Proper nutrition and physical activity are not all the factors that affect the rate of metabolism. In this article, you will find out what else will help you control your metabolism.
1. Improving metabolism does not mean exercising more and eating less harmful products
In addition to the diet and type of physical activity, there are a lot of other factors that affect metabolism. Here are some of them: sleep, hormonal indicators, the thyroid gland performance, peculiarities of the constitution, and so on. However, we’ll talk about this later.
2. There is no need to compare yourself with others
No other person on the planet has the same metabolism as you have. We mean that there are no uniform rules that would work equally well for all of us. To fully understand how your metabolism works, you need to study yourself, your characteristics, and your genetics.
Suppose you have friends, and they are twins. They may have attended a gym for eight or ten years already. But the most interesting thing is that they will have different training programs. Because they will surely notice sooner or later that the same program gives different results.
Once again: there is no other person with the same metabolism.
3. Calculators and formulas for counting calorie consumption are inaccurate
Such formulas and calculators are wrong in about 10% of cases. That is, if the calculator shows 2100 kcal, it may turn out that you have burned 210 calories less (or more).
These calculators can still help people with “predictable” metabolism, but most of us do not belong to this category. There are many people whose metabolic rate is above or below average. For them, the error in calculations can be up to 20%. That is, if the calculator shows 2100 kcal, you may actually consume 420 kcal. And this figure is too big to ignore.
4. Sleep affects metabolism as much as food and sports
An increasing number of scientists around the world suggest that chronic lack of sleep leads to gaining weight and is the cause of many diseases associated with obesity.
Experiments show that when a person does not sleep enough, his/her body begins to demand more high-calorie foods (carbohydrates), but finds it more difficult to digest these foods, which leads to excess fat.
5. Stress also affects metabolism
Prolonged stress contributes to the deposition of fat in the abdominal area. The problem is that this type of obesity (compared to excess fat on the thighs and buttocks) leads to diabetes, heart problems and other diseases more often.
The reason is that large quantities of hormone cortisol are produced in the time of stress, which interferes with the metabolic rate.
6. The body burns calories even when we do nothing
There is such a thing as the “basic metabolic rate” (BMR) – the number of calories the body spends to maintain its livelihood. That is the energy we spend even when we do nothing. Most people on the planet spend the lion’s share of their daily energy exactly to run this process.
7. With age, metabolism slows down
The older we get, the more effort we need to be in good shape. There is an interesting fact about the scientists still being unable to figure out the reason for age-related decrease in the metabolic rate.
8. Muscles consume more calories than fat
The slimmer and fitter a person is, the more calories his/her body requires. This is due to the fact that muscles need more calories than the fat tissue.
For this reason, the metabolic rate is calculated differently for men and women. For example, if you take a typical man and a typical woman with the same weight, the man will burn more calories per day. This is only because men usually have more muscle mass than women.
9. Protein helps build muscles, whereas reducing the amount of carbohydrates speeds up the fat burning process
To grow the muscles, your body needs to consume protein. And to get rid of excess fat, you need to reduce the consumption of carbohydrates.
The fact is that when we consume carbohydrates, our body begins to draw energy from them instead of breaking down the fat tissue. In other words, if the goal is to get rid of fat, you reduce the amount of carbohydrates, and it will help to achieve this goal faster. And if the plan is to build or strengthen your muscles, you need to ensure that the body gets enough protein.
10. Interval training and weight training improve metabolism
Interval training and weight training are a signal to the body that it needs to build the muscle mass. The bigger your muscle mass is, the better metabolism you have. 25 minutes of intense load with the change of activity are better than 45 minutes of monotonous exercises at a moderate pace.
If your goal is to speed up your metabolism, the fastest way to achieve this is to choose the exercises that will help expend more energy.
11. Drinking coffee before exercises helps burn more fat
Caffeine that is contained in coffee frees the fat cells, which the body uses as the energy source. The more free energy the body has, the harder we train.
12. The protein received within 30 minutes after training promotes muscle growth
During the training we destroy our muscle tissue. To restore it, the body needs some building material. Protein manifests itself as the building material for muscles. Therefore it is better to consume protein not later than 30 minutes after the workout.
13. An hour of walking in the street is more useful than an hour of planning another diet
Simple things, such as walking outdoors or jogging, are a much more reliable way to burn more calories than the attempts to manipulate your metabolism by selecting some diets and food additives.
Do you want to burn more calories? Get off the bus three stops away from your house and walk on foot; discard the elevator; walk before going to bed. Believe it or not, these are time-tested ways to burn more calories.
14. You’ll learn a lot more about your metabolism, if you keep track of what you eat, what you are doing, and your weight
Watching how the weight of the body changes depending on what you eat and what kind of training you have will help determine what changes you need to make in order to get the desired result.
15. If you think that you do everything correctly, and there is no result – see your doctor
Metabolism and your ability to gain, lose and maintain weight are a much more complicated process than just controlling calorie consumption and energy expenditure.
Many factors affect the rate of metabolism. You can eat properly, exercise actively, but the problems with the thyroid gland, the hormones, or trivial heredity will spoil the result. Therefore, if you see that something is wrong, consult your doctor and undergo a medical examination to understand where your body’s weak point is.
And remember that you are different. And you have your own metabolism.
