Metabolic process in the body can be broadly divided into categories – reactions which break down complex chemicals into simpler substances in order to release energy are called catabolism. Those reactions that build up complex substances in the organs and tissues to stores energy, or to provide for body’s growth and repair are called anabolism.

One way to remain slim or get that way would be to improve your metabolic rate. When you do so, most of your food gets converted into energy and allows you to remain slim. You might have noticed that those people who have jobs that are extremely physical, like construction workers, require more food because they burn through their caloric intake much faster than the average office person.

In order to improve your metabolism, you should not resort to artificial aids like supplements and pills. They don’t offer a permanent solution and continued intake of such artificial boosters could be dangerous for your health. You don’t want to trade one problem for another.

Many people believe that by increasing our protein intake, we can overcome our urge to overeat and thereby can reduce our carbohydrate and fat consumption. Protein is not only a body building material, but  doesn’t seem to contribute to putting on weight as quickly as an increased intake of carbohydrates or fats do. You may have seen that athletes  and body builders have been known to have a meal consisting mainly of proteins, especially before competitions.

Next, do not starve yourself or leave a long gap between meals. Your body will grow sluggish or you may get a headache, and even when you do eat, it may take a lot of time to function as well as you are used to. Instead, have small meals with shorter gaps in between than large meals with long gaps.

Learn to drink plenty of water. Water aids digestion and improves metabolic rate and cleanses your system.

Set aside a part of your day strictly for work outs, like aerobics (swim, cycle, walking) or strength training (weight lifting), both of which improve your metabolism.

Experts say that insuring intake of B vitamins in our diet helps to boost our metabolism. Take them as supplements if you must, but try including foods like spinach, melons, peanuts, beans, potatoes (skin on), bananas, tuna, salmon, barley, oats and eggs, etc. regularly in your diet, all of which contain a variety of B vitamins.

These are some of the ways you can improve your metabolic rate. Pick one, work with it for a month, and then pick another. You won’t recognize yourself in a few months!

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Eat Healthy and Exercise this will help boost your metabolism.

1.  A little goes a long way when it comes to your metabolism, so the best thing to do is start drinking more water. It is best that your water is ice cold so your body has to work even harder to warm it up to its internal temperature.

2.  The best way to know how much water your body requires each day is to know what your weight is in pounds, and then drink half of that in ounces of water. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, then you should be drinking 75 ounces of water each day, which is about 9 cups. Drinking 70 ounces causes the body to burn up to an extra 500 calories per day.

3.  Getting enough sleep has also been proven to work when it comes to revving up your body’s metabolism. There have been a significant amount of studies performed that prove this. It is best that adults receive at least 7 -10 hours of sleep per night for the best results.

4.  It is okay to eat, so please do! Make sure that instead of eating large meals only two or three times per day that you are “snacking” or “grazing” all day long. (It goes without saying that we are talking about healthy meals and snacks, right?) It may seem difficult in the beginning, but if you do this daily, it will become a habit. There are two reasons why this works so well to boost the body’s metabolism: the first reason is because you are eating regularly and you will be less likely to go on a snack binge; and the second reason why it works is because it helps to sustain the body’s energy all day long, thus burning more calories.

5.  Obviously, exercising is going to help increase the body’s metabolism. You may not have to exercise as much as you think, especially if you are practicing the above mentioned methods. It is best to exercise first thing in the morning, because it causes your body to burn more calories all day long.

6.  One meal you should never skip is breakfast. When you go to bed at night, you usually do not eat for seven to ten hours. Eating when you wake up provides energy for the body that it is lacking. It also sends a signal to your body metabolism that it is okay begin burning calories instead of holding onto them.

As you can see, starting to rev up your metabolism is a very simple process. All it takes is a little effort on your behalf. With a little bit of time and practice, you are going to find that a few simple changes really go a long way. Some people simply have good habits. My wish is that you will also become one of them!

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Anyone can exercise, check with your medical professional for what is best for you.

Yes we make many decisions every day. We decide what time we will wake up, then when we will get out of bed, then whether to eat breakfast before or after we brush our teeth. This goes on all day. So we make thousands of decisions every day.

These are mainly minor inconsequential decisions. On the other hand we decide to get married or not at most several times in our life. We decide to purchase a house a handful of times. So the major decisions are made very infrequently and we usually spend many hours, days or even weeks on them and there is usually a lot of energy put into them.

As far as our health goes we have probably not made a strong conscious decision our self. We probably evolved into our state of health as we grew up. Our parents, teachers, and peers are the likely ones who molded our beliefs, attitudes and habits around health.

