How to Increase Your Metabolism

Many people find it hard to lose weight. Often, the culprit is a slow metabolism. Metabolism is the process through which your body converts the fuel from your food into energy. This it does by burning calories. There are three components of metabolism: your resting metabolism (BMR), your physical activities, and the digestion of food. A high metabolism means that your body is burning more calories. This is why most experts recommend increasing your metabolism to lose weight. Here are a few things that can help you increase your metabolism.

Improve your diet and eating habits to increase your metabolism

We have all heard about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This is especially true if you are trying to raise your metabolism. This is because you have already gone for about 8 to 10 hours without a meal and when you skip breakfast, your body goes into starvation mode and it begins to store excess energy as fat. In fact, this is the reason why you should not skip any meals.

The best way to boost your metabolism is actually to eat about 5-6 small meals throughout the day. This keeps your blood sugar level stable and a consistent supply of energy helps boost your metabolism.

You can also include foods that boost metabolism in your daily diet. Foods rich in protein, essential fatty acids, fibers, and complex carbohydrates increase your resting metabolic rate by as much as 2-3 times. Your body burns more calories in digesting and breaking down these foods than foods containing simple carbohydrates. This is what is known as the thermic effect on metabolism.

Also, make sure to include enough antioxidant vitamins such vitamins B and C as they are necessary for the smooth running of many functions of your body. Finally, the importance of water cannot be emphasized enough. At least 64 ounces of water each day are necessary for the efficiency of your metabolism. Or else, your body gets dehydrated, the temperature of your body drops, and to raise the temperature your body begins to store fat.

Increase your physical activity to increase your metabolism

Aerobics exercise increases your heart rate which in turn boosts your metabolism. As much as you can and, if possible, early in the morning is the best way to include a regular aerobics program into your schedule since it can help in raising your metabolism all throughout the day.

You also need to do weight training or resistance exercises at least 2-3 times a week to boost your metabolism. These exercises help in building muscles. And it is a known fact that muscles burn more calories than fat. So, a regular muscle-building program will raise your basal metabolism and help you burn more calories.

Also simple physical activities such as taking the stairs rather than the lift, taking a walk in the park, or simple stretching exercises can also increase your metabolism. The idea is to become as physically active as possible.

So, if you are having difficulties in losing weight, it’s possible that you are not doing enough to increase your metabolism. So, build muscles to raise your basal metabolism, increase your physical activities to increase the number of calories expended on them, and improve your diet and eating habits to increase the calories expended on the digestion of food. And believe me, you will surely see the difference.

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Factors Affecting Your Metabolism

Metabolism is a collection of chemical reactions that helps your body get the necessary energy from food. This energy is necessary for your body to sustain its essential functions. The speed at which your body burns calories is your metabolic rate. A fast metabolism or high basal metabolic rate (BMR) helps in weight loss. And that’s not all. A healthy metabolism is necessary for the overall health of your body. There are various factors that can affect how fast or how slow your metabolic rate is. Here are some of them:

Age

Your total lean muscle mass is largely responsible for your BMR. After the age of 30, the body begins to lose its lean muscle mass. This leads to a decline in your metabolism. Expect your metabolic rate to decrease by 2% every decade after the age of 20. You can increase your metabolism by increasing your physical activity after the age of 30.

Gender

Since men have more lean muscle mass, their metabolism is higher than women. This is why women tend to gain weight more rapidly than men and need to work harder to boost their metabolism.

Height

If you are tall, your body has a higher surface area to sustain. This means that your body needs more energy than a short person. As a result, the taller you are, the more active your metabolism and the more calories you need to stay energized.

Genetics

We have all known people who do not gain weight inspite of being heavy eaters. And then there are those who end up gaining weight although they eat normally. This is because of the differences in their genetic makeup. Your BMR is inherited and there is not much you can do to change it. However, knowing your BMR will help you do the needful to raise your metabolism.

Eating Habits

Some foods increase your metabolism and some slow it down. How and when you eat are also factors which may decrease or increase your metabolism. If you eat small meals throughout the day rather than one huge meal a day, your metabolism will be more active.

