Why Weight

How Can I Raise My Metabolism

By Adrian Whittle


Many people want to raise their metabolism because they think it will help them to lose weight or at least stabilize their weight. This is not completely true but it will help, provided other conditions are right. This article will discuss how you might raise the metabolism and what this means in terms of weight loss.

Metabolism has many definitions but it is basically the processing of food by the body. When people mention raising the metabolism or making it faster they mean the speed at which it uses the calories that it takes from the food. Calories give us the energy that we need to live everyday. In terms of metabolism, the calories are used in maintaining all the functions and processes that go on inside the body to keep it functioning. This is known as the basal metabolic rate and can account for 70% of the body's total energy needs. The rest of the calories are used for activities like working or doing exercise.

It is very hard to increase the basal rate but by increasing the percentage of muscle in the body, you will increase the basal metabolic rate or the metabolism as a whole. Muscle needs energy to be maintained and this means the body has to work harder. This means that you have to add more muscle to the body to raise your metabolism. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to push weights at a gym but do exercise that will strengthen the body as a whole.

Aerobic exercise will raise the metabolic rate during the exercise period and shortly there after but it will not have any long term affect. It will increase the heart rate and muscles that are used will burn calories during the exercise and after to recover.

It is thought that the metabolism has to work harder (burn more calories) to process protein rather than carbohydrates for example. This may be true because the structure of protein is more complex but it has to be eaten in the context of a balanced diet. The body needs a balance of carbohydrates, proteins and some fats to stay healthy. Eating on a regular basis, as in regular snacks and light main meals, increases the metabolism because it has to process the food. Again this has to be seen in the context that eating too many calories than your body needs will only make you gain weight.

What is high metabolism and other aspects of metabolism and weight loss are covered at http://www.metabolismmadeclear.com/ Adrian Whittle writes about food, nutrition and metabolism, including a metabolism booster for seniors.

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posted by Cheryl Levesque @ 9:01 AM