Finding the right diet can be hard, especially with so many fad diets out there that can be unhealthy or outright dangerous. After searching the web for a diet plan that could actually work, I came across Metabolic Factor. The science behind it seemed to add up. After doing a little of my own research just to be sure, and despite their webpage looking a bit gimmicky, I decided to give it a go. It took a little while to get going, but once I got used to the diet plan I started seeing results in just a few weeks. I was so happy with the results I decided to write this Metabolic Factor review.
Is Metabolic Factor For You
Because of how the Metabolic Factor works, it might not be the ideal diet plan for everyone. It focuses on boosting your metabolism through the foods you eat. If three or more of the following apply to you, the Metabolic Factor diet might be the right option:
- Have more than an inch of fat stored on your right love handle
- Feel sleepy after eating a rich carb-heavy meal
- Carry over 30lbs of extra weight
- Have cellulite or areas of pocket obesity
- Struggle with losing weight and keeping it off, even with restricting calories or using an exercise plan
Answering ‘yes’ to the following might mean you are deficient in the IGF-1 hormone. Metabolic Factor focuses on this hormone to trigger your entire metabolic process. If you already have a high metabolism or a condition that causes low insulin levels than normal, this diet plan might also not be for you.
Who Developed It
Metabolic Factor was developed by Dr. Johnny Bowden, a nationally known specialist with board certifications in nutrition and a master’s in psychology. He is also a frequent guest on television networks like ABC, CBS, CNN, and Fox News, and has made appearances on hit medical and wellness television shows like Dr. Oz. He is also the author of nine health and wellness books, ranging on a variety of topics from healthy foods and diets to recipe books. With this much experience and knowledge under his belt, you can go into the Metabolic Factor diet knowing that it isn’t some untested fad diet based on outrageous claims and unverified theories. For those of you who are still a bit skeptical, here is a breakdown of the science behind how the Metabolic Factor Diet Plan works.
How It Works
Metabolic Factor relies on IGF-1, or Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 to help promote and boost your metabolism. IGF-1 is so similar to insulin, in fact, that they both compete for the same cell receptors. IGF-1 plays a large role in boosting the body’s metabolism, while insulin is the fat building hormone. The goal of Metabolic Factor is to not only reduce insulin by introducing a low carb diet but also boost IGF-1 production by introducing foods that add more IGF-1 to the body.
Even low carb options for pasta can help raise your blood sugar by significant amounts. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big problem. Muscle cells use this sugar as fuel to increase their activity and performance. But, if you’re living a sedentary lifestyle there’s not much ‘activity’ going on with those muscle cells. This leads to the extra insulin turning into fat and absorbing the sugars, storing that energy for later. Once these fat cells become so saturated with sugar they can’t accept any more, you’re on your way to full-blown diabetes. This is why it’s so important to go above and beyond what most diets do, and focus not only on dropping insulin levels but also boosting IGF-1.
According to the theory behind Metabolic Factor, insulin should only be elevated for a brief period after each meal. The rest of the time IGF-1 should be fueling your metabolism. Why? IGF-1 not only sends multiple signals to the body to stimulate growth and repair but also because it uses fat to fuel your cells, helping you burn that excess fat at the same time.
This isn’t to say insulin is necessarily bad. Insulin is an important hormone that has a lot of essential functions in the body, but the key is making sure the body doesn’t overproduce it and rely on it. That is why the Metabolic Factor diet strategically boosts insulin at key parts throughout the day, to ensure your body maintains a healthy level of insulin without becoming completely reliant on it.
The Five Pathways
The key to success with the Metabolic Factor diet is by following 5 pathways of IGF-1 promotion. Our bodies are not used to running off of fat for energy, thanks to our diets and habits. These 5 pathways will retrain the body to use fat as the energy source it’s meant to be.
Nutrition
By changing up your diet to include high metabolism foods, you’ll be able to give your body what it needs to burn fat and increase metabolism. You’ll learn what foods to focus on, and even learn tactics to help boost IGF-1 and still be allowed to eat some of the carbs you love.
Sleep
Sleep is essential for the human body to function, and not reaching those deep stages of sleep can completely throw your body out of synch. Not getting enough sleep can lead to an increased appetite, increased stress, and completely disrupt your body’s hormonal harmony. With Metabolic Factor you’ll learn how to improve the quality of your sleep so you can optimize your fat burning.
Stress
Stress makes you fat, and we don’t mean just through stress eating. The stress hormone, cortisol, actually triggers reactions in the body which increase fat storage, break down muscle, and slows down metabolism. Properly managing stress is a major part of losing weight. Metabolic Factor will give you techniques on how to deal with the stress that comes with your day to day life.
Detoxification
Toxins in the body can wreak havoc on the hormones related to fat burning. Toxins can damage mitochondria, reduce energy efficiency in your cells, and even cause damage to cellular DNA. resulting in things like premature aging, a lack of energy, and weight gain. With Metabolic Factor you’ll learn ways to naturally detoxify your body and keep yourself running smoothly.
