Everyone talks about metabolism, especially when it comes to reducing their weight. Although the better the metabolism, the easier it becomes to maintain weight, but you cannot entirely blame your metabolism if you are not losing weight!
What is metabolism?
It is a biochemical process, which occurs in the human body constantly to maintain the continuity of vital processes, such as digestion of food, breathing, removal of toxins and so on to maintain the continuity of human life. In other words, it is the rate at which the body burns calories.
Metabolism depends upon your age, genes, physical activity level, diet and body composition. However, diet and physical activity are the only two aspects which you can work to improve your metabolism.
Why is metabolism important?
Nutrition: Eating the right nutrients in the adequate amount
It is important to eat enough calories as per your basal metabolic rate, else having less than required will reduce your metabolism. Calories coming from the type of food also plays a role due to the thermal effect of food and the type of nutrients they offer. For instance, protein metabolism makes you burn more calories compared to carbohydrate-rich meals, and they also help provide better satiety.
Including fibre rich wholesome foods like whole grains, millets, fruits, and vegetables help provide better satiety and maintain your blood sugar levels. Eating food which is processed and a poor source of nutrients is not good for health while making you feel sluggish. Therefore, it is suggested to have the right nutrients in the right amount and appropriate calories to keep you going.
Exercise: works on your core metabolism
Exercise provides you with many health benefits and is important to pep up your metabolism as well. It can be divided into cardiovascular and strength training exercises. Both are essential when it comes to reducing weight, improving health parameters and leading a better life.
However, as per studies, it has been observed that strength training exercises are best advised when it comes to working on improving your metabolism.
Resistance training helps increase RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) as well as daily energy expenditure which has a positive impact on weight management. The effect is due to an increase in Fat-Free Mass (FFM) when adequate intake of protein is also maintained in the diet. FFM helps increase RMR by about 50-75%. (Aristizabal, et al., 2015)
Active lifestyle and Sleep
Lifestyle has a huge impact on us, as a good lifestyle includes proper -eating patterns, habits, activity level, water intake, sleeping patterns and even your state of mind can either deter or increase your basal metabolism.
Moving around and staying active also helps improve your metabolism. So, it is advised to move around every hour to avoid sluggishness.
Sleep helps charge up your metabolism, as lack of sleep doesn€™t let your body recover fully. Also, the lack of sleep is increasingly associated with weight gain and metabolic problems.
To conclude, metabolism does hold importance, as the higher the metabolism, the easier it is to maintain weight status. Improvement in diet, lifestyle and exercise can help boost resting metabolic rate,
REFERENCES
Kirk EP, Donnelly JE, Smith BK, Honas J, Lecheminant JD, Bailey BW et al. (2009). Minimal resistance training improves daily energy expenditure and fat oxidation. Med Sci Sports Exerc; 41: 1122-1129.
Aristizabal, et al. (2015).Effect of resistance training on resting metabolic rate and its estimation by a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry metabolic map.European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.831-836
