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 Learn about - your metabolism
Metabolic rate is the rate at which the body burns up calories. A body that consumes 2500 calories a day and burns 2500 calories a day will stay the same weight.
A body consuming 2500 calories daily but burns only 2000 will gain weight at the rate of about 1 lb a week.
The secret of burning calories lies in knowing what determines your metabolic rate and what you can do to influence it.
You burn calories to provide energy for three main functions:
- Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the amount of calories you burn just by being alive – even when you are lying down, doing nothing. BMR accounts for approximately 60% of the calories burned.
- Burning Calories for Activity. This is the energy used during movement – from lifting your arm to operation the remote control to cleaning the windows. This accounts for approximately 30% of the calories burned.
- Dietary Thermogenesis. The ‘thermogenic effect’ described as meal-induced heat production – the calories burned in the process of eating,digesting, absorbing and using food.
You can influence all these factors, and speed up your rate of burning calories using some, or all, of the following tactics:
- Build Muscle – increase the amount of muscle in your body. For every extra pound of muscle you put on, your body uses around 50 extra calories a day. This is because muscle is metabolically active and burns move calories than other body tissue even when you’re not moving.
- Aerobic Exercise – as well as the actual amount of calories burned during exercise – studies have shown that sustained, high-intensity exercise makes you burn more calories for several hours afterwards. Try 30 minute sessions of heart raising exercise 3-4 times a week.
- Move More – although the average person burns around 30% of calories through daily activity, many sedentary people only use around 15%. Simply being aware of this fact – and taking every opportunity to move can make quite a dramatic difference to the amount of calories you burn. Take the stairs instead of the lift, stand up when on the phone, use the upstairs loo, park in the furthest corner of the car park.
- East Spicy Food – there is evidence to show that spices, especially chilli, can raise the metabolic rate by up to 50% for up to 3 hours after you’ve eaten a spicy meal.
- Eat Little and Often – evidence shows that eating small, regular meals will keep your metabolism going faster then larger, less frequent meals. There are two reasons why meal frequency may affect your metabolism. Firstly, levels of thyroid hormes beging to drop within hours of eating a meal, and metabolism slows. Secondly, it may be that thermogenic effect of eating several small meals is slightly higher than eating the same amount of calories all at once. Provided your small meals don’t degenerate into quick-fix, high fat, high sugar snacks, eating little and often can also help to control hunger and make you feel less likely to binge.
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