving your fingers to scroll down your, uh, social feed burns energy. By the way-

   22. MRMel Robbins18:25

       But it's not getting rid of the visceral fat that, you know, none of us really want.

   23. WLDr. William Li18:30

       Right. So movement of any sort will actually burn some energy. So, uh, I'm trying to make sure people understand that any kind of movement is a good start. By the way, studies have actually shown that even fidgeting, you know, shaking the leg, tap, tap, tap, all right, those actually rev up your metabolism as well by burning down some energy. But nothing substitutes from a burn perspective, from actually, uh, really getting into motion because when you're burning down... When you need fuel to burn, it's like driving really fast on the highway, you're gonna burn down your, uh, f- fuel in your tank a little bit more, and that fuel is really the fat, the, the energy stored in body fat. So what are some of the great ways to actually burn down body fat? Going for a walk, you know, for 30 minutes, anybody can do. Going for a run, if you can do it, if your knees are good, I would, I would consider doing that. Swimming, great way to actually burn down extra body fat. It, it doesn't put too much stress on your bones or your muscles. Dancing is a great way. So the amount you intake, food, the quality of the fuel that you're actually putting into your body, the amount of fuel you're putting in your body is one side of the equation, and you can control that. So that's super good news because yeah, just cut down a little bit and then burning it, burning down the fuel that's been accumulated. Now some people say, "Well, look, I, I have a really big body and, and I haven't been able to lose this fat." It's not gonna happen overnight because guess what? You have, uh, been accumulating that extra, those extra tanks on your pickup truck for a long time. Those extra cans of gasoline that you fuel, you've been piling up for a long time. It's gonna take some time to burn it down. You gotta be patient. So whenever you see these things like lose, you know, X number of pounds in two weeks or 10 days, if you can do that, all right, it won't be sustainable. You're looking for sustainable, healthy fat burn.

   24. MRMel Robbins20:29

       You know, on this topic, it would probably be helpful if you could just explain what fat is, 'cause it's, uh, like I think it's something that we talk about in culture and then we get upset at ourselves over when it starts accumulating. But as a medical doctor and a researcher and an expert on metabolism, what is fat?

   25. WLDr. William Li20:49

       All right. So fat is a substance that we all recognize and maybe recoil from hearing, like, "Ugh, I don't wanna... Don't too much fat." And you know, you wanna cut it off on your, on your plate and put it onto the side. But I can tell you fat is one of the most important tissues in your body. And in fact, it forms, uh, uh, within weeks after your dad's sperm met your mom's egg and you were just a ball of cells. Your fat formed before you had a face, before you had a waist, before you had thighs, you had body fat forming. And here's how it's really interesting about how fat forms. First cell that form... First organ that forms are your blood vessels because everything needs a blood supply. So again, you're just a ball of cells, a few days old, few... Starting to be a few weeks. The first organ to form is your circulation. Second, uh, 'cause you need blood flow, second organ that forms are your nerves because every organ needs an electrical system. Think about building a house. You gotta start with the basics, right?

   26. MRMel Robbins21:52

       Yeah.

   27. WLDr. William Li21:53

       You need circulation, you need a electrical system, a nervous system. Third tissue that forms, body fat. And body fat forms around the blood vessels, okay? No face. There's no arms. There's no thigh. Uh, okay? There's no waistline. It forms around the blood vessels like bubble wrap does. And the question you ask is exactly the interesting question. Why does fat grow around blood vessels very early in life? Because when... Because fat winds up becoming the f- the, uh, fuel tank and you want the fuel tank to be near the, the... where the fuel

5. 22:30 – 25:52

   What Triggers Weight Gain Inside Your Body

   1. WLDr. William Li22:30

      is. When you eat food, you're eating fuel. The fuel goes into your blood vessels. And how do you store the fuel from your blood vessels into the f- into the s- fuel tank? It's right there, right next to the blood vessels. That's why, um, the f- the fat started forming very early on in that configuration.

   2. MRMel Robbins22:47

      Wow. Are fat cells like all the other cells or how are they different?

   3. WLDr. William Li22:52

      They can stretch and expand. They fill up with the energy from, from food, all right? Um, they can expand 300%.

