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Understanding Your MetabolismMetabolism as define by Wikipedia is “the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms in order to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures and respond to their environments”. What does all this mean? To restate this in layman’s terms, metabolism is the rate that your body burns calories. The metabolic rate for each person is different and depends on several factors. What Impacts Metabolism There are certain things that impact your metabolism which you have no control over. These include age, gender and heredity. Age Once you reach the big 40, your metabolism will slow down at a rate of 5% per decade. At about the age of 40, your body produces less and less of the growth hormone. This hormone is needed for the growing process during childhood and for adulthood to help maintain tissues and organs throughout your life. But at around the age of 40 your body begins to reduce the amount of the growth hormone produced. Once your metabolic rate slows down due to age, you may have to adjust your eating habits by taking in fewer calories than you have in the past as well as add activity. Try including both aerobic exercises and strength training in your weekly routine to help maintain and build lean muscles. Gender Although this may not seem fair, it is true that men tend to have more lean muscle than women. Lean muscle helps to rev up your metabolism. The reason for this is that muscle is more metabolically demanding than fat. A healthy range of body fat for women is 20% - 25% and for men the range is 10% - 15% of body fat. A body fat percent over 30% for women or 20% for men would indicate obesity. Genes Your genes play a part in your metabolism as well. Now I don’t mean the jeans you buy at the store, but the genes you got from mom and dad. Some people are born with a naturally higher or lower metabolism. If all things were equal between two people; same gender, age, height and weight, and each ate the same amount of calories and got the same amount of exercise, one of these may actually gain weight while the other stayed the same. This is because of the different metabolic rate. This is where hereditary comes into play. Determining your basal metabolic rate is not an exact science but most weight loss calculators will be good approximation of your BMR. This weight loss calculator not only shows your BMR, but adjusts your calorie intake based on activity level as well. When using this calculator, make sure to monitor your progress and adjust as needed. You may have a naturally slow metabolism and therefore may have to add more exercise and/or consume fewer calories. How to Boost Your Metabolism Boosting your metabolism can help you lose weight. This is especially critical if you have metabolic syndrome. So, even though you cannot stop the aging process, change your gender or remove the bad genes you may have inherited, there are things you can do to help boost your calorie burn rate. Although there are many different supplements and diet pills that claim to boost metabolism, first try these common metabolism booster methods. These are tips to boost your calorie burn naturally without the need for supplements. These tips will help incorporate lifestyle changes that will allow you get your metabolic rate higher and get it revved up. Also, try adjusting some of the foods you eat. Certain foods have vitamins and nutrients that help to increase your metabolic rate. Be sure to check out these metabolism booster foods. Have you already tried many different ways to boost your rate? Then click here for some booster tips you may not have heard of. Additional articles Body Mass Index Find out if you have a potential weight issue or excess fat by understanding the body mass index. Lose Belly Fat Are you doing 100 abdominal exercises but still don't have a flat stomach? Check out how to lose belly fat without doing 100 crunches. Online Medical Information - Medmark is a great site for healthcare students and professionals seeking online information, links, journals and other resources on many health and medicine subjects. Exercise
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