Taking the Mystery Out of Metabolism

Author：佚名 Source：none Hits：134 UpdateTime：2008-10-19 0:57:27


Metabolism is one of the most misconstrued processes in the body. Today, you can look around in any super market and find new products promising to fire up your metabolism and help you loose weight. Unfortunately for the consumer, there is no such thing as a pill, cleanse or special food that is scientifically known to do just that. By explaining exactly what the process is and the REAL solutions that you have control over will help take the mystery out of metabolism.

Metabolism is the amount of energy your body requires in order to maintain itself. It determines how many calories of food you need to ingest each day to stay at the same weight. Your metabolism is composed of three factors that determine how many calories it needs each day: resting metabolic rate (RMR), thermic effect of food (TEF) and physical activity. RMR is the energy we need for basic functioning such as breathing, sleeping and growing cells. RMR accounts for 60-70 percent of our energy expenditure and is almost entirely dependent on our body composition, the amount of muscle versus the amount of fat. TEF, which accounts for only 10 percent of calories used each day, consists of digesting, absorbing and metabolizing our food. The third factor is physical activity and accounts for the remaining energy requirements. The frequency, duration and intensity of activities such as walking the dog, playing with your kids, running a 10K or lifting weights will increase your body's caloric expenditure.

Let's take a look at the two factors we have control over, physical activity and RMR. The more we move, the more energy we will need to maintain the same body weight. If we increase our activity and start burning more calories than we ingest, our bodies will respond by using other fuel sources in the body, such as fat, to use as energy. This deficit, in turn, is what causes weight loss.

RMR, we know that it is highly dependent on lean muscle mass. No matter your age, sex or body frame, a pound of muscle will always burn the same amount of calories as anybody else, period! Sayings like, "I have a slow metabolism" "If only I had a metabolism of a man" or "Ever since I hit 30 my metabolism hasn't been the same" are all common misconceptions that imply that some of us are genetic winners or losers. In reality, the population of women, the aged and the overweight all tend to have lower muscle mass and therefore burn fewer calories. This should be a liberating fact! It means that no matter who you are or your place in life, you have opportunity to build muscle mass and increase your metabolism!

Once you break down the process of how metabolism truly works it is not such a mystery after all. No pill, liquid or special food can trick your body into thinking it needs to be expending more calories than it needs. Once you focus on putting more muscle on your frame and increasing your daily activity, your metabolism will be a fuel efficient calorie burner, just as the body intended!