Merav and Michal Mor do almost everything together.
The identical twins studied at the same university and were both pursuing PhDs in the physiology of heart health, but each had slightly different focuses. For fun, they even decided to compete in a triathlon together.
Both were fascinated by understanding the metabolism that drives peak performance. Together, they co-founded Lumen, a health tech company that tracks metabolism with a distinctive device that analyzes when the body burns carbohydrates and fat.
That’s when their lives diverged. The Moll twins still spend their time together running their company, often finishing each other’s sentences. But the two take very different approaches to managing metabolic health.
This shows how nutrition and exercise science can be personalized to individuals, even for people who share the same DNA.
Michal said there is no one-size-fits-all approach to metabolism, even for one person, because circumstances such as what you eat, when you eat, and how much you exercise are important.
By studying data from thousands of users and their own personal experiences, the Mohr sisters are gaining important insights to help more people understand their metabolism and burn fat efficiently.
Why is metabolism important?
The Mol twins began intensive triathlon training while completing their Ph.D. “We woke up one day and said, ‘I feel like doing something challenging and radical,'” Michal said.
They quickly realized that the right fuel is key to balancing both schoolwork and training and ensuring peak performance.
“We started investigating what separates the great athletes who finish the competition with a smile and great results from the athletes who are too tired to even finish the competition,” Merav said. “The answer was very clear.”
“It’s rooted in our metabolism, and it has to do with how efficiently our metabolism, which is basically the engine of our bodies, can switch between burning fat and burning carbohydrates,” she continued.
The Mohr sisters wanted a challenge, so they decided to train for an Ironman competition. Courtesy of Michal and Merav Mor
Metabolism includes all the chemical processes the body uses to generate, store, and regulate energy. A healthy, metabolically flexible body can switch between carbohydrates and fats for fuel, supporting consistent energy levels without large fluctuations in blood sugar levels.
Lumen uses a portable breath test to measure whether your body is burning carbohydrates and fat for energy, rather than the complex lab tests typically required. Along with the coaching program, it is available online for $200 to $600 depending on the length of your subscription.
Understanding metabolism can help optimize performance for both everyday athletes and elite competitors. It also supports energy levels, supports weight management, improves concentration, and helps control appetite.
Metabolic health may also play an important role in long-term health and healthy aging, as it is linked to conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
prioritize building muscle
A key element of Sisters’ performance training is building muscle, which is metabolically active tissue that also provides strength and stability.
Muscles are metabolically expensive and consume a lot of energy, but they also have the ability to store and produce energy.
“We did a lot of weightlifting to make our muscles bigger,” Merav said. “So if you overload on carbs before a game, there’s plenty of room for all that pasta.”
When you eat a meal rich in carbohydrates, the carbohydrates are broken down into glucose. Some is used immediately for energy, but what is not consumed is stored as glycogen in muscle tissue and the liver. Glycogen stores help prevent blood sugar levels from rising and falling, providing stable energy between meals.
Strength training builds muscle tissue, which helps absorb and store energy, and supports a healthy metabolism. Flamingo Images/Getty Images
Muscle mass is therefore important not only for athletic performance but also for longevity, reducing the risk of age-related diseases and helping to prevent injury.
Pre-workout carbohydrate load
Metabolism is highly individual, but Michal and Merav analyzed data from thousands of Lumen users around the world with over 300,000 lumens and noticed certain trends.
Eating carbohydrates earlier in the day or closer to training can lead to increased metabolic flexibility, the ability to smoothly switch between burning carbohydrates and fat. This is important for weight management because burning fat helps improve body composition, or the ratio of fat to muscle.
“Eating most of your carbohydrates during your workout or early in the day also helps your body transition to burning fat more efficiently,” Merav says.
Metabolism is also essential to performance, as the ability to switch between burning carbohydrates and fat helps maintain steady energy.
Michal uses Lumen to analyze her breath to see if she’s burning fat and carbs before her morning workout and understand how to properly fuel herself. If you’re burning fat, it’s a sign that you need to eat a snack, such as a banana, before your workout to ensure you have enough energy for high-intensity exercise and to support your recovery.
“Based on what’s going on in my body, Lumen recommends how much I should eat to best support my training,” she said. “Switching to carbs means I’m now in an anabolic period, so I need to feed my muscles because they’re starving.”
eat dinner early
The Moll sisters have published extensive research in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition on what works to support a healthy metabolism for real rumen users.
One of the most effective changes is simple. Eating an early dinner helps your body burn fat and stabilize blood sugar levels.
The Mohr sisters’ daily lives vary depending on their family and other obligations. Courtesy of Michal and Merav Mor
“Early dinner helps our bodies adjust to our circadian rhythms, or internal clocks. And when our internal clocks are synchronized, our mitochondria are given the ability to repair and rest during the night, and when we wake up in the morning, our metabolism is able to burn fat very efficiently,” Merav said.
Previous research suggests that eating late at night can disrupt your sleep, impact your metabolic health, and affect your body’s natural digestive and repair processes. As a result, some doctors and longevity researchers recommend not eating before bed. Still, there’s limited evidence that simply eating earlier can dramatically change your body’s ability to burn fat overnight.
In any case, Merav’s personal experience proves that there are exceptions to every rule. For her, enjoying late-night pizza with her three children is worth the trade-off. “It’s not healthy, but it’s so much fun that I want to eat pizza with my kids,” Merav said.
To stay on track, she waits an hour or so to eat breakfast after waking up, giving her body more time to rely on stored fat for energy.
This is a reminder that the best routines don’t have to be the most tightly optimized. Leaving room for fun and socializing is also an important part of long-term health.