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Metabolism Control

Do You Need To Manage Your Metabolism?

The word metabolism doesn’t refer to the speed in which we use energy; it is the way in which the body uses available energy sources.  So rather than talking about ‘faster’ or ‘slower’ metabolism – metabolism should be referred to as efficient or inefficient, functional or dysfunctional.  There are 3 basic key points to know about in order to understand metabolism and energy expenditure: 

  1. Basal metabolic rate – this is the percentage of calories ingested which are used solely for cell functioning.  You use approximately 65% of your calorific intake on maintaining your body functions.
  2. Thermic effect of food – you use 10% of your calorie intake for maintaining the body at the correct temperature.  You may have heard of extreme weight loss ideas in which people submerge themselves in ice cold baths in order to ‘burn’ calories (to maintain body temperature), thus by doing so they experience weight loss. This is definitely not recommended or recognised as safe practice, but is seen only as an example of how people will try extreme methods in the weight loss battle.
  3. Physical activity – approximately 25% of calories ingested are expended on muscle contractions and movement.  In order to lose weight, a person needs to reduce their calorific intake and increase their basal metabolic rate.    

Tips to increase metabolic rate:

  • To increase the basal metabolic rate, you need to increase muscle mass.  Muscle cells are up to eight times more metabolically active than fat cells. In other words, muscle cells require up to eight times more energy to function than fat cells due to the nature of their role and so they burn more calories than fat does.   A person can increase muscle mass by weight-training or resistance exercising. 
  • To increase the thermic effect of food, you need to focus on changing your diet to eat more high quality protein rather than carbohydrates or fats.  However, you should note that complex carbohydrates burn more calories than simple carbohydrates.  The difference between complex and simple carbohydrates can be described as a long chain of sugar molecules and a short chain of sugar molecules respectively.   The long chain molecule, the complex carbohydrate e.g. high-fibre cereals and vegetables – require more energy to be broken down and therefore more calories are burned to break them down.  The process of the breakdown of the sugar molecules releases heat energy thus increases the thermic effect of food. 
  • Avoid dehydration, as it can contribute to an inefficient metabolism, by affecting body temperature. If someone is dehydrated, their body temperature drops slightly, and causes your body to store fat as a way to help raise or maintain the temperature.  So the advice is drink approximately 2-3 litres of water per day and an additional litre for every 30 minutes of strenuous exercise so avoid this metabolic pitfall.
  • Increase exercise. By increasing physical activity and aerobic exercises, it is thought that someone’s resting metabolism is increased as muscles need to repair and recover and energy is needed in order to do so. 

The increase in energy expenditure due to regular moderate exercise does not appear to be accompanied by a compensatory increase in appetite and energy intake.  The biochemistry of the obese diabetic is also improved by regimes including regular physical activity. 

 
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