   4. MRMel Robbins23:00

      So they can expand 300% in size?

   5. WLDr. William Li23:03

      They can expand three times in their size. So a regular fat cell, you can't see with the naked eye. Under a microscope, you could see it. But I'm telling you, and this is why when fat expands, when you're loading it with fuel, which is the food that we eat, which is energy that we actually need, I mean, think about it. We... Our, our body's designed to find fuel, put the fuel into our body by eating it, storing it, stores it in our fuel tank, which is our fat, and then when you're ready to burn the fat, it, it's... It takes the fuel from the fuel tank, just like your car, and runs it through the engine so you can actually burn it down. It's very simple. That's what metabolism is, the very simple way to think about it.

   6. MRMel Robbins23:41

      I'm thinking about my two daughters. I know that my daughter will not be upset that I shared this 'cause we wrote about it in the Let Them Theory book, and one of the first myths that you talked about is that...... underneath our body type and underneath how much fat we have or how little fat we have, everybody's metabolism works the same, and everybody's metabolism is capable of rewiring. And when somebody like my daughter Sawyer hears that, and she, for her entire lifetime, has looked at her younger sister and been like, "It's not fair. You can eat anything you want and you don't balloon. I... You have a very fast metabolism, I have a slow metabolism. I have a hard time losing weight and staying in shape. And so it just doesn't seem fair." If you could talk specifically to a person who's listening who feels like my daughter does, who's like, "Well, I don't believe you, Dr. Lee, 'cause I see people with a fast metabolism. I, I see people that can just, like, you know, eat whatever they want and it just sheds right off their body," what do you want them, first of all, to know that the science says, and what's possible for them if they embrace what you're sharing with us in understanding how to turn your metabolism back on?

   7. WLDr. William Li25:02

      Yeah. Well, first, the first and most important thing is don't compare yourself to other people. Okay? You're comparing yourself to yourself.

   8. MRMel Robbins25:11

      Okay.

   9. WLDr. William Li25:11

      That's where healthy weight loss starts. So you wanna fight body fat.

   10. MRMel Robbins25:15

       It's true. And you said we all have the same metabolism underneath it all, and if, if I'm struggling, I basically go, "Bullshit." (laughs) You know, like, you know what I'm saying? That's not true. But you're saying it's something you can activate in yourself.

   11. WLDr. William Li25:31

       You wanna actually get back to your own body's operating system.

   12. MRMel Robbins25:36

       Okay.

   13. WLDr. William Li25:37

       Okay? And remember that analogy I gave you, like, you know, out of the box, the computer looks really great and works really well, and over time, you know, it slows down. The, the processing, the functions don't work quite as quickly. It's just accumulated all kinds of little dings over

6. 25:52 – 35:10

   What Quietly Slows Down Your Metabolism

   1. WLDr. William Li25:52

      time.

   2. MRMel Robbins25:52

      Well, I've got a question for you. What are four things that slow down your metabolism that you may not know slow it down? Like, I think we all understand that if you're carrying a lot of extra weight or you're eating really crappy food, that that probably doesn't help, but are there other hidden things that, that you may not be aware of that are actually slowing your metabolism down?

   3. WLDr. William Li26:13

      Yeah. Well, uh, well, you know, like, I mean, so I think that there are some actual food items that people consume that they don't realize that will do that. Alcohol is one of them. You know, really? Yeah. Because alcohol is, first of all, it's, it's carbs, uh, but when you have a lot of alcohol, it changes the chemistry in your body, it affects your hormones, and makes you less eager to actually, uh, uh, exercise the next day, you don't get as good enough quality sleep. We haven't talked about sleep and metabolism, but you don't actually get to that real fat-burning part of sleep if you're not getting good-quality sleep.

   4. MRMel Robbins26:49

      So-

   5. WLDr. William Li26:49

      So you wanna s- you want deep sleep in order to be able to really burn as much fat as possible.

   6. MRMel Robbins26:53

      Gotcha. So alcohol and not getting a good night's sleep, in terms of deep sleep.

   7. WLDr. William Li26:58

      Which kinda go hand-in-hand.

   8. MRMel Robbins26:59

      W- you're right. And that impacts your metabolism.