The secret here is that we need to make a conscious decision about our health. We need to decide what we want, why we want it and what we will do to get it. To just say I want to be healthy is not clear enough. What does healthy mean to you. Paint a picture in your mind, and make it as complete as you possibly can, energize it, and get excited about it.

Then act on it. Do something every day to support your decision. If you say you will exercise 15 minutes every day then do it. No excuses, rain or shine and not 14 minutes, just do it.

It is your choice, do you really want it or not. Be honest with your self. You can do it if you really want to. If the reason or dream is big enough the facts don’t count. You can and will be able to do it in spite of all odds.

One more thing about making a decision, there is a universal principle at work here. I can’t prove this to you so please go on faith till you prove it for yourself. Once we make a decision. Once we really decide it is as if we are sending out an order to the universe. I want Perfect Health. The universe then responds. It responds in ways we may not expect, but it responds and brings your decision into reality.

So be careful what you ask for. Please note your current life situation is what you have been asking for so far in your life. You may not like hearing this, but everything you have done, every act, every decision; everything is what has gone into making your life exactly what it is right now. And remember when you make a decision don’t change your mind every 5 minutes. It is like planting a seed and digging it up every couple of hours to see how it is growing. Well it won’t. But if you plant it, then water it, fertilize it, and give it sunshine it will grow. It’s the law it has to. The same universal principles come to play and work for us when we make a decision.

Use your brain and make a decision!

For people who have a slow metabolism, calorie-burning takes place slowly. Some of these people have more fat deposited in their body. This excess fat is not necessary for the minimal functioning of your body, and is harmful. Medical science is discovering that excess fat stored in your body, especially around your stomach area, causes inflammation, which is the precursor to many diseases.

People with a slow metabolism can increase their metabolic rate by doing strength training. Building muscle speeds up your metabolism because muscle weighs more than fat, and needs more calories to maintain, even in a resting state.

The metabolic rate is the amount of calories you burn to keep your body tissues and organs in proper working condition. Metabolic rates are related to genetics as well. Some people are born with a faster metabolism. If you have a slower metabolism, start working out, as this temporarily speeds up your metabolism for up to several hours later, and therefore, uses more calories.

Age is another factor that affects our metabolism. As we grow older, our body needs fewer calories. Our caloric needs decrease an average of 2% per decade. So be aware of the quantity of food you eat. Correct portion sizes are a lot smaller than your eyes (and stomach) would have you believe.

Nutrition is another factor that affects your metabolism. Your body needs a proper supply of nutrients to perform at maximum efficiency. You won’t get proper nutrition if your diet includes foods mostly manufactured from white flour, white sugar, or white rice. Find yourself some whole grain breads and rice and eliminate the white sugar. Once you get used to the whole grains, you’ll find you won’t like the white stuff any longer.

The secrets about metabolism are the same for everyone, whether your metabolism is fast or slow:

• Exercise Regularly: both aerobic and strength training
• Eat Nutritious Meals Regularly: eat smaller meals throughout the day
• Read Food Labels: be aware of what is in the food you eat

This should help you increase your longevity as well as your enjoyment of life.

Bouncing to increase Metabolism

However, it is important to note that today weightlifting, or strength training, is also commonly used as a supplement to a weight loss plan. It has been shown by research that strength training can and does boost ones metabolism.

Many people consider a cardio exercise program as the only means to rev up ones metabolism. Yet by doing so and skipping the weight regimen, they miss an important piece of the fitness equation. Strength training is a very effective way of increasing muscle mass. And research has shown that by having more muscle a person is able to burn more calories.

If we look at athletes we can see that one of the main reasons they are in the shape they are in is because they have a faster metabolism. By having a speedier metabolism, they not only burn calories while they exercise, but also while resting. Wouldn’t it be great to burn calories while resting, or sleeping? By engaging in regular workouts, including weights, you can get these results.

An interesting, perhaps little known secret is that during strength training the body is not actually building muscle, rather it is breaking down the muscle. This would lead you to believe that strength training would actually be a bad thing, but that isn’t true. While the body does break down the muscle during that exercise, something marvelous happens. The body balances the break down by building more muscle in order to keep it from breaking down yet again.

It takes a lot of energy from calories to rebuild this new muscle tissue. So the benefits from weight training are numerous:

• Your metabolism speeds up during workouts.

• Which results in burning calories.

• And the calorie-burning continues while the muscles repair.

• It is truly a win-win-win all the way around!

The question you need to ask yourself is: What do I really want? If you are serious about boosting your metabolism and thereby improving your health, are you willing to do what it takes? Embarking on a new healthier lifestyle and gaining the results of your new choices is not an overnight process. I am sorry to tell you there is no magic pill. If there were, I wouldn’t be writing articles. I would have sold the rights and be in Hawaii living the easy life.

