We talk about metabolism all the time, but how many people really understand what metabolism is and how it affects weight loss?
Skinny people don’t necessarily have a higher metabolism than those who are overweight. Metabolism is actually the label for a process. Metabolism is the process of converting food (or beverages) into energy. Your metabolism is your biochemical furnace.
Those who are overweight generally have a very energy efficient (or very well supplied) furnace while those who are thin either have an inefficient furnace or simply do not fuel it. I dare say we’d all be grateful for an inefficient furnace that burns calories like they’re going out of style! When it comes right down to it, weight loss is all about calories in versus calories out.
There are three factors that control your metabolism.
They include:
Basic needs: Just remaining alive requires calories. Pumping the heart, breathing, operating one’s internal organs; all the very basic needs for life. These needs really don’t change much over the course of a lifetime.
Food processing: Yes, energy is required just to fuel the furnace. Digesting food, absorbing the nutrients, transporting those nutrients and even storing surplus energy as fat takes calories. This only accounts for about 10 percent of the calories you use every day so don’t get any crazy ideas about eating more food to burn more calories!
Physical activity: This is the one we really have some control over. We can sit on the couch and breathe to burn a minimal amount of calories or we can get up, move around and really set that furnace on fire! Whether you’re walking the dog and taking care of the kids or spinning and lifting, the temperature of your calorie burning furnace is really up to you. Thus the term “feel the burn”.
Some things that affect each individual’s caloric needs include:
Body size and composition: A bigger body requires more energy to maintain. This is why larger, overweight people are always hungry. It is also why those big, buff fellas in the gym eat six huge meals a day and don’t get fat.
Age: Generally speaking, we lose muscle and gain fat as we age. That tendency slows our metabolism. The good news is that no matter what age you are, you are never too old to build muscle and lose fat. It just gets a little harder after each subsequent birthday.
Sex: On average, men have less body fat and more muscle than women do. Yes, men have that going for them but most of them can’t hug a baby and get it to stop crying almost instantly. Women have that power thanks to two frontal fat storage units. Nature has its own form of give and take.
Now that you know all about metabolism, the idea of setting your butt on fire doesn’t seem so bad, does it?
Now get out there and start feeling the burn!
Related Blogs:
Lose 20 Pounds of Fat in 30 Days
Are you subscribed to the Families.com Weight Loss Blog? With the click of a button, you can receive an email notification anytime a new blog is posted in the Families.com Weight Loss Blog! Just look to the right of this blog and find the subscription center (it looks just like this picture). Click on “Subscribe via Email”. You’ll be instantly subscribed and the email address that you registered at Families.com with will receive an instant notification whenever we post a new Weight Loss Blog! Don’t miss a thing – subscribe now!