Stress

If you are under constant stress and pressure, your metabolism will be slow. You can increase your metabolism by managing your stress effectively.

Hormonal balances

Different nutrients are metabolized by different hormones in the body. Correcting a hormonal imbalance can increase a sluggish metabolism.

Physical activity

Increasing your physical activity and exercising is the best way to increase your metabolism. Aerobics and working with weights increases lean muscle mass and increases metabolism. If you have a sedentary lifestyle, your metabolic rate will be slow. Any kind of physical activity requires more energy for your body. This means that your metabolism will speed up to burn more calories to produce more fuel to carry out the bodily movements.

A healthy metabolism is necessary to create new cells and tissues, maintain the body’s temperature, repair injuries, and perform bodily activities. Although there is nothing you can do about factors such as your genetic makeup and your height, a healthy diet and the right fitness routine can help increase your metabolism to the appropriate level and contribute to your overall health.

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The Relation between Weight Loss and Metabolism

Anyone who is on a weight loss program cannot afford to ignore his/her metabolism. Metabolism is the process through which food is converted into energy. This process occurs in the cells of our muscles and organs and helps in burning calories. And this is why a good understanding of our metabolism can help us in weight loss. Let’s take a closer look at the relation between weight loss and metabolism.

The process of metabolism

Fats, proteins, and carbohydrates are broken down in our digestive system to be used by the body. They are then transported to the cells of the body through the blood stream, where they are metabolized. During this metabolism process, the calories released are combined with oxygen and released in the form of energy to help your body function. When considering the role of metabolism in weight loss, it is this burning of calories which plays an important role.

Weight loss and metabolism

It is a well known fact that weight gain occurs due to consuming more calories than what your body burns. For maintaining your weight, you need to calculate your daily caloric intake. This can be calculated by calculating the amount of calories expended on the three essential components of metabolism. So, your daily caloric intake should be equal to the calories expended on your basal metabolism (calories required for the basic functioning of your body), your physical activity, and the digestion of food. For weight loss, you need to reduce your caloric intake and/or increase the amount of calories that you expend.

Besides this, an increase in metabolism helps in weight loss. If you increase your physical activity and exercise regularly, your weight loss routine can be a success.

By increasing the frequency, duration, and intensity of your physical activity, you boost your metabolism and burn more calories. Strength training and aerobics activity build muscle tissue. An increase in the lean muscle tissue means increase in metabolism. This will again lead to faster burning of calories.

Your eating habits also play an important role in increasing your metabolism and promoting weight loss. Contrary to popular beliefs, skipping meals actually slows down your metabolism.  If your body doesn’t get its regular calories, it will go into starvation mode and your metabolism will slow down. You will lose muscle tissue and excess energy will actually be stored as fat. Therefore, the right thing to do to increase your metabolism is to eat 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day. Combined with drinking the necessary 8 glasses of water a day, it will help in raising your metabolism and induce weight loss.

As you can see a weight loss routine is aimed at faster burning of calories and your metabolism is the process that is actually responsible for burning them. Calculating your daily caloric intake and taking steps to boost your metabolism can help you in losing weight in a healthy way.

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How Does Human Metabolism Work

The word “metabolism” is often used in relation to weight loss. But most of us are not really aware about what it is and how human metabolism works. Learning about this process can help improve your understanding of how your body functions and why different foods and activities have a different effect on your body than on someone else. Here’s a brief look on how human metabolism works.

What is metabolism?

If we want to understand how human metabolism works, the first thing we need to know is that metabolism is actually a collection of chemical reactions that occurs in the cells of the body. These chemical reactions convert the fuel in the food that we consume into the energy that is required to maintain and sustain the basic functions of the body. It is a process that begins when we are conceived and it only ends when we die. It is necessary for our survival and is constantly working, even while we are sleeping.

How does human metabolism work?

When we eat food, enzymes in the digestive system break the proteins into amino acids, fats into fatty acids, and carbohydrates into glucose. Once broken down, these compounds are ready to be used by the body. So, they are absorbed into the bloodstream and taken to the cells of the body. When they enter the cells, other enzymes begin the chemical reactions and these compounds are metabolized.

