|
Your metabolism. Its your enemy?
Its your friend?? These days so many people are talking about how
slow their metabolism is and why they need to start taking the latest diet
supplement or scary diet they've read about....yet they don’t appear to even understand how the human metabolism works.
It becomes entirely apparent that one has to learn how their metabolism works -
the basics, before one can begin to talk how to speed theirs up...so that's
where Id like to begin. Teaching you about your metabolism and how it really
works.
So we've heard the term lots and
lots - does anybody actually know what their metabolism actually is? Now, although there are many
scientific ways for one to explain metabolism, and I could, like many so-called
experts seem to, make it sound like total rocket science - but I won’t. We'll
start with the most basic and simplet o understand definition of exactly what
your metabolism is... metabolism is very, very simply - the rate at
which your body burns calories
to sustain life. Now just becasue that is simple - does not mean that it is to
be ignored.
Remember this next one folks -
calories are not just burned while you exercise. It should go without saying
that your body, like mine, is burning calories 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, with or without exercising. Thats right - read it again. Metabolism - the
rate at which your body burns calories to...keep you alive. So remember that your body needs energy all the time,
even while you’re asleep and that is why skipping meals is the absolute worst
thing you can do if your goal is to lose weight (body fat). Weight and bodyfat
are an interchangeable set of words. Its true that when we burn fat we often
lose weight but this is not a hard and fast rule. For if one was burning a
couple of pounds of fat per month and gaining a couple of pounds of muscle per
month you would remain the same weight - although you would be in exceptionally
better physical condition and far, far less fat. So people - one of the things
you need to start doing, is thinking in terms of loosing fat - not just weight!
Which is where you start to realise that the scales are an entirely arbitary and
virtually useless set of measuring tools - unless they measure bodyfat levels
too. You are far better to measure by looking at yourself in the mirror and
using a set of fat callipers to do the work for you.
Now before we go any further into
this topic, let’s look at what types of things can affect your metabolism...
Does anybody actually really know
what has the biggest impact upon your metabolism? If you ask yourself - what do you think has the biggest
impact on your metabolism? Is it your activity levels? Possibly it may be your thyroid?
Or maybe its your age right? WRONG! WRONG! and
WRONG! Activity levels, thyroid function, and age do affect metabolism but not
nearly as much as... Any idea? It’s muscle tissue! The more muscle you have
the more calories you burn regardless of how active you are, how old you are,
etc. It’s live tissue and it’s there working for you and burning calories 24
hours a day – each and every day! When you're sat on your butt watching
Coronation Street eating apple pie and ice cream - muscle tissue, unlike
inactive tissue such as fat, is living tissue and being alive it needs to burn
calories for energy to live....and so muscle is your number one metabolic
friend! Get this very clear in your mind.
Now lets have a look at some of
the major factors that do have an impact upon your metabolic rate (metabolism).
Factors Affecting Metabolism In
Order Of Greatest Impact To Least:
- Muscle tissue (you already
know why this is on the top of the list)
- Meal frequency (the longer you
go between meals the more your metabolism slows down to conserve energy)
- Activity level (important but
doesn’t make any difference if you don’t match your eating to your
expenditure)
- Food choices (eg. low-fat
diets tend to result in poor hormone production which leads to a slower
metabolism - this is why the atkins style of diet is in fact so successful
because it results in a far better hormonal profile in order to achieve its
fat loss goals.)
- Hydration (over 70% of bodily
functions take place in water – not enough water causes all your systems
to slow down and undergounnecessary stress)
- Genetics (some people have
higher metabolisms than others – you can’t change genetics but you can
still win the battle!)
