Everyone’s body, metabolism, and health roadmap are unique, yet many people have an overlap in shared experiences when it comes to weight loss and making changes that stick.
While it’s vital to understand your body’s needs and gain your own insights, other people’s journeys can often shed light on some issues you’re struggling with so you make changes that work best for you.
Hear about our Lumen members’ health wins and what’s possible when you know what’s happening in your body in real-time — from getting to the root cause of your weight loss issues to breaking yo-yo dieting cycles and getting your bloodwork into a healthy range.
Having real-time biofeedback on your metabolic health helps you make daily lifestyle adjustments based on what’s happening in your body. It helps you work in sync with your body, not against it.
Lumen members Ellen LaFleche Christian and Careen Foster find that Lumen helps them ask the right questions to make informed decisions. It lets them know whether they’re doing the right thing for their bodies and, if not, how to correct it.
“Lumen has given me huge insights into how my body works, what my metabolism does, and what makes mine unique from somebody else’s. Because you can’t listen to somebody else’s story and follow it. You have to know how your body works. After I started using Lumen, I learned I wasn’t getting enough carbs, which put my body under stress. So, I learned that it’s not always that you don’t need any carbs. Sometimes, it’s when you eat them and the types that you have. It was a very eye-opening experience to understand how my body works.”
“It’s really a great tool to help you understand when you’re eating too many carbs, when you’re not sleeping well, and the effect of exercise on your metabolism. It’s been a great tool in my toolbox to help me learn about my body and how to make adjustments that are going to keep me on track in terms of my fitness goals, weight goals, and recomposition goals.”
It’s a well-known fact that restrictive diets promising huge weight drops often cause weight regain and don’t work over the long term. Sustainable weight loss and breaking free of dieting fads, as Kristy Bloxham and Terry Ross discovered, begins with optimizing one’s metabolic flexibility. And the benefits go beyond weight loss. Many people experience better body composition, increased muscle mass, and higher energy levels by improving their metabolic flexibility.
“Almost every dieting experience in my past has been frustrating. No matter what I’ve done, I could lose weight to a point — usually 10 to 15 pounds — if I worked really, really hard. But then it would just stop. And the second I would go off the diet, I would start to gain the weight back. And, of course, it would always go up higher. I was depriving my body doing things that were lowering my metabolism and making me feel awful. I wouldn’t have any energy, and I’d be cranky. I wasn’t eating the right type of food. I wasn’t eating the food I needed to gain muscle or nourish my body and feel better. And that was every diet. I’ve been dieting for 45 years. It’s been 25 years since I’ve weighed what I weigh now. But with Lumen, I’ve actually lost body fat percentage. I feel better and have more muscle than I did before.”
“I did not want to undo all of the work I had done. That was my history. Every time I lost weight, I gained it back and more — always. This is the first time I’ve been able to lose weight and have confidence that it’s going to stay gone, and I don’t have to do it again over and over. I can actually enjoy the rest of my life and be thin at the same time.”
Most people who have been on restrictive low-carb diets like keto for a long time don’t realize that such regimens work for the short term but are by no means a long-term solution. Our bodies need all three macros — carbs, fats, and proteins — to thrive. Your mitochondria, specifically, use carbs and fats to produce energy depending on what’s available and your energy needs. Long story short, you can eat carbs and still lose weight as Sandra Colmenares and Joan Donnellan did.
“I was afraid of carbs because of my insulin resistance problem. In my mind I thought, ‘Don’t eat carbs because they’re going to trigger your insulin.’ But I learned there are some healthy carbs that are going to help me maintain my level. If I don’t follow my macros, the scale doesn’t move or works against me. My body needs carbs, even though I want to lose weight. So it’s crazy. It sounds crazy, but it’s how my body works. My body needs the energy that the carbs give me. That’s what I’ve learned. And it’s been an eye-opener. I have to have 195 grams of carbs, which seems like a lot, but it’s what my body needs. So the first time I did it, I thought, ’Oh, I don’t know, I’m going to give it a try.’ And then the following week, I lost three or four pounds.”
“Now I eat carbs with less guilt. I know that I can have a potato. I know I can have carbs with my lunch and breakfast — more so earlier in the day. Then, I plan the rest of my day according to that. I can have those carbs, I just have them earlier in the day to burn them off in my workouts. At dinnertime and nighttime, I back off on carbs. So, I still have my carbs; I just have them earlier in the day so I can enjoy them.”
Metabolic flexibility doesn’t only result in weight loss, quality sleep, better athletic performance, and more energy. It can also prevent and even reverse health imbalances such as prediabetes, insulin resistance, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease. Many people like Tom Wilson and Joyce Wedler have gotten their bloodwork results into a normal range while using Lumen, while others have successfully tapered down their medication dosage or even come off medications completely.
“I had been struggling with cholesterol and taking cholesterol medicine for many years. My cardiologist wanted me to try other medications, which I wasn’t willing to do. I just didn't want to take medicine anymore. I really wanted to try and do it with diet and exercise. He was reluctant, but let me go for it. Once I started Lumen and began eating the macros I was given, something kicked in because my cholesterol levels were all normal.”
“I’m really enthusiastic about how I feel. I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday with my annual checkup, and he said ‘Really? Please, what are you doing? It’s great.’ I was borderline on my glucose levels and cholesterol.
He was talking about medication, and I didn’t want that to happen. I don’t take meds, and I won’t take meds. So part of my commitment was to get those numbers down. Now, they’ve dropped into the normal range. Of course, I will continue to do what I’m doing.”
Tracking your macros is one factor in balanced nutrition, but knowing when to eat is also important. This could include properly fueling before a workout, not eating too late, and knowing when to break an intermittent fast. As Stacey Barge and Karla Marchand found out, everything is individual to each person. It’s key to find what is ideal for you based on real-time biofeedback and adjust for the day.
“Since starting Lumen, I’ve learned that I actually have a pretty flexible metabolism, carbs are not the enemy, and they’re great for fueling your body. It’s just about planning when to use your different macros throughout the day. Lumen has taught me so much about that. Lumen helps me understand when to eat and what to eat. I have successfully lost 30 pounds in the last five months using Lumen. It’s been a great tool to help me realize that I can still eat everything I like to but in moderation.”
“As I got good at using Lumen and figuring out the type of foods I could eat and when, I am now able to eat a ton of carbs and all these great things that I literally hadn’t touched in a long time. Lumen is a tool that will coach you through what your body actually needs so you can lose weight and become more physically fit.”
If you’re looking to work with your body, experience sustainable weight loss that stays off, improve your labwork, and know how to balance and time your macros, it’s all within reach.
Metabolic health is whole body health. It’s so much more than weight loss and helps you feel better in your body, impacting many areas of your life, including your energy levels and sleep quality. Optimizing your health outcomes and fitness goals is all possible when you have the right tools, like Lumen, in your tool belt.
Our Lumen editorial desk includes an in-house team of certified and registered nutritionists and dietitians, scientists, researchers, and writers.