Your metabolism can be affected by genetics and age but for the most part it is affected by what we do to it. Did you know you can slow down or speed up your metabolism? Before I get into that I would like to explain what metabolism is. Metabolism is the process in which your body breaks down food and uses it as energy. This gives you the ability to function and do all the things that your body is meant to do. If you have a fast metabolism your body stores less body fat. In return if you have a slow metabolism your body tends to store more fat.
Secrets To Speeding Up Your Metabolism:
1.) Feeding your body. Just keep in mind that your body needs food (fuel) in order to burn fat. If you do not give your body enough fuel it thinks you are starving it and will actually hold onto fat stores. So make sure you are fueling your body. It is recommended to eat 5-6+ small meals a day to keep your metabolism up. First make sure you eat breakfast within in an hour or so of waking up. This will jump-start your metabolism for the day. Remember that you are fasting while you are sleeping so your body thinks you are starving it. That is why you need to teach your body that every morning you will fuel it again.
2.) Exercising in your Cardiovascular Endurance Zones. When you exercise in your endurance zones you are burning glucose and not fat. This is important because not only do you want to burn fat you want to burn glucose also. When your body depletes itself of glycogen stores it lets the body know that it needs to store more glycogen next time. {When glycogen is burned it is called glucose}. So in order to store more glycogen your body stores less fat. Picture this process as a fork in the road and your food can either go to the right to be stored as fat or it can go to the left to be stored as glycogen. Obviously we want it to always go to the left. Well if you train your body to go to the left more that the right this helps in speeding up your metabolism. If you don’t exercise your body will see that it doesn’t need much glycogen stores because they are not getting burned. So what do you think happens? Yep, the food goes to the right to be stored as fat.
3.) Exercising in your Fat Burn zones. When you exercise in your fat burn zones, obviously you are burning stored fat. So it is important to work out in both zones for maximum metabolism benefits.
4.) Strength training. It is important to also do strength training. The more lean muscle you have the more calories your body burns at rest. Also with strength training you still burning calories because you are still getting your heart rate up. So it is important to have a balance between cardio and strength training. This aids in toning up the body as you lose the weight. Women have a misconception on strength training. Just because you work out with weights does not mean you will bulk you. Super models do strength training. It is all about how you utilize your sets, reps and amount of weight.
We have just gone over the ways to speed up your metabolism. Now, I will tell you the ways you can actually slow down your metabolism. These are just as important because you want to do everything possible to speed up your metabolism and stay away from things that can slow it down. Some of these things are just the opposite of the ways to speed up your metabolism.
Ways of Slowing Down Your Metabolism (you want to avoid these):
1.) Do not fast (starve yourself) and make sure you eat enough calories through out the day. Women on average should eat 1200-1800 calories a day. This can vary for an example depending on your weight 1200 will be too low. Men should eat 2000 calories or more a day. The best way to determine this is to take a RMR (resting metabolic rate) test. As I discussed earlier if you don’t eat enough your body will hold onto fat stores because it thinks you are starving it.
2.) Not getting enough exercise. Make sure you exercise a minimum of 3 times a week. Working out on a regular basis keeps your metabolism up and obviously burns calories on top of that. Also this will increase lean muscle; the more lean muscle your body has the more calories it burns at rest. So don’t worry about your actual weight per say but the amount of lean muscle mass you have.
3.) Not getting enough sleep. The average person needs 7-9 hours of sleep. Studies have shown that people who average 9 hours of sleep will decrease the aging process. Also your body needs sleep to produce certain hormones. These hormones are released during sleep: growth hormone and melatonin. These hormones aid in the metabolism. Also when there is low levels of these hormones your body releases a stress hormone called cortisol. Coritsol will slow down the metabolism and will assist your body in storing fat. We don’t want to store more fat just by not getting enough sleep.
So now that you know what slows down and speeds up your metabolism, you will have greater success in your weight loss battles. Whether it is to lose weight, gain weight or maintain.
