This word “metabolism” is thrown around a lot these days.
You know that if yours is too slow you might gain weight. But what exactly does this all mean?
Well, technically “metabolism” is the word to describe all of the biochemical reactions in your body. It’s how you take in nutrients and oxygen and use them to fuel everything you do.
What is Metabolism?
Your body has an incredible ability to grow, heal, and generally stay alive. And without this amazing biochemistry, you would not be possible.
Metabolism includes how the cells in your body allow:
- Storage of excess energy for later.
- Activities you can’t control (such as processing of nutrients & toxins, wound healing, heart beat, etc.).
- Activities you can control (including physical activity, etc.).
So when you put all of these processes together into your metabolism, you can imagine that these processes can work too quickly, too slowly, or just right.
Which brings us to the “metabolic rate”.
What is Metabolic Rate?
This is how fast your metabolism works and is measured in calories (yup, those calories!).
The calories you eat can go to one of three places:
- Heat – from all those biochemical reactions
- Work – exercise and other activity
- Storage – extra leftover “unburned” calories stored as fat
As you can imagine, the more calories you burn as work or creating heat, the easier it is to lose weight and keep it off, because there will be fewer “leftover” calories to store for later.
There are a couple of different ways to measure metabolic rate. One is the “resting metabolic rate” (RMR) which is how much energy your body uses when you’re not being physically active.
The other is the “total daily energy expenditure” (TDEE), which measures both the resting metabolic rate as well as the energy used for “work” (e.g. exercise) throughout a 24-hour period.
Related Article: Losing Weight After 30 Doesn’t Have To Be Hard
What Affects Your Metabolic Rate?
In a nutshell, a lot!
Your Thyroid
The first thing you may think of is your thyroid, which is the gland at the front of your throat that releases hormones to tell your body to “speed up” your metabolism. Of course, the more thyroid hormone there is, the faster things will work and the more calories you’ll burn.
Your Size
But that’s not the only thing that affects your metabolic rate.
How big you are counts, too!
Your Body Composition
Larger people have higher metabolic rates; but your body composition is crucial!
That’s because muscles that actively move and do work need more energy than fat does. So the more lean muscle mass you have, the more energy your body will burn AND the higher your metabolic rate will be, even when you’re not working out.
This is exactly why weight training is often recommended as a part of a weight loss program. Because you want muscles to be burning those calories for you.
The thing is, when people lose weight, their metabolic rate often slows down, which you DON’T want to happen. So you definitely want to offset that with more muscle mass.
Your Exercise
Aerobic exercise also temporarily increases your metabolic rate. Your muscles are burning fuel to move so they’re doing “work”.
Related Article: Fast Workouts for Busy People
Your Food
The type of food you eat also affects your metabolic rate!
Your body actually burns calories to digest, absorb, and metabolize your food. This is called the “thermic effect of food” (TEF).
You can use it to your advantage when you understand how your body metabolizes foods differently.
Fats, for example increase your TEF by 0-3%; carbs increase it by 5-10%, and protein increases it by 15-30%. By trading some of your fat or carbs for lean protein, you can slightly increase your metabolic rate.
Another bonus of protein is that your muscles need it to grow. By working them out and feeding them what they need, they will help you to lose weight and keep it off.
Your Mind-Body Connection
And don’t forget the mind-body connection. There is plenty of research that shows the influence that things like stress and sleep have on the metabolic rate.
Related Article: Learn How To Get Better Sleep To Avoid Weight Gain
What about you?
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to metabolism, how metabolism can help you lose weight and how so many different things can work to increase (or decrease) your metabolic rate. But it’s a good start to “get in the know”.
Hi, I’m Emma Lynn
I’m a proud mother of two wonderful children and a wife to a loving, affectionate husband. I enjoy exercise – yoga (yes, I teach yoga as well), running, and going to different fitness classes from time to time.
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