LIFESTYLE

In this article we talk about how lifestyle influences the speed of your metabolism.

Most of us live busy lives in one form or another, and therefore it’s challenging to really keep an eye on all of our habits. Balancing work, family, hobbies, and other commitments often means that our lifestyle isn’t so much of a choice, as it is a necessity.

Yet with respect to the fact that many of us face sincere limitations in our lifestyle choices, there are many things that we can do – little things, but important things – that can help speed up our metabolism.

It’s the little things that you change in your regular, day-to-day lifestyle that can indeed have the most profound influence on the speed of your metabolism, and the achievement of your short and long-term weight loss goals.

Party time

Learning to discipline yourself and pass the desert menu makes a big difference however what about the beer or the two glasses of wine or those colorful cocktails? Studies show that drinking alcohol with meals actually encourages over eating; which means more calories that need to be burned away.

Furthermore, many people are simply unaware that many alcoholic drinks are laden with calories; almost as much as sugary-rich soft drinks. A bottle of beer can deliver a few hundred calories, and most cocktails are in the same range. Wine is generally considered to deliver the least amount of calories; but even this is a bit of a slippery slope. Three glasses of wine can be worth 300 calories that the body simply has to deal with in one form or another. The tip here isn’t to stop drinking alcohol altogether. If you enjoy alcohol then there’s no particular reason why you have to quit. Simply, the call here is that you become aware that it influences your metabolism. If you consume excess alcohol, you force your system to deal with more calories.

Take responsibility and make up for that added calories in your exercise routine. This simply means squeezing out an extra set or running a bit harder and longer.

Zzzzzzzz…..Zzzzzzzzz

Most of us don’t have as much control over the amount that we sleep as we should. Work, family, education, housekeeping, and so many other tasks can literally prevent us from getting the amount of sleep that we need.

However, as the experts tell us, getting enough sleep actually improves metabolism. On the other hand, people who are constantly sleep deprived typically find that they have less energy to do regular, daily activities; including digestion.

As a result, sleep-starved people often lower their own metabolism.

They simply don’t have the strength to break down food efficiently, particularly carbohydrates. This is a very difficult issue, because many people can only find time to exercise by borrowing from their rest time. For example, after a long day of work and dealing with family and home commitments, a person may find that the only time they have to exercise (and thus boost their metabolism) is late at night; say around 9:00 pm, or even later. So what should one do?

Ultimately, it’s a question of balance. Naturally, if you’re willing to exercise, and your doctor agrees that it’s healthy for you to do that, then you’re not going to get fit by sleeping instead of exercising.

Yet with that being said, if you steal time away from your sleep/rest in order to exercise, over time, you can actually do more harm than good; because the following day, you won’t have enough energy to digest what you eat. The answer to this catch-22 lies in balance.

You don’t have to work out every night. Or perhaps you can integrate a workout into your life during the day; maybe at lunchtime or right after work. Most fitness clubs are open very early and if you choose to workout at home, you can do so in a generally affordable way.

If you find that you have trouble sleeping, then this can also negatively affect the speed of your metabolism (because you won’t have enough energy the following day). Insomnia and other sleep disorders are very common problems, and there exists a variety of support systems in place to help people get the rest that they require.

Some non-medical tips to help you fall asleep include:

·        Don’t eat late at night

·        Try drinking warm milk before bedtime

·        Don’t turn on the TV at night

·        Try yoga or other stress-relieving practices

·        Try having a warm bath before bedtime

·        Don’t exercise close to bedtime; your body can become so energized that it doesn’t want to sleep!

Relax

Another key influence of your metabolism is stress.Believe it or not, but experts are now telling us that stress can send unwanted signals to our body; signals that lead to slower metabolism. Essentially, what happens is that when the body is under constant stress, it releases stress hormones that flood the system. These stress-related hormones actually tell the body to create larger fat cells in the abdomen. The result can be both increased weight and a slower metabolism. Obviously, these are two very negative factors in the quest to boost metabolism and lose weight. The last thing that we want is more and bigger fat cells in our abdomen, coupled with a diminished metabolism! Yet this is, tragically, what happens to many people who experience constant, continuous stress. And, alas, this is many people; especially those of us who have to balance so many competing objectives, such as work, family, and other vital tasks.

