Boosting
Metabolism: Is it Possible?
It’s
one of the most maddening—and somewhat unfair—facts
about human existence: some people can eat whatever they
want and never gain weight, while others eat very little
and have a weight problem. What is the difference between
these two groups of people? Metabolism: the way your body
uses calories from the food you eat. Metabolism is a complex
process that involves many different chemical reactions
and organs in your body. The bottom line is, unfortunately,
some people burn calories more than others. If you happen
to be one of those people who don’t need many calories
to keep you going, you may be happy to hear that boosting
metabolism is possible, although not always easy.
Boosting
metabolism can be a challenging experience, especially as
you age. After the age of 40, your metabolism will slow
at a rate of about 5 percent per decade. Other factors that
influence metabolism are gender (men need more calories
than women to survive), heredity, thyroid issues, and the
amount of muscle mass you have.
Strangely,
when you weigh more, technically your metabolism is running
higher. The more people weigh, the more calories they need
to maintain that weight. This fact makes boosting metabolism
essential when you lose weight, because otherwise, the weight
will be easily regained if you go back to your old eating
habits.
In
some ways, you are stuck with the metabolism you were born
with, but there are a few tricks to boosting metabolism
that will help you lose weight and maintain your weight
loss. Basically, there is one key to boosting metabolism:
exercise.
Both
aerobic exercise and weight lifting will help you in boosting
metabolism. Aerobic workouts burn more calories while you
participate in the exercise, and these workouts also boost
your metabolism in the hours following your exercise. Weight
training is just as important for boosting metabolism. Why?
Because weightlifting builds muscle tissue. When your body
is at rest, muscle tissue burns way more calories than fat
tissue—up to 15 times more calories.
So,
even though you may have been given a slow metabolism by
nature, aerobic exercise and weightlifting may be able to
give you the metabolism boosting edge that you’ve
been searching for.
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