I have worked with many different clients over the last 36 years. Some of my clients are desperate to gain weight and can eat huge amounts of food without gaining a pound. Others put on 5 pounds just by looking at a piece of bread . It doesn’t seem fair to that one person can eat pretty much anything and maintain that beanpole figure, while others struggle to lose weight continuously. There could be many factors to these issues, but it often comes down to one simple answer-our metabolism.
Our metabolism consists of a number of different chemical reactions in the body that are necessary to maintain optimal life in our cells. Your metabolism is a network of hormones and enzymes that convert food into glucose (needed for energy) and also affects how efficiently you burn that fuel. Your metabolism can be measured by basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the amount of energy your body needs to burn in order to keep functioning. We are all individuals and these metabolic chemical reactions occur at individual rates. These individual metabolic rates lead to fast and slow metabolisms. Basically a fast metabolism burns what you eat quickly and a slow metabolism slowly burns the calories you consume.
There are many factors that create the speed (or slowness) that our metabolism burns our food intake. One of those factors is our genetics as we can actually inherit our metabolism speed from our parents. Another factor is our age.. As we get older, our cellular activity naturally slows down.. As frustrating as it may seem, whether we are male or female can make a difference, Men have more testosterone, among other factors and this can create a metabolism that can be 10 to 15 times faster than a woman’s.
Despite all of this genetic background, coupled with physical, we can change the rate at which we burn our food. Here’s how to do this:
1) Exercise
Muscle will burn 6 times the calories as will fat. What our body is composed of (lean muscle vs fat) plays a large role in our overall metabolic rate. You must train for muscle toning and strength to increase muscle development, contributing to a faster metabolism. Also all the receptor sites for insulin are found in our muscles. The more muscle cells we have , the more receptors we have for insulin, which is our fat and glucose storage hormone. To learn more about how to increase these receptor sites you may wish to joint my Ageless Body TM Program and private forum.
2) Nutrition
What we eat plays a large role when it comes to our metabolic rate; not only what we eat, but when we eat. Over the years, a number of my clients have told me that they skip meals during the day (or worse, have only 1 meal a day), hoping this will lower their daily calorie count and contribute to long term weight loss It is the opposite that occurs, however. When we skip meals, the body goes into a fight or flight “starvation mode. To protect itself and keep itself at “homeostasis” (body balance), our amazing body will actually slow down the metabolic processes in order to hold on to it’s glucose (energy) . This, as you might figure, leads to fewer calories burned. Rather than causing weight loss, skipping meals or doing one of the fad detox cleanses, so popular right now can lead to long term weight gain. It is super important to eat at regular intervals ,ideally every 3 hours, so the metabolism stays high and your weight stays where you want it.
3) Hormonal Balance
Our hormones interact with our bodies on many different levels. We have a number of different Stress and Sex hormones at work in our bodies For example, thyroid hormones, one of our sex hormones, play a large role in our general metabolic rate. If our thyroid hormones are elevated it will cause an increase in our metabolic rate. For some, this can lead to unusual weight loss and increased appetite. The same is true of a decrease in our thyroid hormones. This slows the metabolism and can be associated with weight gain. If you are having unusual weight loss or weight gain issues it is important to be tested by your medical doctor or naturpathic physician
4) Cellular nutrition Giving your cells the nutrition they need to be healthy and reproduce properly ( without cancer causing DNA) can be extremely helpful when it comes to increasing the metabolic rate, along with disease prevention. Often, when our metabolism is slow, giving the cells the nutrition they are craving for will make huge metabolism changes. A basic medical/ pharmaceutical grade multivitamin/mineral plus fish or EFA plant oil is key, ensuring optimal nutrient stores for your cells, so that basic physiological processes can occur effectively. Food grade vitamins, available in stores today do not provide all of these basic nutrients for optimal wellness and prevention. A food grade vitamin/mineral complex needs only to contain between 20 and 200% of what it says on the label and does not need to show purity or an ability to break down in the body. In addition, food grade vitamins do not have the correct balance needed, as shown in today’s medical literature to increase the metabolism.
Like to know more about this subject? Please shoot me an email and I am happy to answer your questions.
Yours in health,
Carolyn Hancox-Barr,President
Northridge Health Performance Centre/LiveWell Consulting
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