You’ve heard those ten letter words before. I am sure you’ve seen it too many times. You’ve probably scrolled around your social media feed, just to be rudely interrupted by some ad claiming to revamp your metabolism to finally help you lose that weight forever. “Only for $19.99.”
Don’t worry you’re not alone. I’ve seen it myself and to be honest it’s @#$! annoying. Good thing for you this isn’t an ad. I am not selling you anything. I mean I guess I am in a way through education, but I promise that’s as far as it goes. This article’s intention is full transparency in the most concise way possible. I just don’t want you to get misinformed ever again.
Let’s dive in……
What is Metabolism?
Great question. Let me first say, I don’t want this to feel like a classroom. As someone who didn’t really enjoy school, I am sure some of you can empathize. Nevertheless, bear with me because what I am about to tell you is necessary. Boring, but necessary.
Should I keep rambling or do you prefer I get straight to it?
Metabolism is “the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy,” it’s the thing that keeps you alive and function. Your metabolism is a combination of your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and resting metabolic rate (RMR). Those two are often used interchangeably, but they have subtle differences.
Your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the minimum number of calories your body needs to perform basic function to keep you alive. It includes:
- Breathing
- Food Digestion
- Keeping your body temperature stable
- Cell Production
- Etc.
Your RMR (resting metabolic rate) on the other hand is, “the amount of energy your body needs to function doing everyday activities. If you ever thought of calculating your metabolic rate, your RMR is the most relevant.
RMR is a good predictor of your metabolism because it’s the very thing that accounts for normal everyday activities. An individual who is generally more active than his or her counterpart will burn more calories throughout the day, which is one way of boosting your metabolism.
Before jumping out of your couch to hit that treadmill. Pause for a quick second and continue reading. Genetics, gender and age influences metabolism and they’re outside of our control, which sucks because:
Men generally burn more calories than women
Younger individuals burn more calories than older individuals
Genetically blessed individuals burn more calories than their counter-parts
You can dwell and cry about your misfortunes, or you can focus on what you can control to still boost your metabolism at any age. I recommend you choose the latter option.
Build Muscle
You can’t be afraid of the weights. It’s clunky, rough like metal exterior shouldn’t be something to be intimidated by. You’re strong and resilient, give yourself some credit.
It’s you versus the bar. I have no doubt you’ll win. Every single time. You just have to believe it too.
One way to boost your metabolism is to build muscle via thermic effect of activity. Thermic effect of activity refers to all calories burned through formal exercise (lifting weights, cardio, playing sports, etc.). Before claiming how you’re going to run x number of miles, bike, walk, swim or any other form of cardio to help you boost your metabolism. Stop for one second and hear me out first.
Muscle burns more calories than fat, roughly about 1 pound of muscle burns 6 calories per day compared to 3 from fat.
Yep. I am not making this up and listen it may not sound a lot right now but by having more muscle on you, you’ll be able to move a lot faster and lift heavier weights, which will help you burn more calories throughout the day.
Unfortunately for you cardio fanatics, cardio isn’t going to cut it. I am not suggesting to cut-out cardio, however, it would be in your best interest to include weight lifing as well.
If you’re a woman and wondering whether you will get bulky lifting weights. The answer is a big resounding
You can’t possibly get bulky eating in a calorie deficit; your body literally has no way of storing any additional calories. Aside from feeling and looking better, lifting weights (I mean heavy weights over a period of time) will get you that “tone” look you’ve always wanted. Stop looking elsewhere because you’re not going to find it. Strength training is your best bet.
Move Around More
I need you to listen to me carefully on this. This is by far the most under looked thing you can do, but yet can yield great benefits. I am sure with daily obligations, kids, family, work, school and a slew of other things, finding ways to move more throughout the day can be difficult, nevertheless it’s paramount. It can be as little as just five, ten or even fifteen minutes a day.
“Easy for you to say, you’re in the fitness space, I am an office worker, with three kids, I literally have no time.”
You’re right, my main job is fitness, I have no kids and I don’t work a 9 to 5 office job. I mean what do you want me to say?
