FITNESS: Boost Your Metabolism

‘Boost Your Metabolism’ by Sarah Do Rozario published in Great Health Guide (Apr 2016). What is metabolism? It is a term used to describe all of the chemical reactions involved in maintaining the living state of the cells in our body. Metabolism determines how we look (body composition), how we feel (health) and how we perform (energy) every day. Discover from fitness expert Sarah what influences metabolism and how we can boost it.

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FITNESS: Boost Your Metabolism

written by Sarah Do Rozario

Metabolism is a word often thrown around by personal trainers and journalists, however, many people don’t truly know what metabolism is! To put it simply, metabolism is a term used to describe all of the chemical reactions involved in maintaining the living state of the cells in our body. These reactions convert the food we eat into energy which fuels the processes keeping us alive and functioning well every day. Another way to look at it is, that metabolism determines how we look (body composition), how we feel (health) and how we perform (energy) everyday. Once we program our metabolism to a point where we feel confident, we are well on our way to having the body, health and energy we have always dreamed about.

Generally, people talk about metabolism in terms of ‘how do we speed it up?’. A fast metabolism means our body is burning more energy and using up more fat, which of course is what most people want! A fast metabolism is often seen as ‘the holy grail’ of looking and feeling good.

What influences our metabolism? 

The greatest influence on our metabolism, by far, is muscle mass! This means the more muscle we hold on our bodies, the more energy our body burns through. Good muscle mass is very important. Not only does it get our metabolism functioning, but more muscle is the key to looking our best, being in our healthiest state and performing well each and every day. Muscle is hard to build and even harder to hold onto so maintaining muscle is also very important when looking to improve all aspects of health.

There are many articles which provide tips to boost your metabolism. These include drinking lemon water first thing in the morning or eating spicy food. Here are three simple and easy ways that will get your metabolism working efficiently, far beyond any other options.

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Three simple and easy ways to increase metabolism:

1. Eat more good food, more often:

Food is the fuel allowing the body to function smoothly. If you are always eating at different times, eating different amounts, missing meals and generally eating sporadically, your metabolism will not function properly as the body requires consistent fuel input. Hormones that suppress or activate hunger will be produced irregularly and sometimes not at all. Therefore, with poor and infrequent eating habits, the body holds onto body fat as if it is starved.

2. Drink sufficient water:

The body is approximately 60% water, varying with age and body size. Infants have higher water content than adults. Ratio of muscle and fat on the body is important since fatty tissue contains less water than muscle tissue. During exercise and in very hot, dry weather, water and salt are lost through perspiration. This results in dehydration of cells of the body, thickening of blood and low urine output. Thus good hydration of the body will improve overall health and improve energy levels.

3. Build and maintain your muscle: 

Muscle is metabolically active so the greater the amount of muscle on the body, the higher your metabolism will be. Begin a structured strength training program designed to influence muscle building. Once muscle is formed it is very important to maintain it. This means incorporating well designed exercises with compound movements such as squats, deadlifts and bench press, at a weight that is challenging.

Health and fitness has been made far too complicated! Try these simple ways to increase your metabolism. Be consistent and you will start seeing some great improvements in the way you look, your energy levels and your health. 

Author of this article:

Sarah Do Rozario is an Australian health and fitness professional expert. She is a metabolic nutritionist and athlete, training for a 50km trail run in the Blue Mountains in May. What made her choose health and fitness as a career was a desire to help people get to places they never thought possible.

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