   9. WLDr. William Li27:02

      And that'll impact your metabolism. And not only are the alcohols sort of the empty calories that will j- have you grow more body fat, but now it's actually affected your behavior as well. And, and, you know, one of the things that we haven't really touched on, but I think it's important, is that, remember I told you that the research shows that between the, the third phase of metabolism, between the age of 20 and 60, is rock-solid, it's a flat line, um, uh, uh, and that's how we're hardwired? But obviously, people in their 40s and 50s and even 60s, you know, they, they see, you know, they're, they're gaining weight, their body shape changes, and, um, uh, so what's actually happening there? Well, life is happening there. Okay? By the time you're 40 and 50, you, you've got so much going on in your life that, um, you're less likely to have the same time that you had when you were 20 or 30 to be able to exercise regularly. We didn't talk about stress yet, but when you're super stressed out, you're in a constant fight-or-flight, uh, mode, and you're not burning fat as efficiently as you could.

   10. MRMel Robbins28:05

       Hold on a second. Let me ask you a question about that. That's really interesting, because there's been a lot of experts that have come on the show that have talked about the fact that, like, 80% of people are stuck in a state of chronic stress. So if you're somebody that struggles with anxiety or depression, and you're in that kind of fight, flight, or freeze, that impacts your metabolism?

   11. WLDr. William Li28:28

       Yeah, absolutely. So, a small hit of fight or flight, your catecholamines, your sympathetic nervous system firing up, all right? Intruders in your house, boom, you know, like car accident, like b- like your totally wake. A little jolt like that actually will burn fat.

   12. MRMel Robbins28:44

       Okay.

   13. WLDr. William Li28:44

       Right? 'Cause you're, you're ready to, you're ready to fend off the enemy or react to the disaster. Chronic stress, where the hormones, stress hormones, are continuously high, they interfere with your ability to burn down body fat. So people who are depressed, people who are chronically stressed, PTSD, all those kinds of things actually will interfere with that body. And th- this is starting to explain why, when you get to that stage in your life, 40s and 50s, okay, and it's not just exclusively there, but most of us, uh, you know, at that middle-age level, we're, we're dealing with so much. You're worried about your employment, you're worried about your boss, you're worried about your job, you're worried about the war, you're worried about the economy, and what about the climate, what about your kids, what about your mortgage? You know, like, so many things pile up that at, you're, you're in a con- constant state of fight or flight. So this is why I think one of the most powerful things that you can do to reset your health is to really address the stress in your life.

   14. MRMel Robbins29:42

       Mm.

   15. WLDr. William Li29:42

       You know, people talk about self-care.Um, I'm just telling you, like, if you wanna look better f- and feel better and you wanna live longer, um, address that stress. It's the silent thing that robs us of our ability to be able to burn down body fat.

   16. MRMel Robbins29:56

       Wow. Well, I think it's true. We have a lot of really young listeners, and there's so many of them that are struggling with the cost of living and the sense of not knowing what they wanna do with their life or hitting their 20s and feeling completely lost as their friends scatter and people move in different directions and loneliness. And I think that's a really important thing that a lot of us don't stop and think about. Like, it makes sense that if you've been struggling to lose weight and you've got any one of those factors, you're not sleeping well, you got a lot of stress at work, g- or something going on in your personal life, or you're struggling with any kind of issue like anxiety or depression or, like I used to, you drink a little too much to take the edge off the stress, all of that's impacting your metabolism, which is what's making it hard to lose weight.

   17. WLDr. William Li30:42

       And then think about stress eating, right? Now you're super stressed-

   18. MRMel Robbins30:45

       Do we have to go there?

   19. WLDr. William Li30:46

       ... and you... Well-

   20. MRMel Robbins30:46

       'Cause, uh, like, I need one good thing-

   21. WLDr. William Li30:48

       (laughs)

   22. MRMel Robbins30:48

       ... Dr. Lee.

   23. WLDr. William Li30:48

       No.

   24. MRMel Robbins30:48

       (laughs)

   25. WLDr. William Li30:49

       What, what I'm saying is that all these things conspire-

   26. MRMel Robbins30:51

       Yeah, if I'm not drinking, I gotta stress eat for god's sakes.

   27. WLDr. William Li30:54

       (laughs)

   28. MRMel Robbins30:54

       Okay?

