What is metabolism?

Metabolism is a complex set of chemical reactions that occur in our body in order to maintain life. These metabolic processes allow us to grow, reproduce and respond to the environment.
Metabolism is responsible to convert the food we eat into the energy the body needs in order to function properly. Simply said, metabolism is the amount of energy (measured in calories) the body uses or burns in order to maintain itself (known as catabolism).
For people who are interested in losing weight we can say that the catabolic processes break down body mass like fat and muscle tissues and convert them into the energy needed for the body to function properly.
Metabolism is also related to the opposite processes in which energy is used for the construction of cells in the body (this is known as anabolism).

Is your metabolism slow or fast?

Have you ever wondered why some people eat whatever they want whenever they want and still they stay lean, while others must be on a constant diet or else they gain more and more weight? I am sure you have.
Well, first thing you should know about metabolism is that different people have different metabolic rate. This means that their body burns different amount of energy when doing the same activity.
It is easy to compare this rate when resting, and it is known as one’s basic metabolic rate or BMR.

Why do we have different metabolic rates?

People are simply built differently, and one of the factors that impact the rate in which the body burns energy (and hopefully that energy comes from fat) is the amount of muscle mass the body has. Muscle tissue needs more energy, even when we are sleeping! Those of us who have a large muscle mass will burn more energy, thus burn fat tissue faster and on the other hand are less likely to gain fat.

Control your metabolism

You can control the metabolism of your body and try to keep it on a fast rate in order to maintain a lean body by living a healthy lifestyle, eat foods that boost the metabolism, exercise on a regular basis and avoid fat foods.

A word for the elderly - the metabolism tends to slow down with age, so it is very important to keep active as you become older.

One last tip – always consult with your physician and make sure you are in a healthy state and can exercise or start a new diet.

Diet plan that works

If you want to control your metabolism and keep it on a high rate in order to lose weight, you should try the calorie shifting diet method.
Read here more about calorie shifting and metabolism.