That it’s going to be ok. You want me to tell you that with everything that’s going on in your life, you should be content with how you look?
Because I am not. You shouldn’t be content with how you look. You’ve probably scrolled around google trying to find ways to help you lose weight, gain muscle or improve overall health. Your situation is different than mine and many others, but you can still do something about it.
To sit here and tell you to continue living the way you’ve been living for many years, I would be doing a disservice to not only you, but to myself. Enough with the rambling speech, you’re not a child. Here are some practical ways to help you move around more throughout the day.
Before I lay them out for you.
Did you know….
You can burn anywhere between 200 to 900 additional calories from just moving around more.
Believe me, I was stunned myself. It’s called NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). It’s the number of calories your body burns from all movements that isn’t planned exercise such as (fidgeting, doing the dishes, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, twisting, bending) you get the idea. Genetics does play a role in your NEAT, but that’s out of our control, there is nothing we can do about that. You can spare me the “my genetics sucks,” most of ours do, get over it.
Let’s say you’re the typical 9 to 5 office worker, who sits at their desk all day aside from the occasional bathroom stops and lunch break. Once your shift is over, you get in your car to drive home. Once your home, you get ready for dinner, play with the kids and go straight for the couch for an episode of Games of Thrones. Probably one of the greatest shows ever, not my personal favorite, but that can be a well heated debatable conversation for another day.
Once you’re done watching an episode, you’re probably too lazy at this point to even make it up the stairs for the bedroom, so you decide you’d rather sleep on the couch. As you begin to close your eyes, you hear a vehement shout from the bedroom, it’s your wife telling you to get your ass upstairs. Without hesitation, you clumsily fumble on the couch, just to fall over. You turn off the lights and tv and head straight upstairs for the night.
If this is you, you’re NEAT might be closer to 200 additional calories burn, which means it’s your job to take control and deliberately move more. It’s within your control, let’s starting making it habit. Like right now.
Here are some practical ways to move more throughout the day
- Map out a time from your lunch break to take a walk even if it’s only for five or ten minutes
- If you’re a 9 to 5 office worker, inquire about a standing desk at your job for ergonomic reasons. Standing up from time to time not only helps burn more calories but it improves overall posture and prevents tightness from sitting too much
- Park further away to force yourself to walk a little more
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
- Find activities that you thoroughly enjoy doing (biking, swimming, walking the dog, basketball, football, baseball, cricket, hiking, playing with the kids). Something.
You don’t have to be in the fitness industry or a professional athlete. A few of these tips done consistently over a period of time, can literally be the difference between you losing an extra one to two pounds. It matters. A whole lot. Start taking it seriously.
Eat Your Proteins
This isn’t just for body builders or professional athletes; you need to eat your proteins. It’s as important as moving more and lifting weights to help boost your metabolism. Here, is how to figure out the number of proteins you should be eating.
“Why proteins? Why not carbs, fat or anything else?”
Proteins, unlike carbs, fat or anything else has the highest thermic effect of food among any macronutrient.
“The highest what now?”
Thermic effect of food, a fancy way of saying, your body burns additional calories through the digestion process. Protein happens to be the one macronutrient that burns more calories than carbs or fats, it accounts for about 20 to 30%. Meaning that out of the total proteins you eat, 20 to 30% of it is lost through the digestion process, whereas carbs is only 5 to 6% and fats are between 2 to 3 %. Overall, thermic effect of food accounts for about 10% of total calories.
Let’s say you ate a total of 3000 calories for the day, 10% of that (300 calories) would be burned from thermic effect of food, proteins accounting for most of it, assuming your diet was relatively moderate to high in proteins, carbs coming in second and then fat.
Conclusion
That’s it in a nutshell. It probably wasn’t the sexiest answer you were looking for, but there is nothing else. There isn’t any quick fix, magic pill or any of that. The best way to boost your metabolism to help you lose weight at any age stems from:
Building muscle (thermic effect of activity)
Eating your proteins (thermic effect of food)
Moving around more (non-exercise activity of thermogenesis)
Hope this helped
Thanks so much for reading
Take care
Bye