What Is Your Metabolism?
You’ve probably heard the word “metabolism,” especially as it relates to weight loss or gain. But what is your metabolism, what does it do, and do you have any control over it? Get-Fit Guy Brock Armstrong explains.
Brock Armstrong
Listen
What Is Your Metabolism?
Scientifically speaking, “metabolism” is a term that describes all the chemical reactions involved in being a living organism. And while it is true that metabolism is linked to body weight, a slow metabolism is rarely the root cause of excess weight gain.
While there are health conditions that slow the metabolism such as Cushing’s Syndrome or an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism), those cases are quite rare. So while it may be tempting to blame your metabolism for weight gain, it is a natural process and your body has many mechanisms that regulate it to meet your individual needs.
Most often, when we talk about metabolism, we are actually talking about what is known as our basal metabolic rate (BMR). And our BMR is better defined as the average amount of calories we expend while simply living our best lives.
Basal Metabolic Rate
The most accurate way to find out your basal metabolic rate is to have it measured in a lab. But you also can calculate an approximation of your metabolic rate using an online calculator. Or you can also use the Harris-Benedict Equation:
- Men: BMR = 88.362 + (13.397 x weight in kg) + (4.799 x height in cm) – (5.677 x age in years)
- Women: BMR = 447.593 + (9.247 x weight in kg) + (3.098 x height in cm) – (4.330 x age in years)
Then, after you have your approximate BMR, you can find out your total metabolic rate. But as I will explain shortly, your total metabolism (metabolic rate) is a combination of your BMR and other myriad metabolic processes.
What Affects Your Metabolism?
Metabolism is mostly affected by what your body (specifically your muscles) are doing at rest – not just the small percentage of the day when you are exercising. For the most part, it is our muscles’ resting metabolism that makes up the greatest portion of BMR.
Metabolism is also the process by which the body converts food into energy. During this biochemical process, the calories in our food are combined with oxygen to set free the energy that we need to stay alive.
Even when we are asleep, our bodies need this energy to do things like breathe, circulate blood, regulate hormone levels, and grow and repair. The amount of energy our body uses to carry out these functions contributes to our basal metabolic rate.
When you exercise, play a sport, or otherwise raise your heart rate, your metabolism is temporarily affected but it is the metabolic activity of your muscle mass at rest that defines it. So, if you want to have the healthiest amount of muscle mass in proportion to your skeletal mass (which is my fancy way of avoiding the term BMI), you need to focus on increasing the activity of the electrical channels in your muscle system.
What is the best way to do that, you ask? Well, it’s not a scientifically devised workout that I will sell to you for $59.99. It is in fact simply moving your body more, and more often.
The factor which messes with our body’s health the most is the growing amount of time that we spend having nearly zero electricity flowing through our muscles.
Passive tissues are doing nothing for your metabolism or your physical well being. Active tissue is kickstarting your metabolism and your health. I have said it before and I will say it again: The hours you spend sitting at your desk or slouched on the couch cannot be erased or negated with 30 or even 90 minutes of dedicated exercise.
Just to be clear:
-
Passive = sitting in your car on the way to work.
-
Active = pedalling your bike or walking to work.
-
Passive = sitting (or even standing still) at your desk.
-
Active = pacing around your office.
-
Passive = writing this article on my laptop.
-
Active = gesturing wildly while dictating into Google Dictation.
How Do You Increase Your Muscles’ Metabolism?
First, let’s start by actively lengthening those muscles. Having too much tension in your muscles (hypertonicity) means that they are not as metabolically active as they could be. The more metabolically active muscles would be both long, strong, and force-generating.
So, yes this means that you need to stretch your muscles but it also means that you need to use your muscles in their full ranges of motion. And that means squatting all the way down to the ground to pick up that errant pen, or stretching your body to its limits while lifting that heavy bag of flour on to the top pantry shelf.
Physical Activity and Metabolism
It will come as no surprise to you that the more active you are, the more energy (calories) you burn. In fact, some people who appear to have (or claim to have) a fast metabolism may simply be more active throughout their day (doing things like standing, walking, and fidgeting).
Any extra movement helps increase that electrical activity in the muscles I mentioned earlier. So look for simple ways to move around more and more each day. For example: park further from the store entrance, take the stairs rather than the elevator, get up out of your chair every hour. Activities like taking care of kids, gardening, and even housework also create electrical activity in the muscles and boost metabolism.
