We all know about the regimen set for the contestants of the oh-so-famous show “The Big Loser.” They tend to lose a lot of weight in very little time. This is primarily because they pay close attention to their resting metabolic rate (RMR).
RMR means being able to shed weight or burn fat even when the body is at rest, which includes slowing their metabolic rates as well. This makes it naturally hard for the body to put on weight later.
Although our bodies are naturally accustomed to lower RMR, when we attempt to lose weight or maintain a certain weight, some natural healthy habits and measures we take can work beyond our natural physiology and help speed up our metabolic processing and levels.
So let’s know more about some aspects that affect our metabolism, along with some personally tailored tips to adjust your RMR.
1. Aging
As we age, our metabolic rate usually slows down, mostly after about 25 years of age. The RMR is said to fall by 2–3% every 10 years.
What Should You Do?
Be active and stay active every single day.
A study conducted in 2001 showed that the RMRs of younger and older men were about the same solely because they both shared similar diets and exercise routines and durations.
2. Lack Of Or Inadequate Amount Of Sleep
If you are not getting enough sleep every day, you may be working against your own favor to increase your RMR. This is because when your body has not been given the right amount of time to rest and recoup, the metabolism gets hit and naturally slows down to conserve energy or use your body’s reserve fuel.
What Should You Do?
Get at least 7–9 hours of sleep, and not a wink lesser, each and every night.
Although, studies do say that you can catch up on lost sleep over the weekend, this is not true. When your body gets the right amount of sleep every day, your hormones that control weight gain remain balanced and healthy.
3. No Endurance Or Strength Training
[pullquote]The more muscle you have, the more fat gets converted to muscle, and the higher number of calories get burned, even when your body is resting.[/pullquote]
Even if you’re a person of average weight, you need muscles. Assuming you do not have muscles, the RMR could be lesser than needed. It is generally more difficult for your body to maintain muscle than fat.
What Should You Do?
Make strength and endurance training a core part of your workout sessions.
This ensures that your metabolism is under the gun and working hard too and not just during your workouts as per what research suggests. Your metabolism can spike for around 48 hours after, as opposed to the mere 2-hour spike you get from just cardio exercises.
4. Workouts That Are Not Intense Enough
The more power-packed or intense your workout sessions are, the longer it will take for your body to recover and bounce back, build new muscle, and the like. This also means that your metabolism will be working its way back up as you do more moderate-to-high intensity workouts.
What Should You Do?
Add high-intensity training workouts (HIIT) to your exercise routine.
[pullquote]Such intense training sessions include exercises with short bursts of activity, so it is just right for the busy bees that do not have much time.[/pullquote]
This truly gives your metabolism the kick it needs from the moment your body feels it for hours after you have finished working out. This happens only when you push your body further and give it all you have.
5. Following A Diet High On Metabolism Killers
These include processed foods such as packaged fruit juices, processed canola and sunflower oil, fructose-rich foods, artificial sweeteners, etc.
These annihilate your body’s immunity and enable the toxins that slower your metabolism, cause unnecessary weight gain, and are even linked to possible risks such as thyroid issues, hormone imbalance, obesity, heart disease, and the like.
What Should You Do?
Eating organic, unprocessed, natural, and whole foods that include raw dairy; fresh fruits and vegetables, especially greens; raw, unrefined nuts and seeds; whole grains; grass-fed beef; farm-grown chicken eggs; wild caught fish such as salmon, all of which boost the RMR effectively.