   29. WLDr. William Li30:54

       So, so this helps explain why even though we're hardwired to have a stable metabolism between 20 and 60, when life happens to us and all these things start to penetrate our lives, it's harder to get back to that baseline of our metabolism, but it's possible.

   30. MRMel Robbins31:11

       You know what I love about you and this conversation, Dr. Lee, is that I think when you're not happy in your body and you're not feeling healthy and good just day-to-day, you literally think there's something wrong with you. And this research I find to be very empowering, because you can then look outside yourself and say, "Oh, all, all of those factors make sense. And if those make sense and they're impacting my metabolism, it makes sense why this weight's not coming off. It makes sense why I feel down and discouraged about this." And then the flip side becomes also true, which is if you see all of these things based on research are negatively impacting your metabolism and we accept at face value everything that you've taught us, that your research of 30 years has shown and is helping people beat diseases and lose weight, you're also offering us a pathway to reactivate and rewire our metabolism in a very positive way. Tell me something about weight gain, Dr. Lee, that nobody would know.
7. 35:10 – 37:43

   How to Reactivate a Slow Metabolism

   1. WLDr. William Li35:10

   2. MRMel Robbins35:10

      So what are, like, the top things that you recommend in your practice and in the books that you write based on research that somebody, it's like, "Ding, ding, ding, that's me"? What do I do to jumpstart my metabolism?

   3. WLDr. William Li35:22

      The first thing is intermittent fasting.

   4. MRMel Robbins35:25

      Now, can you explain what that is in case the person listening has never heard of it or done it?

   5. WLDr. William Li35:32

      Fasting means that you're not eating, and when you're not eating, your body will actually switch into a mode where it begins to burn down extra body fat. So intermittent fasting is really just when you are, are not eating periodically, which is exactly what happens when you're sleeping. When you're sleeping, you're not eating. When you're not eating, you're fasting. And 'cause we don't sleep all the time, you know, we- we're awake most of the time but then we go to sleep, that's intermittent fasting. It's the most natural way for you to lose weight, is when you're actually asleep. And that's right, you're losing and burning fat-... when, when you're sleeping and not in motion. Number two is actually get in motion. Uh, you know, we, we are in a work society now. We're mostly sitting down. You know, particularly younger people are just sitting down all the time. Get up and walk around. I'm not talking about, you know, you don't have to get a treadmill to work on, like I see that stuff all the time. I'm just saying go out and enjoy, get some fresh air and enjoy walking around. Uh, with a friend is even better, and now you get so- some social bonding, which lowers stress. That's actually really helpful as well. And I mentioned already stress, lowering stress is important. It's our human instinct to focus on all the things that bug us.

   6. MRMel Robbins36:45

      Mm-hmm.

   7. WLDr. William Li36:46

      I would encourage people to lower stress by thinking one thing that makes you really, really happy and content, and focus on that, 'cause even just imagining that mentally can actually help to lower your stress. And remember, stress actually interferes with your body's ability to burn down fat. Third thing is whatever you eat, don't eat too much. All right? Quit the clean plate club. Now, we all grew up, you know, with our moms and the lunch lady telling us, "You gotta clean up the whole plate." You know what, uh, don't eat it all. You don't have to eat it all. If you eat only half the plate, that's totally fine. All right? Don't feel guilty about that, because if you clean that plate, you are loading all that extra energy ca- calories into your body, and then you gotta carry it in your carcass all the years down the place. So don't even put it in. That's the easy way. And then finally, what I would say is eat the highest quality food that you can actually

8. 37:43 – 40:12

   3 Foods That Support a Healthy Metabolism

   1. WLDr. William Li37:43

      have.

   2. MRMel Robbins37:43

      If you could recommend three foods, Dr. Lee, that somebody add that would improve their metabolism and help them lose weight, what would those three things be?

