So many people are talking about how slow
their metabolism is and why they need to start taking the
latest diet supplement scam yet they don’t even understand
how the human metabolism works. So before I even go into how
to speed yours up, I want to first go over some of the basics.
What is metabolism?
There are many scientific ways for me to
put to you and I could make it seem really confusing like
most of the so-called experts do, but I won’t. I’m
going to give you my extremely simple and easy to understand
definition...
metabolism is the rate at which your body
burns calories to sustain life
I should also note that your body, yes yours,
burns calories 24 hours a day, everyday – regardless
of whether or not you workout or not. Remember that, your
body needs energy all the time, even while you’re a
sleep and that is why skipping meals is the absolute worst
thing you can do if your goal is to lose weight (body fat).
Before we go any further let’s talk
about what affects metabolism...
What affects metabolism?
What do you think has the biggest impact
on your metabolism? Activity levels? Your Thyroid? Age?
WRONG! WRONG! and WRONG! Activity levels,
Thyroid function, and age do affect metabolism but not nearly
as much as...
any idea? It’s muscle tissue! The more
muscle you have the more calories you burn regardless of how
active you are, how old you are, etc. It’s live tissue
and it’s there working for you and burning calories
24 hours a day – each and every day!
Here’s a list of some of the factors
affecting metabolism in order of biggest impact to least:
• muscle tissue (you already know why
this is on the top of the list)
• meal frequency (the longer you go between meals the
more your metabolism slows down to conserve energy)
• activity level (important but doesn’t
make any difference if you don’t match your eating to
your expenditure)
• food choices (ex. low-fat diets tend
to result in poor hormone production which leads to a slower
metabolism)
• hydration (over 70% of bodily functions
take place in water – not enough water causes all your
systems to slow down and unnecessary stress)
• genetics (some people have higher
metabolisms than others – you can’t change genetics
but you can still win the battle!)
• hormone production and function (think
you have a slow thyroid? it’s not likely – before
you go blame it on the thyroid first stabilize your blood
sugar and throw in some progressive exercise 2-3 times each
week)
• stress (stress also can slow metabolism
by placing extra stress and strain on numerous systems. plus,
many people tend to overeat when “stressed out”)
Why does it slow down?
How many times have you heard someone say,
“as soon as you hit 30 your metabolism slows down”?
Maybe you’ve said it. I know I hear it all the time
and I got tired of hearing it so I did a little research and
found that the metabolism does NOT slow down significantly
due to aging but DOES due to a lack of muscle. And, you don’t
lose muscle quickly due to aging either but due to a decrease
or lack of physical stress.
So, the major cause of a slowing metabolism
is three fold...
1. you lose muscle due to the lack of physical
stress
2. your body cannibalizes muscle when it needs energy but
you won’t supply any because you are “dieting”
and skipping meals
3. your activity levels tend to decrease as you get older