Exercise
While all exercise is healthy, there is a specific kind of exercise that is optimal for fat burning. With Metabolic Factor, you’ll learn the best exercises to help you switch from running on sugars to tapping into those fat storages for fuel.
What Do You Get With Metabolic Factor
With Metabolic Factor, you get a lot of resources to help you burn fat by increasing your metabolism with IGF-1. The Metabolic Factor Diet Plan comes with the following:
- IGF-1 Blueprint
- Progress Tracker
- 10-Minute Meals
- Motivational Emails
- The Top IGF-1 Trigger Food to Eat
- The Top 5 Worst Exercise Mistakes to Avoid That Kill IGF-1
- The World’s 7 Most Powerful IGF-1 Boosting Supplements
- 4 Personal Video Coaching Calls From Dr. Bowden
This is a lot of material included in this package. These materials will give you all the information you need when it comes to following the Metabolic Factor Diet Plan, from recipes and foods you should focus on eating to keep your IGF-1 levels high to exercises and routines you can use to effectively burn off fat.
All these would normally come to a total value of around $416, but thanks to promotional deals and other offers from Metabolic Factor’s website you can knock the total cost down to $37. This does require you to share your success story though so if you’re not one for sharing your experiences expect to pay a bit closer to the normal price.
Even without the maximum discounts, you can try out the Metabolic Factor Diet Plan with relatively low risk. It comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, so if you’re not satisfied with your progress and results in 60 days, you can get a full refund with no questions asked. The payments are processed through Buy Safe, and use the same encryption that banks use so your payment information is properly secured as well.
On top of all this, another great convenience is that the materials come as digital downloads. This means you can take the entire Metabolic Factor program with you on your phone, tablet, or laptop so you can reference your foods, exercises, and other important reference guides anytime and anywhere you need them.
Pros and Cons
While the Metabolic Factor Diet Plan has a lot of benefits, like everything it does have its upsides and downsides. Here is a quick breakdown of the pros and cons of the Metabolic Factor Diet Plan:
Pros
- 60-day money-back guarantee
- Can be easily downloaded to your phone or tablet
- Diet is great for overall health, not just weight loss
- Includes great tasting foods and doesn’t completely restrict your choices
- Includes motivational emails and tips to keep you mentally focused and on the right path
- Great bonus materials that give incredible value
Cons
- The main sales page uses ‘too good to be true’ marketing methods that might seem gimmicky
- Completely cuts out fried foods
- Might not be effective for everyone
- A good internet connection is required to download the large amount of material
- Can be expensive, especially if you don’t opt to share your success story for a massive discount
What Others Say
There are a lot of other reviews out there for the Metabolic Factor Diet Plan, and while they don’t necessarily praise it as the absolute best diet plan out there, and some even suggest other diets, the reviews do claim the diet actually works, which is the most important thing.
While Amazon ratings for the product are fairly polarizing, written reviews on Amazon are fairly scarce. The only negative review on Amazon I could find was for the quick start guide only, where their main gripe was that it was a ‘scam to get people to buy the other books’. Since the quick start guide is bundled in with the other content though, it makes sense that it would refer to the rest of the Metabolic Factor package.
Alternatives
There are other alternative programs to Metabolic Factor if this plan doesn’t seem right for you. Here are the four best alternative diet plans to look into.
Metabolic Prime
Metabolic Prime is more heavily reliant on exercises in conjunction with diet to maximize your metabolism. Optimal for people with busy schedules, it condenses its program into four quick and easy phases.
- Awaken
- Energize
- Overload
- Max
These four phases focus on getting your body in gear for high-intensity workouts that will help burn fat and prime your body to keep you going throughout the day. This program is great for people who are looking to not only lose weight but to also tone their bodies at the same time.
Metabolic Aftershock
Metabolic Aftershock is another exercise heavy program. It focuses on using specific kinds of exercises to spark your metabolism into gear, triggering the healing and repair process to not only energize your body but also burn fat, and build muscle. It functions through three easy steps and is great for people who are looking to get into shape through exercise. It focuses on quality over quantity, so you won’t have to spend hours at the gym either.
Metabolic Renewal
Metabolic Renewal is a diet and workout program specifically designed around women. While there are a lot of similarities between men and women, this plan specifically caters to the female metabolic hormone types. It focuses on building custom diet plans that differ based on each metabolic renewal hormone type. This helps rebuild proper dieting habits from the ground up to help you lose weight the right way, leading to an overall healthier lifestyle.
If you’re curious to see which metabolic renewal hormone type you are? Take the metabolic renewal quiz here.
Metabolic Cooking
Metabolic Cooking is a cookbook designed to give you great recipes for introducing metabolism-boosting foods into your diet without sacrificing flavor or dining options. What’s great about this program is that it can work well with any other metabolic program on this list, giving you even more recipes and choices to play with to create an outstanding meal plan.
All in all, the Metabolic Factor is a solid product, though it might not be for everyone. If you’re looking for a way to both lose weight and feel healthier in the process, definitely give it a look and see if it fits what you’re hoping for.