Posted by AMelane in
metabolism,
wellness
Kick off your New Year right….
Top two New Year’s resolutions are Losing weight and getting healthier…
I am kicking off a weekly blog that is geared toward providing information, dispelling myths, and encouraging words to help you along your journeys…
My First installment is on Metabolism- “No more excuses”
When are trying unsuccessfully to lose weight, some will say, “ I can’t lose weight, because my metabolism is too slow” or "It's my metabolism!"
Sound familiar? If you're carrying some extra pound, it's tempting to put the blame on a sluggish metabolism.
But is your metabolism really the reason it's often so hard to lose weight? And, more important, is there anything you can do about it?
What Is Metabolism?
Your metabolism, experts say, involves a complex network of hormones and enzymes that not only convert food into fuel but also affect how efficiently you burn that fuel.
"The process of metabolism establishes the rate at which we burn our calories and, ultimately, how quickly we gain weight or how easily we lose it," says Robert Yanagisawa, MD, director of the Medically Supervised Weight Management Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
Of course, not everyone burns calories at the same rate.
Your metabolism is influenced by your age (metabolism naturally slows about 5% per decade after age 40); your sex (men generally burn more calories at rest than women); and proportion of lean body mass (the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate tends to be).
Occasionally, a defect in the thyroid gland can slow metabolism, though this problem is relatively rare.
And here's a fact that may surprise you: the more weight you carry, the faster your metabolism is likely running.
Extra weight causes your body to work harder just to maintain itself at rest, so in most instances, the metabolism is always running a bit faster
That's one reason it's almost always easiest to lose weight at the start of a diet, and harder later on, so when you are very overweight your metabolism is already running so high that any small cut in calories will result in an immediate loss.
Then, when you lose significant amounts of body fat and muscle, your body needs fewer calories to maintain it. This helps explain why it's so easy to regain weight after you've worked to lose it.
For example, If two people both weigh 200 pounds, and one got there by dieting down from 350 and the other one was always at 200, the one who got there by cutting calories is going to have a slower metabolism. That means they will require fewer calories to maintain their weight than the person who never went beyond 200 pounds.
Revving Your Engine
Though some of the factors affecting metabolic rate can't be changed, happily, there are ways to maximize the metabolism you're born with -- even when you're dieting.
Among the best ways is exercise. This includes aerobic workouts to burn more calories in the short term, and weight training to build the muscles that will boost your metabolism in the long run.
Because muscle burns more calories than fat, even while at rest, the more muscles you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate, which means the more calories your body will be burning.
Eat More, Burn Better
Of course, the diet advice we'd all love to hear is "Eat more and lose more weight!" But what really works is "Eat more often, and you'll lose more weight." Small, but frequent, meals help keep your metabolism in high gear, and that means you'll burn more calories overall.
"When you put too many hours between meals, your metabolism actually slows down to compensate, for the lack of fuel.
If you then eat a huge meal -- at the same time your metabolism is functioning as if you're starving -- your body wants to hold on to every calorie.
While this won't make much difference on an occasional basis, but make it a way of life and it can get harder to lose or maintain weight.
Fat-Burning Foods?
From Red Pepper to Green tea, there are many claims that certain food s can increase your metabolism.
Actually, any food will increase your metabolism, mostly in the first hour after you eat
In a small study on Japanese women published in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers found red pepper caused the body to heat up and revved the metabolism following a meal. But the most effects were seen primarily when the red pepper was eaten with high-fat foods (which are also higher in calories).
Another small study, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, reported that male athletes who added red pepper to high-carbohydrate meals boosted both their resting and active metabolic rates 30 minutes after the meal. But there was no evidence this burn power was lasting.
The same appears true for green tea, which contains a substance called EGCG, a powerful antioxidant that some believe can bring about the same kind of calorie-burning effect as hot pepper.
In a study of 10 men published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that 90 milligrams of EGCG and 50 milligrams of caffeine taken with meals boosted 24-hour energy expenditure by 4% (caffeine alone did not show a similar effect).
But it's not clear whether this effect would be enough to boost weight loss.
You would have to drink so much of it in order to see even a small effect that it really isn’t worth it. Drink green tea for other health-giving properties
Your best bet for keeping metabolism revved: Build muscles, snack on low-calorie, high-protein foods, and keep moving!
Next week…Portion Distortion and Cutting Calories
