How Fast Is Your Motor Running??

How fast does your personal motor run? Does your body burn through calories fast or slow? If you are struggling to lose weight you are probably convinced that your metabolism is permanently slow. It is your metabolism that dictates the way your body burns all of the calories from the food you eat. It converts your food into fuel, through many complex chemical reactions. Did you know that up to 75 percent of the calories you take in every day go toward keeping your organs functioning and you alive?

And yes it is true that if your metabolism is slow you will find it difficult to lose weight. But contrary to popular belief this is not a situation completely controlled by genetics. You can make healthy lifestyle changes to speed up your metabolism.

Fast Metabolisms Require

1. Fuel

• Do not crash diet. If you drop your daily calories too drastically your metabolism will slow down to help your body survive, essentially you are starving your body.

Much of the weight lost on a crash diet is muscle, this further reduces your metabolism (see why below).

Once you finish dieting your metabolism will be slower than when you started. As you increase your calories you will quickly gain back the weight.

• Eat every few hours. Irregular eating or too many hours in between meals slows down your metabolism. Healthy snacking is important.

• Eat breakfast. Research shows that breakfast kick-starts your metabolism and helps with weight loss.

2. Water

• Dehydration slows down metabolism, your body needs water to process calories.

3. Sleep

• Your body functions better when you are well rested. Getting adequate amounts of sleep increases your thyroid hormone, maximizing your metabolism. Lack of sleep also increases your daily calorie input!

4. Exercise• The more muscle you have the higher your metabolism. And you don’t need to be a body builder, focus on increasing strength and toning.

 • Aerobic exercise is important too as it will increase your metabolism temporarily for the hours following your workout. The more intense you exercise the better, talk to your trainer about interval training.

• Stay active. Regular periods of movement, whether it’s a trip to the office water cooler or a stroll around the block after lunch, nudge a sluggish metabolism into gear.

Other Factors Controlling Your Metabolism

• Men have a faster metabolism and will find it easier to lose weight.

• Your metabolism will slow down with age.

• Although there are claims that certain foods and supplements speed up your metabolism (caffeine, the chemical in hot peppers called capsaicin), there isn’t any research to support that they actually help you lose weight. With the exception of omega-3 essential fatty acids found in fish oil, the affects of foods and supplements on metabolism is minimal and cannot replace healthy lifestyle changes.

• Some people do suffer from an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) or other illnesses that impact their metabolism. Please consult a doctor or naturopath if you feel this may be a concern.

Make some healthy lifestyle changes and not only will you be on your way to reaching your weight-loss goal, but you’ll have new energy and a healthier you too.

Christine Hanlan, RHN, NNCP is a mother to two young children and a Holistic Nutritionist who graduated first in her class from the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. Christine loves to help moms and families create healthy meal plans for weight loss, metabolism and energy. For more info, contact her at info@coreexpectations.com