Hello there everyone and welcome to my twenty-second blog.
It’s my eldest son’s twenty-third birthday today, the first day we can go out for a walk with our dogs and Labour day throughout the world. So, all in all, a very happy day.
How often have you heard people complaining about their slow metabolism and how they barely eat anything but still put on weight? Those other people who can eat or drink anything and apparently never gain weight. It just does not seem fair, does it? Your metabolism is all the chemical reactions that keep you alive. It is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. It is the rate at which your body expends energy or burns calories. A calorie is a measure of the energy in food. Metabolism is closely linked to nutrition and the availability of nutrients, carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals. They are all required for your metabolism to function as efficiently as it can.
The speed of your metabolism is influenced by four key factors:
- Resting/basal metabolic rate (RMR/BMR)
The calories you burn while you are resting or asleep. It is the least amount needed to keep you alive and functioning.
- Thermogenesis
The number of calories you burn through digesting and absorbing food. This is usually ten percent of your daily calories burned.
- Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)
The calories you burn through non-exercise activities, like standing, fidgeting, washing the dishes, or picking your nose (only kidding).
- Physical activity
This accounts for the rest of the calories your body burns up.
So, what exactly is this whole metabolism business, and what influences it? It is a bit of a mix of nature and nurture. Factors influencing your metabolism include the amount of lean muscle and fat tissue in the body, age, sex, hormonal factors, and genetics. Sadly, women burn fewer calories than men. Did you know that the average adult loses three to eight percent of muscle during each decade after the age of thirty!! Flipping scary. This loss of muscle with age called sarcopenia slows down your metabolism, as having more muscle mass increases your resting metabolism. Also, as one ages, our diet changes and there is a decrease in hormone production, all of which will decrease your metabolic rate. Chemical reactions within your bodies also become less efficient and this will decrease the speed of your metabolism. Such a very good reason to try to keep that metabolism rate high from here on!
If your metabolism is fast or high you will burn more calories at rest and during activity. A fast metabolism means you will need to take in more calories to maintain your weight. Hence, some people being able to eat more than others without gaining weight. A person with a slow metabolism will burn fewer calories at rest and during activity and therefore must eat less to avoid being overweight. Regardless of whether your metabolism is fast or slow, our bodies are designed to store excess energy in fat cells. So, if you eat or drink more calories than your body expends you will gain weight. On the other hand, if you eat and drink fewer calories than are burned through everyday activities (, you will lose weight.
Enough already, Hayley! The question everyone wants to know is:” Are there ways in which we could perhaps boost this whole metabolism process?” There are definitely some things we can try and actions we can take and what I suggest below may help.However, please be aware of the fact that, for me, most suggestions below do not have enough proper scientific-based evidence associated with them. So please bear this in mind as you incorporate them into your wellness programme. However, they all do tick my box of health and wellness so as long as you do not have any chronic condition or metabolic-related issue or any serious diseases you can most certainly give these a bash!
Here we go!
- Resistance training
Resistance training or weightlifting is great for helping improve the speed of your metabolism. It offers the benefits of exercise while building muscle mass, both of which improve the speed of metabolism.
2.Pick up the pace,
Increase your high intensity interval training (HIIT)This training technique alternates between intense anaerobic exercise with short periods of rest. As well as the calories burned during the exercise, this also burns calories long after you finish exercising, called the “afterburn effect”.
3. Get plenty of sleep
Lack of sleep can slow down your metabolism and a great night’s sleep can reverse this effect.
4. Eat more protein-rich foods
Your body burns more calories while consuming, digesting, and absorbing protein-rich foods. Eating protein may also make you feel fuller and you may eat less. So, fewer calories consumed. Have protein at every meal and for your snacks, too.
5. Drink green tea
Studies have shown that green tea contains a compound called epigallocatechin gallate, which may increase your resting metabolism.
6. Drink water
A study has shown that drinking water may cause your body to burn off more calories. If you drink cold water, you may burn more calories as your body uses energy to heat the water up to body temperature. It can also help fill you up.
7. Stand up more
We have chatted about the importance of standing and moving a lot, and now standing rather than sitting can also help burn more calories. Walking around while on the cell phone is a good way of burning calories and is good for getting your health points!
8. Eat spicy foods
Sadly, the post-Durban curry diarrhoea is not the reason for this increase in metabolism.
Eating a lot of spicy food may help burn calories, due to a substance called capsaicin found in peppers.
9. Drink coffee
The caffeine in coffee may boost your metabolism and therefore burn calories.
10. Cook with coconut oil
It is high in medium-chain fats which may increase the calories you burn.
Despite the hype, supplements that are promoted as fat busters and metabolism boosters rarely have a significant effect on your metabolism so please be wary of these.
Rather give a few of the ideas mentioned above a go. They are all relatively easy, manageable, and sustainable.
Wishing you all an awesome long weekend.
Tip number twenty one.
I love this message this quote from Kahlil Gibran. Your living is determined not so much by what life brings you, but by the attitude, you bring to life, not so much by what happens, as by the way, your mind looks at what happens. Let’s live life now!