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Metabolism is the measurement of the amount of energy in the form of calories that an individual's body burns in order to maintain itself. Everything we do burns calories including eating,... |
Metabolism is the measurement of the amount of energy in the form of calories that an individual’s body burns in order to maintain itself. Everything we do burns calories including eating, breathing, sleeping, eating and drinking, exercising, even thinking!
There are many factors that affect a person’s metabolic rate including body composition, age, sex, height and weight. Individual who exercise on a regular basis have a higher metabolism than an individual who leads a sedentary lifestyle.
The first step in increasing your metabolism in your quest for weight loss is to increase the amount of physical activity you do each day. When you begin a new exercise program make sure you run it by your doctor first as sometimes your slowed metabolism may be due to a medical condition which your doctor will be able to diagnosis.
Resistance training is an excellent way to increase your muscle mass. Some examples of resistance training would be lifting weights, using exercise bands, and also hand weights.
Aerobic exercise is good for reducing the level of body fat you have on your body. You should do aerobic exercise at least 3 times each week for at least 20 minutes. Aerobic exercise would be like walking, jogging, step aerobics, biking, or swimming. Aerobic exercising increases your heart rate into the target zone and keeps it there for the duration of the exercise that you are doing.
Eating is important for good metabolism. Use proportion control and try to eat foods that are low in fat.
It becomes difficult to maintain weight after age 30 and what usually happens is you gain weight especially if your activity level and calorie intake stays the same as before you were 30. When you approach 30 is a good time to be more aware of what you weigh, and of the caloric intake you do each day. It is important to step up your exercise routine at this point in order to not gain weight.
Symptoms that your metabolism has slowed are when you feel fatigued, you feel cold, have dry skin, are constipated, have a slow pulse and low blood pressure. It is important that if you are experiencing these symptoms that you see your doctor because there are medical problems that also have these symptoms. You can also tell if you have slowed metabolism by the fact that your have a decreased amount of muscle and an increased amount of body fat.
Genetics also plays a part in your metabolism because it determines your bone structure, and body type. Your body type can be mesomorph, ectomorph, endomorph or a combination of any of these. No matter what your body type is, you will be able to use weights and do aerobic exercises to look your best and to be fit.
So now you know that not only is metabolism vital for life it can be affected by many things you do in life including what you eat and how physically active you are.