Strength training (not just lifting weights) is a great way to add more metabolically active tissue to your body. And this becomes even more important as we get older because it helps counteract muscle loss associated with aging.
Metabolism-Boosting Supplements
Beware of products that claim to speed up your metabolism because they are generally overhyped. Supplementing with things like hot chilli peppers, minerals or antioxidants may provide a small boost in your metabolism, but not a significant enough boost to make a difference in your weight. Here are a few others that make big claims but yield minimal results…
Capsaicin is the chemical that puts the “jala” in jalapeños and it is said that capsaicin can boost your metabolism. But a review of 20 research studies found that capsaicin only increased the number of calories burned by a measly 50 per day. Spend a few minutes walking up some stairs and you have that beat!
Chromium is a mineral that your body uses in small amounts and is said to help raise metabolism. But a study reported in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that chromium picolinate supplements actually had no effect on weight loss.
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) also has mixed results. A review of studies published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that CLA may help with modest weight and fat loss, but the effects were small and uncertain.
And finally, resveratrol was found to burn fat in rats. But the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences found that there is not enough evidence to support its use in humans yet.
It is important to keep in mind that dietary supplement manufacturers in the USA are not required by the Food and Drug Administration to prove that their products are effective before they are sold, so view these products with caution and skepticism.
Factors That Can Lower Your Metabolic Rate
Now it is quick and dirty tips time! Here are a few ways that you can slow down your metabolic rate. A few of these are borrowed from my friend Monica Reinagel’s (the Nutrition Diva) article called Is Your Metabolism to Blame?
Losing weight. The fact is that the smaller your body, the fewer calories it takes to keep it moving. And this effect is amplified if you have lost weight quickly.
Living in a caloric deficit. Restricting calories for more than a few days at a time will also affect your metabolism. In fact, researchers at the National Institutes of Health discovered that people with certain physiologies lose less weight, especially when on a calorie-restricted diet.
Losing muscle. Muscle tissue is more metabolically active than other tissues in your body (such as bone and fat). So if you lose muscle, your metabolism will be affected. You can lose a significant amount of muscle if you lose weight too quickly, so you will have a double whammy on your metabolic rate.
Aging. We all tend to lose muscle tissue as we get older but physically inactive people can lose as much as three to five percent of their muscle mass each decade after the age of 30.
Low thyroid function. If your thyroid gland is not producing enough thyroid hormone, your metabolism can slow down. Conversely, if your thyroid is producing too much hormone, your metabolism can go through the roof but before you get excited, hyperthyroidism is a serious condition, not a great weight loss strategy.
Factors That Support a Healthy Metabolism
Daily movement. Moving more during the day and increasing your overall daily movement is a great way to boost your metabolism. Simple day-to-day tasks such as climbing the stairs, carrying groceries, and simply walking more require your body to work harder and burn more calories.
Exercise. Muscle tissue is metabolically active. Moving those muscles makes them more active. The more active the better. Need I say more?
Build muscle. Muscle uses more calories than fat, so strengthening your muscles will make you into a more metabolically active machine (even when you are at rest).
Eat more protein. Protein takes a little more effort for your body to digest than fat or carbohydrate, so increasing the amount of protein in your diet can help you rev the metabolsm. Plus it helps you put on and maintain muscle mass.
Eat enough calories. Too many calories can cause you to gain weight. But eating too few calories can cause your metabolism to slow down. Finding the right balance will support your metabolism without increasing your waist size.
NOT eating many small meals during the day. You have likely heard this myth that eating five or six small meals during the day can boost your metabolism. Well, unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence for this claim. Check out the Nutrition Diva’s article called Metabolism Myths for more info about that.
Ultimately, your metabolism can and will change slightly from day to day on its own. But you can help your metabolism stay healthy by using the tips I covered in this article.
For more metabolic info, boosting tips, and to join the basal conversation, head over to Facebook GetFitGuy, twitter getfitguy or BrockArmstrong.com.
Also don’t forget to subscribe to the Get-Fit Guy podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play or via RSSopens XML file .
Metabolism image courtesy of Shutterstock.
About the Author
Brock Armstrong was the host of the Get-Fit Guy podcast between 2017 and 2021. He is a certified AFLCA Group Fitness Leader with a designation in Portable Equipment, NCCP and CAC Triathlon Coach, and a TnT certified run coach. He is also on the board of advisors for the Primal Health Coach Institute and a guest faculty member of the Human Potential Institute.