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How Metabolism Affects
Weight Loss
Although
many use the word metabolism to explain why they
can't
lose weight, the majority may not totally understand what metabolism is and
how it really impacts weight loss or the lack thereof.
It's actually quite
simple; metabolism is the rate at which one burns calories. Obviously, this
is of interest for those who desire to lose weight; the higher the
metabolism, the more calories are burned per hour.
It's true that many feel
that weight problems are due to a slow metabolism. In reality, the majority
don't have a slow
metabolism. Collectively, we just eat more than we should and we simply don't
exercise enough. A slow metabolism, that is a metabolic rate that is slower
than what would be predicted by individual age, size, weight etc., is
actually very rare.
However, this does not mean that metabolic rates don't
vary from one individual to another. Understanding what can be done to
increase one's
metabolism is one of the best ways to help shed excess weight.
One factor that affects weight gain is the general slowing of the
metabolic
rate as aging occurs. However, this is not inevitable and is mostly related
to another phenomenon; loss of muscle as we age.
Loss of Muscle: Research shows that unless we exercise, we start to
lose muscle mass as we get older. In our 30's
and 40's we lose around
3%-5% of our total muscle mass per decade, and after 50 this increases to
1%-2% per year.
Why is this crucial for weight loss? Because
muscle burns more calories than
any other system in the body. The more muscle one has, the more calories are
burned away. And that is 24/7.
Adding Muscle: It therefore makes sense that one of the best ways to
lose body fat is to add muscle. This may sound contradictory, but it is
pretty close to guaranteed that if you added 5 pounds of muscle and lost 15
pounds of excess body fat, which really equates to a 10 pound difference,
most would start not only to feel better, but to look better as well.
It would also prove much easier to lose that excess
fat. Every pound of
muscle added burns approximately 50 extra calories a day. That may not sound
like much, but add 5 pounds of muscle and burn 250 more calories per day;
that's 10% of an average
person's daily intake.
Thus strength training is one of the best ways to
boost metabolism. Research
suggests that regular weight training boosts basal metabolic rate by
approximately 15%.
There are other ways to increase your metabolic rate.
Intense workouts: Although most gyms and trainers will advise
steady
cardio work to lose weight, allow us to be so bold as to say that they
may actually
be wrong.
According to some studies,
the best way to lose weight is shorter, more
intense workouts.
When researchers compared high and low intensity workouts, they found that
while at low intensity it took 78 minutes to burn 500 calories, at high
intensity it took just 51 minutes. This is simply wonderful news.
But that's just half the
story. They also found that an hour after exercise, the high-intensity group
were burning twice as many calories as the low intensity group. In fact,
even three hours after the workout, they were still burning 24% more fat.
There are many high intensity workouts to choose from, including interval
training, spinning classes, cycling and intense weight training.
What you eat and when you eat it: Your metabolism will also be
affected by what you eat and when you eat it. Most dieticians are concerned
about how much processed food and simple carbohydrates have become the
mainstay of Westernized diets, and rightly so. Recent research compared two
diets; one high protein (21%), the other regarded as normal protein intake
(8%). It was revealed that even though the total calories were the same for
both diets, the high protein dieters burned 37% more
fat than those on the
normal protein diet, even at rest.
There was also a marked difference after workouts. Whereas the
high protein
group burned fat after working out (as described above), consuming
simple
carbohydrates after a workout ceased the burning of fat post-workout.
The lesson from this is clear; consume more protein and less simple
carbohydrates and avoid simple carbohydrates after a workout, unless your
condition doesn't allow this type of diet - check with your doctor if in
doubt!!
Green Tea: You may wish to consider adding
green tea to the diet. In
addition to all its other wonderful properties (green tea contains
anti-oxidants and cancer fighting chemicals); it has also been found to
increase the number of fat calories burned by 35% . To date, science is
unclear as to why.
Dietary Supplements: The sales of dietary
supplements that purport to
aide with weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry. While some extra
nutrition may prove helpful in the transition from an unhealthy
lifestyle to
healthy lifestyle, there really exists no cheap way out. When purchasing
dietary supplements, be certain to choose
natural
vitamin supplements. However, a diet rich in whole foods truly is the
answer to successful weight loss.
The bottom line is that if excess fat tissue invades the
body's
structure, the base metabolic rate will be slower. Understanding that the
human body is not designed to exist in this condition is step one in
increasing the metabolic rate. Step two is putting forth effort to lose
excess body fat and increase muscle mass. A muscular body simply burns more
calories than a body burdened by excess fat.
Increase Metabolism Rate to Improve Effective
Weight Loss
Muscle Loss with Dieting Too
Much
How Does Metabolism Change With
Increasing Age?
You must seek approval from your doctor
before starting any new diet.
Please read our
Terms!
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