Lifestyle changes are worth the time and effort it takes to make them, because the results far outweigh the work. If you put forth the effort, the results of strength training will be more than worth it. You will have a healthier, fitter and leaner body to show for it. This truly could be the miracle you have been looking for. As the cliché goes – ‘Just Do It’ – because you’ll be glad you did!

(Note: please consult your health care practitioner before starting any exercise program).

Lovely senior keeping fit.

Some may think such a statement is pure hyperbole. Assuredly, it is not. When you reduce the amount of body fat you carry, you are reducing the risk of a number of adverse health issues. Namely, you have lowered your risk for heart attacks, strokes, cancer, diabetes, and other serious ailments. Obesity is an extremely serious condition since it can seriously undermine a person’s health. Much like smoking, the impact of obesity does not always develop right away. Many people will not take the impact of obesity serious because they see it as only a physical issue. However, when serious medical conditions develop, the true impact of obesity becomes apparent. By this time, it is almost too late. However, if you can boost your metabolism, you will be able to counter the development of obesity. Thankfully, it is not always as difficult to boost the body’s metabolism provided you understand how the process works.

What exactly is the body’s metabolism? This basically refers to how the body operates in order to maintain its life. In other words, it is the metabolism that delivers the energy for our organs to function. One way the body does this is through turning food into energy through the calories we consume. The healthier a person is, the faster the metabolism will be due to a strong heart and the presence of lean muscle mass. When the metabolism is expedited, the body will burn more calories which will lead to the reduced storage of fat.

Speeding up one’s metabolism often involves engaging in a decent exercise regimen. This involves a mix of cardiovascular conditioning programs and weight training. Cardio exercise raises a heart rate so that it burns fat. Strength training increases lean muscle mass which will absorb more calories to maintain its size and shape. Again, many will look towards the physical appearance benefits of such workouts but there is much more to these exercise plans than that alone.

When your heart is exercised through cardio work it becomes stronger. This reduces a great many problems deriving from cardiovascular disease. When you develop lean muscle mass, your ability to perform physical tasks is made much easier as well which reduces a number of physical maladies. Again, these represent many of the great benefits derived from boosting the metabolism.

The human metabolism is a complex entity and when it operates properly it can yield many desirable benefits. One of the most important benefits is the highly positive impact it can have on one’s health. That is probably its best kept secret.

Walking helps increase metabolism

I’m sure you have heard that skinny people have a higher metabolism than overweight people, but everyone’s metabolism is unique.  It is based on age, gender, physical condition, environment, life style habits, and a plethora of other factors. Of course there are common threads but be assured you are unique, and so is your metabolism.

Let’s get started with the basics. There is a term called ‘basal metabolic rate’, which refers to the basic rate that we use calories to stay alive. The automatic operations of breathing, nervous system, keeping the heart pumping, brain function and so on require minimum calorie expenditure.

Since everyone’s basal metabolic rate is unique to them, it varies based on their activity level. If they are relaxed and comfortable, it is at status quo. If they are stressed, worried, or anxious it runs faster. (Unfortunately, while stress does raise one’s metabolic rate, that is not a healthy way to do it).

One of the best things we can do for ourselves is to increase our muscle mass. Muscles burn calories a whole lot better than fat does. By developing our muscles (and I don’t mean by becoming a body builder), we can increase our metabolic rate and become a lean mean healthy machine.

Our bodies burn calories based on our level of activity. If we are sedentary and do not engage in much physical activity, we are basically operating at a basic basal metabolic rate. If however we engage in various types of physical activities, namely different forms of exercise, we increase our metabolic rate and will burn more calories, resulting in weight loss. People who take in more calories than they burn will gain weight; conversely people who take in fewer calories will likely not be overweight.

So while we do not have control over many of the factors affecting our metabolism there are quite a few that we do have direct control over. We can control:

• Eating habits: the quantity, quality, and frequency of meals.
• Physical activity:  Do we walk up the stairs or take an elevator?  Do we walk to the corner store, or do we drive our car? Do we walk the dog, or sit on the couch watching TV? These all add to calorie consumption.
• Exercise:  Do we exercise regularly or not at all? What types of exercise do we do? Are we adding in strength training to build those muscles? (If you are just beginning an exercise routine, they should consult a medical professional and start slow).

By increasing our metabolism in a healthy way we will go a long way toward becoming healthier, fitter and increasing our longevity. We have the ability to increase our metabolism and get our bodies to the fitness we desire to be.

Taking a walk with your dogs