Metabolism and Your Weight

You likely know your metabolism is linked to your weight. But do you know how?

Common belief holds that a slim person’s metabolism is high and an overweight person’s metabolism is low. But this isn’t usually the case. Metabolism alone doesn’t determine your weight.

Rather, weight is dependent on the balance of calories consumed versus calories burned. Take in more calories than your body needs, and you gain weight. Take in less and you lose weight. Metabolism, then, is the engine that burns these calories and is the scale that regulates your energy needs.

Stated simply, metabolism is the process by which your body converts food into energy. During this biochemical process, calories — from carbohydrates, fats and proteins — are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function.

The number of calories your body burns each day is called your total energy expenditure. The following three factors make up your total energy expenditure:

·    Basic needs. Even when your body is at rest, it requires energy for the basics, such as fuel for organs, breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, plus growing and repairing cells.  Calories expended to cover these basic functions are your basal metabolic rate.
Typically, a person’s basal metabolic rate is the largest portion of energy use, representing two-thirds to three-quarters of the calories used each day. Energy needs for these basic functions stay fairly consistent and aren’t easily changed.

·    Food processing. Digesting, absorbing, transporting and storing the food you consume also takes calories. This accounts for about 10 percent of the calories used each day. For the most part, your body’s energy requirement to process food stays relatively steady and isn’t easily changed.

·    Physical activity. Physical activity — such as playing tennis, walking to the store, chasing after the dog and any other movement — accounts for the remainder of calories used. You control the number of calories burned depending on the frequency, duration and intensity of your activities.

It may seem logical to think that significant weight gain or being overweight is related to a low metabolism or possibly even a condition such as under-active thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). In reality, it’s very uncommon for excess weight to be related to a low metabolism. And most people who are overweight don’t have an underlying condition, such as hypothyroidism. However, a medical evaluation can determine whether a medical condition could be influencing your weight.

Weight gain is more likely due to an energy imbalance — consuming more calories than your body burns. To lose weight, then, you need to create an energy deficit by eating fewer calories, increasing the number of calories you burn through physical activity, or preferably both.

If you and everyone else were physically and functionally identical, it would be easy to determine the standard energy needs. But many factors influence calorie requirements, including body size and composition, age, and sex.
To function properly, a bigger body mass requires more energy (more calories) than does a smaller body mass. Also, muscle burns more calories than fat does. So the more muscle you have in relation to fat, the higher your basal metabolic rate.

As you get older, the amount of muscle tends to decrease and fat accounts for more of your weight. Metabolism also slows naturally with age. Together these changes reduce your calorie needs.

Men usually have less body fat and more muscle than do women of the same age and weight. This is why men generally have a higher basal metabolic rate and burn more calories than women do.

Your ability to change your basal metabolism is limited. However, you can increase daily exercise and activity to build muscle tissue and burn more calories.

Your metabolism influences your energy needs, but it’s your food intake and physical activity that ultimately determine your weight.

Losing weight, like any task you undertake, requires that you have dedication and motivation to succeed.  This means you need to get your head in the right place.

The Most Effective Foods For Losing Weight

Looking for foods that help you lose raise their metabolism to a sky high rate or burn off fat as they’re being digested. Unfortunately these foods don’t exist, despite diet myths to the contrary. But there are some foods that will help you to lose fat more than others, including:

Fruit & Vegetables
Ok, you’ve heard it before, but fruit and veg are among the most excellent foods you can eat, both for weight loss and for the sake of your general health. They are low in calories, high in nutrients, and high in fibre too, so you’ll feel satisfied for longer and be less likely to overeat. Luckily fruits and vegetables are both tasty and versatile, so most people find it’s simple to include them in their diets. Boost your intake by adding some extra veg or salad to your main meals, and snack on fruit and raw veggies if you get hungry in between.

Beans & Pulses
Beans and pulses are wonderful foods for dieters. They are fibre-rich and very filling, and are digested slowly, so your energy levels will stay high throughout the day. They’re also very versatile, and can be used in soups, stews, stir-fries, casseroles and many other types of meal. Beans have also been found to contain a digestive hormone that helps to suppress the appetite, helping to reduce the likelihood that you’ll overeat.

Coconut Oil
Coconut oil has had something of a bad reputation in mainstream nutritional circles, thanks to a number of flawed studies funded by the large vegetable oil companies. However people in tropical countries have long valued coconuts and their oil for their beautifying and health-promoting properties, and now western societies are catching up too, as well as discovering coconut oil’s suitability for dieters. This oil is valuable for weight loss because it is rich in medium chain triglycerides, which (unlike the long chain triglycerides that dominate in most vegetable oils) are actually burned by the body for fuel. And not only that, but consuming coconut oil may help to increase your metabolic rate too, so your body burns fat more quickly. Just make sure that any coconut oil you buy is virgin and preferably organic, as lower quality oils have usually been processed in ways that destroy its health and metabolism-boosting benefits.