So the advice here is indeed to “relax and chill out”, and there are some simple techniques that can, and should, be added to your life.

These include walking more, listening to relaxing music, meditation, yoga, eating non-stimulating foods (e.g. no caffeine, no sugar, and so on), and building a daily regimen that includes periodic time outs where you can re-center yourself and de-stress. Remember: while relaxing is good advice for anyone, it’s important for you to note that stress negatively influences metabolism. So there is a link between how much stress you experience and your ability to break down cells and lose weight. So if you don’t want to relax because you don’t have the time, then you should realize that your stressed-out life is probably playing a role in your weight gain/your inability to lose weight.

In the next article I’ll discuss the big one: DIET, and what you can do to increase your metabolism when it comes to what you eat.

Happy training

Metabolism. There isn’t perhaps a more frequently used word in the weight loss (and weight gain) vocabulary than this. Indeed, it’s not uncommon to overhear people talking about their struggles – or triumphs – over the holiday bulge or love handles in terms of whether their metabolism is working, or not. Doctors, too, often refer to metabolism when they try and explain why starvation and water-loss diets aren’t scientifically of medically responsible; since they do not influence or take into account metabolism (there’s that word again!). So, for all of the usage that this rather daunting and biologically charged word enjoys in our world, you’d comfortably assume that people understand it, right? Or, at least, they have some fundamental information when it comes to how to speed up their metabolism, right?

Wrong!

Regrettably, many people simply don’t understand the concept of

metabolism and metabolic change. This is hardly their fault. There is so much information floating around out there, much of it over the ‘net or through a “friend of a friend who has a personal trainer”, that there’s bound to be some confusion and conflicting messages.

Furthermore, many people (quite understandably) mistake their

own weight gain and loss episodes as a matter of metabolic change.

Sometimes this is true, and sometimes it isn’t. For example, there are scientific ways to increase the rate of metabolic change, and thus enable the body to burn more calories. Eating certain foods more frequently is one way to do this. Yet another way to visibly lose weight – at least on a perceived, temporary level – is to sit in a

steam room for a few hours. Whereas the former method (eating the right foods) is a real, proven weight loss method through increased metabolic change, the latter method (the steam room) is just temporary because the lost weight is merely water, and will return as swiftly as it “melted away”.

The point to remember here is that some people mistake their own

weight loss attempts as being related to metabolic change; and, as

you can see with the steam room example, that isn’t always the

case.

Another big reason that people don’t have clear, consistent

information on this topic is because, unfortunately, there are a lot

of food and supplement companies on the market who don’t want

you to know fact from fiction. They want you to believe that constantly buying “low fat” foods is going to somehow speed up your metabolism. While, yes, some low fat foods can play a role in an overall eating program that is designed to speed up metabolism, merely eating foods that come from packaging that screams “LOW FAT!” won’t do anything.

In fact, believe it or not, but many people actually gain weight

when they eat too many “low fat” products. Many of these

products are laden with calories from carbohydrates or proteins

(which are still calories and still must be burned off or they turn

into body fat).

As you can see, and probably feel from years of trying to unravel

this whole metabolic mystery, this is a confusing, stressful, and

indeed, potentially depressing situation. Each year, tens of millions of people attempt to retake control over their health and the shape of their body; and each year, tens of millions of people feel that they’ve “failed” because, try as they might, they just can’t speed up their metabolism.

It is important to note that becoming aware of your metabolism and starting to educate yourself about your own metabolism is simply an add-on to your exercise, nutrition and healthy, active lifestyle. However taking the time and effort will result in smarter and more aware choices when it comes to food.

Enjoy your training