Metabolism Definition
Metabolism definition, as defined 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.
It helps
organs maintain their
structure and respond to their environment.
What does all this mean?
To restate this in layman’s terms,
the definition of metabolism is the rate that your body burns
calories in order to sustain bodily functions.
The
metabolic rate for each person is different and depends on several
factors.
Understanding
your metabolism and what can impact, is important when trying to lose
weight.
After all, weight loss is all about buring more calories than
you consume.
What Impacts Metabolism
Part
of understanding metabolism definition is knowing what can impact it.
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.
In addition to this article on
metabolism definition, read this article on
calories definition.
Additional Articles
Calories Burned During Exercise
Rev up your metabolism through exercise. Learn which
exercises burn more calories and how it's calculated.
Metabolism Boosters
Now that you have a good understanding of metabolism definition, check
out these methods to boost up your metabolism naturally.
Weight Loss Over 40
Don't let your slowing metabolism slow you down on your weight loss.
Check out these tips for losing weight over the age of 40.