Protein
Protein foods form the core of low carb diets, but you don’t need to go the low carb route (which many find to be unbalanced and unsustainable) to reap the weight loss benefits of eating protein foods. British researchers discovered that after a protein-rich meal, a hormone called PYY is released, which has appetite-suppressing effects. Although this hormone is also released after eating fat- and carb-heavy meals, protein-rich meals foods trigger the greatest quantity. So if your weight loss is being derailed by the desire to overeat, increasing the amount of protein in your meals could help to get your appetite under control.

So, rather than looking for the perfect ‘miracle’ food for weight loss, just make an effort to include these widely available foods in your diet, and you might find that you’re losing weight more quickly and easily, even without any additional effort.

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Exercise To Start Before The Holidays

Weight Loss and Medical News November 11th, 2008

The Real Deal Behind Diet Pills

Now that the magical glow of Halloween is over, and in its wake you realize that you have decimated the entire tub of Halloween candy that failed to attract enough trick-or-treaters. You also realize that now that the winter months are approaching, bringing with them cold, rain, snow, wind, Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas feast and New Years debauchery.

So what does this all mean for you? Well for millions of Americans, it definitely means packing on some extra weight. Winter is the most common season for people to gain weight. It becomes colder outside, discouraging outside exercise; people become stressed during the holiday season, with more things to do than usual, leaving less time to exercise. Coupled with the celebrated notion of overeating during the holidays and a poor diet (deep fried turkey is not really that nutritious), numbers on the scale creep up over the last few months of the year.

A seemingly quick fix to this problem is to turn to the help of diet pills, weight loss supplements that have a notorious reputation. There are two commonly held opinions about diet pills. Either that they work and are a fine addition to any exercise and healthy eating plan or that diet pills are extremely dangerous for your health and should be avoided. Let’s take a closer look at diet pills, their composition and see what the truth is behind the intriguing infamy of diet pills.

diet

“Functional” the New Frontier in Foods, Drinks

According to MediaPost Communications/Marketing Daily, a new report finds a shift away from foods with reduced sugar or fat toward “functional” products that promise benefits such as appetite suppression and increased metabolism/calorie burning.

The Euromonitor International Trend Watch report, entitled “Opportunities Within Functional Weight Management Products,” reveals that “functional” is the new frontier for food and beverage companies looking to grab the attention and dollars of the growing number of overweight consumers at home and abroad.

Whereas “better-for-you” (BFY) or “lesser evil” ingredients and claims were once mainly the bailiwick of those diet supplements promoted on TV via startling before-and-after photos of women and men in bathing suits, mainstream companies are increasingly looking to get in on the action.

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The reason: Worldwide BFY packaged foods sales reached $116 billion, and beverages reached $36 million last year, but together, their annual growth rate was only marginally higher than the 2 percent to 4 percent seen by the overall packaged F&B market, according to Euromonitor. Meanwhile, fortified/functional F&Bs continued to see growth of about 10 percent in 2007.

weight loss exercise

New Year’s Resolution Diet Program

The New Year is a time to reflect on the changes we want or need to make and many Americans seem to make the same New Year resolutions each year to start a Diet or weight loss program.

Setting reasonable goals, staying focused and great diet supplements are the most important factors in sticking with a weight loss program, and the key to success for those millions of Americans who made a New Year’s commitment to shed extra pounds.

First you will need a great sound diet program.

exercise equipment

Senior Fitness – Get In Shape Now For A Healthier Tomorrow

Getting fit over 40 seems almost impossible for some people. In fact, it would seem that the deck is stacked against us.

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Back when you were a teenager or young adults, losing weight probably seemed easy. Or, at least it was easier than a few years down the road. There’s a lot of science to back up the fact that it is harder to lose weight with age. It’s not just your imagination.

First of all, metabolism slows with each passing year. That means you can’t burn off, or use up, as many calories as when you were younger. By eating the exact same number of calories and keeping all other factors equal, you will gain weight due to this decrease.

Another big hit is that muscle mass starts to deteriorate with age. Muscle plays a large role in metabolism levels so the two go hand in hand. If you don’t do something to maintain or even build muscle, you will get fatter and weaker.

By allowing yourself to become weak, you set yourself up for broken bones and other accidents that could lead to a loss of independence at some point. This is seen all too often with older adults.

The solution is to take action now, whatever your age. Once you get the all clear from your doctor, get busy with an exercise program. Whether you choose home exercise or decide to join a gym, every effort you make will play a big role in having a healthy and full life enjoyed on your own terms.

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Although it may seem strange and confusing at first, senior fitness isn’t difficult provided you go about it the right way. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on a good health and fitness program designed for adults, rather than bodybuilders or kids. Specialized programs will help you set realistic goals designed for the shape you’re in now as well as where you want to be.