Do you want to gain muscle weight but can't put on weight?
Want to lose 15 pounds but nothing works?
Ever think you were cursed with a metabolism that was too fast or too slow?
To understand your metabolism, you need to know what it is and what factors you can control and which ones you can’t. Once you understand those factors, you’ll know how to "speed up" or "slow down" your metabolism to meet your fitness goals.
What is Metabolism?
Metabolism is defined as the bodily processes needed to maintain life. Through the process of metabolism, your body turns the food you eat into the energy it needs. It's a vital process for all living things, not just humans.
Your body’s metabolism converts food, oxygen, and water into energy for survival.
You can measure the amount of energy needed for survival with the basal metabolic rate (BMR) or just the metabolic rate. It determines how many calories it takes to keep your body functioning while you are doing absolutely nothing.
There are two processes within metabolism to keep your body functioning and affect your metabolic rate.
These processes occur constantly without us even knowing. They are anabolism and catabolism.
Anabolism and catabolism are the two broad types of biochemical reactions that make up metabolism. Anabolism builds complex molecules from simpler ones, while catabolism breaks large molecules into smaller ones.
Most people think of metabolism in the context of weight loss and bodybuilding, but metabolic pathways are important for every cell and tissue in an organism. Metabolism is how a cell gets energy and removes waste
Factors of Metabolism You Can Control
The types of foods you eat, the amount of food, and how consistently you eat or drink water, as well as the amount of exercise you get, are examples of factors that you have control over.
Trying to eat superfoods, exercise regularly, and drink water will all help you have a faster, better-working metabolism.
While diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes are the main drivers of your metabolism, some people also turn to metabolism booster supplements as an additional tool to support their energy levels and metabolic health.
Some medications may also affect your metabolism. Talk to your doctor if this is a concern for you.
Factors of Metabolism You Can’t Control
Some people are born with naturally slower or faster metabolisms.
Genetics and hormones play a big role in how fast your body metabolizes food.
Your age, gender, body size, and genetic makeup all affect your basal metabolic rate.
As you age, your metabolism slows. If you are a woman or have a small body, your metabolism will be slower.
If you are naturally muscular, you will have a faster metabolism.
Just understand your own body ... no one is the same.
How to Speed up Your Metabolism
If you want to lose weight, you may want to "speed up" your metabolism.
While genetics play the largest role in BMR, there are factors you can control. We touched on some of the factors already, but there are a lot of other simple and easy ways to speed up your metabolism.
Drink Plenty of Water
Metabolic processes depend on water to function properly.
Build Muscle
Muscle burns calories every day to maintain its size. Your metabolism will have to work harder to keep up with the muscle mass.
Eat Superfoods
Superfoods provide the nutrients needed to properly perform metabolic reactions.
Eat at Consistent Intervals
This can help your body stay in an anabolic state more throughout the day. As well as it can help by not skipping meals, you are less likely to overeat at your next meal.
Eat Spicy Foods
Spicy foods raise your body’s thermal temperature. A rise in your body temperature like this also causes your metabolism to rise.
Drink Green Tea
This drink contains antioxidants, nutrients, and caffeine. The antioxidants and nutrients help the metabolic processes to occur, and the caffeine causes a spike in energy and calories burned.
Eat Protein
Working out will cause your muscles to tear. Protein helps to efficiently provide the exact nutrients needed to rebuild that tissue. It also helps to keep you feeling full longer.
How To Slow Down Your Metabolism
Do you want to gain weight? Or do you want to better understand what directly causes your metabolism to slow down?
There are factors other than just genetics that contribute to a slow metabolism. If you want to know how to slow down metabolism, consider these six ideas.
Eating Too Few Calories
You need to decrease calorie intake to lose weight, but decreasing calorie intake significantly will slow your metabolism. If you are not consuming enough calories, your metabolism will slow in order to conserve energy.
Sedentary Lifestyle
If you do not burn calories, your body will adjust its metabolism to reflect the lifestyle you are living.
Insufficient Sleep
Your body needs proper rest in order to perform properly. If you do not have sufficient sleep, your metabolism will slow in order to conserve energy.
Final Thoughts on Metabolism
Your metabolism is complicated.
There are many factors that can affect your basal metabolic rate.
You can look at your parents and grandparents for clues on how the genetic factors of your metabolism work.
It can also show you what age may do to your metabolism.
There are many things that can influence your metabolism ... which, in a lot of ways, will influence your results as well as how you look and feel every day.
Therefore, it is best to understand your body and the types of goals you have and make changes in order to set yourself up for success.
Focusing on what you CAN control and not complaining or worrying about what you can NOT control.
Obviously, I know we covered quite a bit today. However, if you still have any questions or need any help, just know that's what we're here for. We have a full team of NASM Certified Personal Trainers and Nutrition Coaches right here in St. Louis, Missouri.
Just give us a call at 1-800-409-9732 or send us an email at CustomerService@1stPhorm.com. We're available Monday through Friday from 6 AM to 8 PM Central and Saturday & Sunday from 9 AM to 7 PM Central. We'll be more than happy to help in any way we can!