   3. WLDr. William Li37:53

      Uh, beans, okay? Cook them in a healthy way with extra virgin olive oil because they actually feed your gut microbiome, which lets your bacteria, 30, have 39 trillion trainers in your gut, actually help you lose weight. All right? Burn down body fat. Number two, tomatoes. So many ways that you can make tomatoes absolutely delicious, raw, sliced, cooked, sauteed, seared, so grilled. So many ways you can et- have tomatoes. Tomatoes actually contain lycopene that burn down harmful body fat. And then, you know, here's one that, um, you know, I think people might be surprised by, but, um, onions. Uh, turns out that onions have something called quercetin, and quercetin is a natural bioactive that fires up your brown fat to burn down extra harmful body fat. Now, you might say, "Mm, uh, onion's a little too strong for me." Caramelize them, okay? Uh-

   4. MRMel Robbins38:46

      In olive oil.

   5. WLDr. William Li38:46

      In, uh, in extra virgin olive oil. Let the natural sweetness within an onion soften it up and boi- and it just takes off all that extra oniony stuff. I mean, look away if you're so you don't have to breathe it in or turn on the fan, um, and then you actually have this nice, um, soft onion stuff that you can put on anything. Put it on a salad, put it on a sandwich. It, it's actually absolutely delicious. Put it in, uh, sprinkle it on pasta. Uh, those are three simple foods. Quercetin, also found in capers. Now, um, you, you made me think about something I personally love that most people might not be familiar with. Capers, um, are a small little flower bud that is picked by hand from the Mediterranean, but you can find it in the middle aisle of a grocery store. It's in a tiny little jar, usually packed in a little bit of vinegar, um, like, like pickled kind of thing. And you just pull them out, or packed in salt, you pull them out, rinse them off, and you can chop them up and sprinkle them to anything, a salad, chicken, fish, whatever it is, pasta, you'll really light up the thing. And the reason I'm saying that is because capers are bombs packed with quercetin. So do you know what that means?

   6. MRMel Robbins39:58

      Why do I care about quercetin?

   7. WLDr. William Li40:00

      Quercetin burns down harmful body fat. It activates your good fat, your brown fat to burn down your bad fat, which is white fat, and it's a super activator of your

9. 40:12 – 46:31

   Let Go of Calorie Counting and Food Stress

   1. WLDr. William Li40:12

      taste buds.

   2. MRMel Robbins40:13

      Now, I'm almost nervous to ask you this question because you have such positive advice, and I notice that everything that you basically are sharing with us are about ways to think differently about the topic of metabolism and losing weight, and also things to add. But I have to (laughs) ask you, do you talk about calories with your patients? Is there like a way to think about calories? Because I feel like I've spent my entire life counting calories and then looking at steps and then looking at how many calories I've burned. And so as we add in capers, as we try to get a better night's sleep, as we are managing our stress in a better way, as we are eating less, as we're taking breaks from eating to give our, our metabolism a chance to fire up and actually burn the calories and the fuel that's stored in our bodies, how do we think about calories?

   3. WLDr. William Li41:07

      Yeah.

   4. MRMel Robbins41:08

      Should we be counting them?

   5. WLDr. William Li41:09

      Well, yeah.

   6. MRMel Robbins41:09

      Like what's, what do you say, Dr. Lee?

   7. WLDr. William Li41:11

      Well, look, calories are just a unit of measure, like for fuel.

   8. MRMel Robbins41:15

      Okay.

   9. WLDr. William Li41:16

      If our food is our fuel and we call the fuel calories, um, you don't want too much fuel, so you don't want too many calories. But here's the thing when people like really try to create a little, a number to say, "You gotta count to hit this." And I understand this, by the way. This is th- the, like the, the basis of biohacking, right? People go, "I wanna know everything there is to know. I want... I'm a quantitative person. I wanna get all my numbers." And that's fine, okay? But I can tell you the reason I try to discourage people from counting calories or tracking their blood sugar on an hourly basis or, you know, uh, uh-

   10. MRMel Robbins41:52

       Macros or whatever the heck.

   11. WLDr. William Li41:53

       ... macros.

   12. MRMel Robbins41:53

       Yep.

   13. WLDr. William Li41:54

       The, the problem is that actually that's quite stressful, and when you're stressed, it actually counters what you're exactly trying to do, which is lose weight and burn harmful body fat. It, it's very stressful for me if I had to sit there to calculate, uh, my calories-

   14. MRMel Robbins42:10

       Yeah.