As these processes take place, the energy generated from these compounds is either released for being used by the body or is stored in the tissues of the body. Anabolism or constructive metabolism is the process of building and storing energy. This process is responsible for growing new cells, maintaining the various tissues of the body, and for storing energy for future use. Catabolism or destructive metabolism has its own importance since it is this process that actually provides the energy required for all cell activities including anabolism. It also provides heat to the body and helps the muscles to contract and move the body.

How is human metabolism related to weight?

Most people want to know about how human metabolism works because they want to learn how it can help in weight loss. This is where calories play a role. Calories are the amount of energy that is provided to the body by different foods. The body either burns these calories to convert it into energy or stores it as fat. And the speed at which your body burns these calories is determined by your level of physical activity, the energy you burn while digesting and metabolizing food (thermic effect of food or TEF), and your basal metabolic rate (BMR). All three of them are important components of human metabolism and have an influence on your weight. The higher the level of these metabolic components, the more likely you are to lose weight.

Disorders such as hyper- or hypo-thyroidism, Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and inherited disorders such as phenylketonuria are results of a faulty metabolism. Learning how human metabolism works helps us know how we can increase metabolism to lose weight and to promote the overall health of our body. So, while you are busy reading this article, remember that there are thousands of chemical reactions that are taking place right now in the cells of your body to keep you alive and healthy.

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What Is Metabolic Syndrome (Insulin Resistance)

Metabolic Syndrome or insulin resistance syndrome is a cluster of health problems that increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes in an individual. This group of conditions related to your metabolism increases your risk of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes. Here’s a brief description of this syndrome.

What are the symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome?

Metabolic Syndrome is characterized by excessive fat around the waist, increase in blood pressure, high levels of triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and high blood sugar. Having just one of these conditions is usually not diagnosed as metabolic syndrome. However, it does increase your risk to cardiovascular diseases.

What are the causes of Metabolic Syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is a disorder in the metabolism process, possibly linked to insulin resistance. In this condition, the body is unable to make efficient use of insulin. This is the reason why it is also referred to as insulin resistance syndrome. Here is what happens in insulin resistance.

The pancreas produces a hormone called insulin which controls the amount of blood sugar in the bloodstream. The digestive system breaks down some of the foods into glucose and the bloodstream carries it to the body tissues. Glucose enters the cells in the tissues with the help of insulin, where the process of metabolism turns it into energy. However, in people with insulin resistance, the cells respond abnormally to the insulin and this prevents glucose from entering into the cells. This increases the production of insulin as the body tries to help glucose enter into the cells. The result is an increased level of both insulin and glucose in the blood. An increased insulin level leads to elevated triglyceride levels, problems in your kidney functioning, and high blood pressure.

How is metabolic syndrome diagnosed?

Although there are no well-accepted criteria for the diagnosis of this group of health conditions which affects your metabolism, three or more of the following characteristics is usually used for diagnosis:

• A waist circumference of more than 35 inches in women and 40 inches in men,
• 150 milligrams per deciliter or higher of triglycerides or receiving treatment for this condition,
• Less than 40 mg/dL in men or less than 50 mg/dL in women of HDL or receiving treatment for this condition,
• 130 mm Hg or higher systolic or 85 mm Hg higher diastolic blood pressure or receiving treatment for this condition, and
• 100 mg/dL or higher of fasting blood sugar level or receiving treatment for this condition.

How is metabolic syndrome treated?

Lifestyle changes are the key factors involved in the treatment of this metabolism disorder. Losing about 5-10% of the total body weight, 30-60 minutes of moderate intensity exercising, limiting unhealthy fats and including more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in your diet, and quitting smoking are some of the changes that your physician might recommend. You physician might also recommend certain medications to lower your blood pressure, control your cholesterol, help you lose weight, or help your body use insulin more efficiently.

Aggressive lifestyle changes are the key not just in treating metabolic syndrome, but also in preventing it. If you have any of the components of the metabolic syndrome, eating healthy, exercising regularly, and losing weight will help delay or prevent any of the serious cardiovascular diseases that occur as a result of metabolic syndrome.

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