Metabolism

What is it and can we actually "boost" our metabolism?

In simple terms, metabolism is defined as all of the chemical reactions in the body that convert the food and nutrients we consume into the energy our body needs to survive and thrive.

There are multiple ways that our bodies use energy:

To survive: our basal metabolic rate is the energy we burn while at rest. It is what our bodies need to breathe, recover from exercise, maintain cardiac, brain and nerve function, sleep, sit on the couch and watch Netflix.. all the important stuff. This accounts for 60-70% of our energy expenditure. It decreases with age due to loss of lean muscle mass, or sarcopenia, which is why it is important to strength train..

Why does muscle mass affect BMR? Because our bodies have to work harder to maintain muscle. Research shows that for every pound of muscle we build we burn an extra 6-10 calories a day.

To digest food: the thermic effect of food or TEF is the energy it takes to digest our food and accounts for about 10% of our energy needs. Not all macros are the same though. Studies show that the thermic effect varies for macronutrients: about 0-5% for fat, 5-10% for carbohydrates and 20-30% for proteins.

For daily activities: We also burn energy through non-exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT. This is all of our activity outside of exercise; walking the dog, cleaning, cooking, fidgeting etc.

And of course... we burn energy during exercise. Depending on your activity level it can account for 10-30% of your energy needs a day. For individuals that engage in high intensity exercise it will create an energy demand during, as well as after exercise, when our body is recovering. This is sometimes referred to as EPOC or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.

How do you know what your energy requirements are? As we can see from the information above, there are a lot of factors involved in metabolism including genes, age, gender, body size, lean body mass and activity level, and all of our bodies are different.

You can use a calculator as a general guide. Remember they are NOT exact numbers.

If you want to make positive changes in your life and your health, a good place to start is educating yourself on what you are eating. Tracking your nutrition with a tool like My Fitness Pal for 1-2 weeks can be a great way to bring awareness to your nutrition. You don't need to track forever if you don't want to. It is meant to educate you on what you are currently doing so you can make adjustments as needed. When we learn to focus our attention on the quality of our nutrition we can turn our attention away from the numbers.

A few tips to "boost" your metabolism:

Eat protein with every meal. As we learned, our body expends more energy digesting protein.

Stay hydrated. Every process in our body requires water. Aim to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day. Drink a glass first thing in the morning to start the day hydrated.

Strength train consistently. Not only does building muscle improve our day to day activities, it increases our resting metabolism.

Move more. Take the stairs, park further away, clean the house. If you have a job that requires sitting for a lot of the day, set an alarm on your phone each hour and get up to walk for a few minutes, do 20 jumping jacks, squats or pushups.. Moving more will not only increase your metabolism but it will give your mind a reset.

Drink coffee or green tea. If you enjoy it. Preferably black coffee. And probably not after 12pm so that if doesn't effect your sleep. There are some studies that show that coffee increases metabolism 3-10%.

Get a good nights rest! Poor sleep has been linked to increased blood sugar levels, insulin resistance, and has been shown to increase the hunger hormone, ghrelin. Which explains why we are reaching for the cookies after a poor nights sleep! Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep a night. Turn your devices off 1-2 hours before bedtime and try to create a nightly ritual: maybe a cup of tea, read a few pages of a book, try a sleep meditation, take a hot shower or bath, whatever works for you.

Remember making any change in our life requires consistency, patience and self love.

If you need guidance and accountability click here.