   15. WLDr. William Li42:10

       ... calculate my protein. I could-

   16. MRMel Robbins42:11

       So, so what do you do instead?

   17. WLDr. William Li42:12

       Well, you know, I think, I think that it, it, this is again where working with a nutritionist is really, really helpful because it's personalized. Somebody sitting with you, even if it's a, like a one-off consult, they're gonna ask you, "What is your life like? Tell me what you do on an average day. What do you, you know, want to do that you're not able to do, uh, and what are your overall goals?" And then based on that and based on your height and your weight and your gender and any other diseases you might have, that's actually a better way to come up with, you know, the number of calories that you should have every day. Uh, and again, by the way, if you're more active one day, you're gonna need more calories. And so that's why I think the range of calories is probably working with a nutritionist is gonna be a healthier way that decreases your stress. You know, you want a consultant to come in that tailors it to you, and th- which is why I'm reluctant now to give you kind of like, "Okay, Dr. Lee, what's the range that we should be aiming for?"

   18. MRMel Robbins43:06

       You know what I was thinking.

   19. WLDr. William Li43:07

       (laughs)

   20. MRMel Robbins43:07

       Like, what about a low, what about a high?

   21. WLDr. William Li43:09

       L- listen.

   22. MRMel Robbins43:09

       You're like, "Don't do it."

   23. WLDr. William Li43:10

       Uh, don't, don't go there because it's too stressful. And whatever I say might not fit the person, you, who's listening to this, might, it might not actually fit your situation. And, and all of a sudden it's like, "Oh, I can't achieve that." And now you're feeling stressed again. So, you know, there's something to be said about, um, not worrying so much about numbers.

   24. MRMel Robbins43:31

       Mm.

   25. WLDr. William Li43:31

       Stop counting. Be aware that the amounts matter. And by the way, if you over, if you consume too many calories one day, consume less the next day. So it's very hard to hit that number every single time. And that's what I wanna let, let people know is that focusing on the numbers is a big source of modern stress when it comes to nutrition and dieting and weight loss. It's much better to flip the script to recognize the ingredients that actually fight body fat that can tap into your and activate your body's hardwiring to burn down extra body fat, and in order to be able to live a, a more, uh, uh, I would say, a smoother, more integrated life so you're not focused on those numbers.

   26. MRMel Robbins44:16

       And earlier this year, you did a extraordinary episode where you spent over an hour going through all of those foods that you can add in that tap in your body's natural ability to burn fat. And we're gonna link to it in the notes section. I'm curious, Dr. Lee, what is your message to the person who's listening to us right now who has struggled with their metabolism or with their weight for their entire life?

   27. WLDr. William Li44:43

       My message to that person, to you, is that you're perfectly normal. You've got everything inside you that's hardwired for you to be able to tap into who you actually are because you're no different than anyone else. We're all born with the same hardwiring. What you gotta do is to figure out what works for you to tap into that inner strength that's your core, and don't compare yourself to other people. Compare yourself to you. The progress you're making is about you, not about how you look compared to somebody else.

   28. MRMel Robbins45:16

       And what are your parting words, Dr. Lee?

   29. WLDr. William Li45:19

       My parting words are to love your food in order to love your health and love your metabolism at the same time.

   30. MRMel Robbins45:26

       Dr. Lee, thank you, thank you, thank you for being here in our Boston studios with us and teaching us everything that you did today. And I also wanna thank you for listening all the way to the end, spending time together with me and Dr. Lee. Thank you for sharing this with the people that you care about. And in case no one else tells you, I wanted to be sure to tell you that I love you and I believe in you, and I believe in your ability to change your life. And there's no doubt in my mind that after what you learned today, you will. And I'll see you in the next episode. Thank you for being here on YouTube with me. Thank you for watching all the way to the end. Thank you for hitting subscribe 'cause it's one way that you can show me that you really love these videos and you love being able to learn from world-renowned experts like Dr. Lee. And I know you're the kinda person that loves supporting people that support you, so thanks for hitting subscribe. It's a really great thing that you could do for me and my team. And I'm sure you're thinking, "Okay, I've just shared this with everybody that I care about. I've just learned so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. What do I watch now, Mel?" Great question. I'll be waiting for you and this video as soon as you hit play.

Episode duration: 46:31