Ever heard of people talking about metabolism? Do you even know what it is? You`d be forgiven if you haven`t but you may be interested to know that it plays such a vital role in determining weight control and the rate of fat you burn. In this article we will talk about why exercise is key to elevating your metabolism, and what factors are associated in determining its optimal function.
We hear a lot of talk about wonder pills, smoothies and various diets that raises your metabolism, but believe it or not, including exercise into your weekly lifestyle can be the magic ingredient for boosting your metabolism. Think of your metabolism as a powerful system that converts your food in efficient ways to make new cells whilst providing you with energy to go about your daily life.
Factors that Affect Your Metabolism
Numerous factors can affect how well your metabolism is able to function properly. Let’s take a brief moment to identify some of the things that may get in the way of our bodies operating at optimal levels.
Age
It`s been proven through many studies that our metabolism begins to decline as we get older. Our advancing years often leads to gaining extra pounds that are difficult to shed. In addition, we can also lose anywhere from three to five percent of our muscle mass as we become less active. With these two factors combined, it isn`t that surprising the pounds to begin to accumulate, especially around the waistline area. Blame it on a slower metabolism, yet there are ways to counteract the effects of ageing. We should look to remain active as long as possible and try to burn 30 to 50 percent of our calories through some form of exercise activity.
Gender
It`s recognised that females tend to have a lower metabolism than men, this is primarily due to determining factors such as estrogen levels and a lower resting metabolic rate. This helps to establish overall total daily energy release and plays a vital role in the regulation of energy balance.
Hormones
Hormones play an important role and can wreak havoc on your metabolism if they are out of sync. High levels of cortisol is known to promote weight gain and increase our risk of heart disease and diabetes. One way to combat this is to work out before consuming a meal as this can help to drop those cortisol levels and improve your metabolic functions.
Testosterone levels are also known to decrease as we age and can trigger weight gain and leave us feeling fatigued. Daily workout routines can help to keep your testosterone levels at a healthy and stable level, which in turn allows for a healthy metabolism.
The hormone Estrogen is another factor that can trigger a malfunctioning metabolism. An imbalance in this hormone can be common, mainly in females and may cause your weight to increase rapidly. This gives testimony to a metabolism that may not be functioning in a way that is most beneficial to you.
An imbalance with the thyroid hormone can disrupt the overall effectiveness of your metabolism. The thyroid hormone helps to regulate metabolic processes in the body that are vital for growth, development, and metabolism.
Finally, hyperthyroidism or a thyroid that is in a hypermetabolic state can cause your metabolism to go into overdrive. This can lead to weight loss and excessive use of your resting energy. Conversely, an underperforming thyroid caused by hypometabolism may create a reduced resting energy expenditure, and is liable to cause weight gain.
Exercise and Metabolism
Trying to work out all the ways to regain control of your metabolism can be overwhelming, but there is one thing you can do that gives the body a kickstart into action and that is to exercise. Working out and getting your body moving helps the muscles to utilise a substantial amount of energy and burn calories. The good thing about exercising is that even after the workout is finished, your muscles will continue to burn fat and helps to keep your metabolism functioning at optimal levels.
What Exercise is Best for Your Metabolism?
In terms of what single exercise works best for a healthy metabolism? The answer to that question is there isn`t a specific best exercise, but there are a couple of activities that when worked in conjunction can do wonders to help get to put your metabolism into overdrive.
Lifting Weights to Burn Fat
One of the best things you can do when working out is to include resistance training. Lifting weights is a fantastic approach to helping you not only build muscles but burn fat as well. Muscles use more calories at rest than fat cells. Don’t worry about developing an obsession with the gym. You only need two days a week to perform two or three sets of repetitions (12-15) and this is a great way to stabilise or even raise your metabolism. Heck, you can even do this from the comfort of your own home, just focus on working on those major muscle groups, ie; back, chest, arms, legs, and abs.
Aerobic Activity
Performing some sort of Aerobic activity is another vital ingredient for boosting your metabolism. Interval training is particularly useful and yields positive results. Running, walking, swimming, kickboxing, or even Zumba are excellent options for enhancing your metabolism.
To conclude, there are varying reasons why it may appear difficult to control your metabolism, but we hope this article has helped you in some way to try to identify why you are experiencing this problem. Getting more mobile and active is without doubt a fantastic option available to you for keeping your weight under control and hopefully helps you understand why exercise is key to elevating your metabolism.
