We hear a lot of metabolism these days, but what really is it and why is it so important in regards to health and weight loss?

Metabolism is a process that occurs in your body every time you eat and drink, and this process basically takes what you’ve ingested and turns it into energy the body can use. Your body combines oxygen with those foods and drinks and this action releases energy needed by the body. You might hear people saying,”well she just has a better metabolism than me.” What does this even mean, though, if all of our bodies are in fact using the same metabolic processes?

The answer to this is each individual person’s basal metabolic rate.This basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories your particular system uses to perform basic bodily functions. (breathing, changing hormone levels, circulating blood, & growing/repairing cells) Well all of our bodies carry out these functions, so what makes this basal metabolic rate different from person to person? There are a few factors that can affect this, including:  Your body size, body composition, gender, and age. One thing to note is that, while we can’t change our gender and age, we CAN change our body composition. By building muscle, we add to the weight in our body while actually making our bodies smaller. This added weight through more muscle causes our bodies to burn more calories throughout the day, at rest.

Outside of this basal metabolic rate, there are also other things you do in your daily life that affect how many calories the body burns. Food Processing (thermogenesis), Physical Activity, and Nonexercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) are all things done every single day that affect the total number calories burned. Food Processing includes all the bodies processes it uses to break down and absorb your food. Every time you eat, your body has to go through these steps to break down and properly use that food and it starts that metabolic process all over again. Physical Activity burns a more significant number of calories than food processing, by far. This includes the exercise you do, running around with your kids, etc. Non exercise Activity Thermogenesis includes less deliberate physical movements like walking to the next room, fidgeting, picking up the phone, etc. These are small things, but this still take energy to perform and therefore also burn calories!

Now this is all great information, but what the heck does it all mean if you’re trying to lose weight or burn more calories?! This information shows us what we need to do if we are looking to burn more calories throughout the day, and what small and large changes we need to make to achieve this. Here is a breakdown of what you can do in your daily life, based on this information, to burn more calories per day:

1. Focus on building lean muscle, not just burning fat and calories. You can increase your basal metabolic rate by building the muscle on your body up, which will in turn help burn fat and give you a leaner look. Building muscle can be done by simply incorporating weight training in to your training routine each week. 
2. Make sure you’re eating enough and often enough. For some time, people were taught that you could just not eat and you’d lose weight. This is no true at all. You NEED food for your body to function properly, and you can actually damage your metabolism if you are eating way too little for too long. It’s important that you eat enough throughout the day, but to make healthier decisions whenever eating. By eating every couple hours, instead of 3 large meals a day, we can also keep that thermogenesis from food processing going all day long. Think about it, you’re giving your body 5-6 times to go through that process instead of only 3 times per day.
3. Get into an exercise routine! Even if it’s just for 20-30 minutes per day, we should all have some sort of exercise routine. Physical activity is the best way to burn the most calories, so this is one of the most important points. You can bicycle, swim, climb, jump rope, take a class, play basketball, run with your dog, lift weights, etc.
4. Make small decisions everyday to walk and move a little more. You can burn between 100-800 each day just through Nonexercise Thermogenic Activity! You can decide to park at the back of the parking lot. Choose to take the stairs everyday instead of the elevator. Take a walk with your dog instead of just throwing the ball in the back yard. Cook at home instead of sitting at a restaurant, and do the dishes by hand. These small things DO add up.

So just remember that metabolism is not completely out of your control, and there are many other factors that play an important role in losing inches off your waist!

 

XOXO

Devon