- Hormone production and
function (think you have a slow thyroid? it’s not likely – before you go
blame it on the thyroid first stabilize your blood sugar and throw in some
progressive exercise 2-3 times each week)
- Stress (stress also can slow
metabolism by placing extra stress and strain on numerous systems. Plus,
many people tend to overeat when “stressed out”)
Age is a state of mind....and
more often than not, a very, very poor excuse for inexcusable high bodyfat
levels. Your metabolism is not a time bomb waiting to tick off and stop working
you know! How many times have you
heard someone say, “as soon as you hit 30 your metabolism slows down”? Maybe
you’ve said it. I know I hear it all the time. If you hear it or say it -
maybe you'll be surprised to hear that research has found that the metabolism doesn't
actually slow down
significantly due to aging but it does due to a lack of muscle. And, you don’t
lose muscle quickly due to aging either but due to a decrease or lack of
physical stress. Do you hear that. Its when you sit around on your butt watching
Coronation Street for thirty years that your muscle is wasting away and with it
- its taking the precious calorie burning affect you once had. And that's where
the middle age spare tyre actually comes from. Less muscle more fat. And it gets
worse because then it compounds. Even less muscle and even more fat. And then it
compounds even more. Are you scared yet? So
we have now determined that the slowing down of the human metabolism is actually
well within your control and is actually affected by the following three
factors:- You lose muscle due to the
lack of physical stress
Your body cannibalizes muscle
when it needs energy but you won’t supply any because you are
“dieting” and skipping meals - this is the least intelligent thing you
can partake in
Your activity levels tend to
decrease as you get older So now that we know the
problem... what’s the solution? Quite simple dont you think? Simply address those 3 issues!
For years you are going to have been listening to so called experts telling you
how difficult it is to lose weight and how hard it is to struggle with a slow
metabolism etc. Well these are experts indeed. But far from medical or fitness
experts. These are the experts that persuade you to buy the latest diet,
supplement or fitness contraption. So if you're eating cabbage soup once per day
and wearing a belt that fixes you to the wall and wobbles you up and down like
the most ridiculous prat on the planet Earth...just stop a moment...tkae hold of
the brains God blessed you with at birth and have a straight forward logical
think about what you are doing to yourself. Read on. It’s not that hard, it
doesn’t have to be confusing, and you don’t need any of that crap! All you
need is an understanding of how your body works and the willingness to make some
small changes. You can use a very simple and straight forward formula to jump
start your metabolic rate and get you shifting body fat nice and fast with ease.
Here it is:-
Step 1 - Stop The Storage Of New
Fat
It doesn't make any sense to
start an exercise program if you just end up adding new fat later that day. Your
just starting an exchange program...new for old. Thats not very sensible at all.
This
is a problem that is very common among people who start an exercise in an
attempt to lose weight.
See the problem is this...
We don’t get fat due to a lack
of exercise – we get fat because we supply the body with more calories than it
needs at a given time if were keeping this basic. So the solution has nothing to do with exercise –
it’s all about your eating! And I’m not saying you have to eat low-fat,
super clean and healthy diet
consisting of rabbit food and dry toast only. You can still eat the foods you like
if you
can give the body just the amount it needs. This is called self control and we
are all capable of it...when we are not slaves to our crazy blood sugar and
hormones. Keep your integrity. Keep yourself in check. We're all capable of self
control. And bodybuilders are an extreme example of the dedicated mind at work.
There is often no real need to keep your diet to the extremes of a competitive
bodybuilder of dry turkey and boiled brown rice unless that is what you do for
your living. We are human and ice cream and McDonalds are there for our
enjoyment...thats doesnt mean you have to eat ten a day. Self control folks. The key is to give the body the
energy it needs, but just that amount and not a bunch extra because extra is
extra is extra, it doesn’t matter what it’s from. Salad can be stored as
fat, celery can be stored as fat – if it results in extra it can be stored as
fat. I should also note that not all extra energy is stored in the fat cells and
I will touch on that later. But as a rule of thumb - eat the right amount for
your body's needs and not a whole bunch of extra energy just to make sure you
dont run out - it aint gonna happen, cos thats what your fat stores are there
for...for when you run out.
So forget about trying to burn
off any fat unless you can first stop storing new fat! That doesn't mean stop
eating fat either. People you need to distinguish this. Fat is good for you.
Eating fat signals the body that it is getting enough fat from the diet and
doesnt need to convert and store other foods to fat. And remember any extra
anything can store as fat, including rabbit food if you eat enough of it. Again, you do that by
matching your eating to your activity level. This means small, balanced meals or
snacks every 2-3 hours and the amount of calories in each feeding should depend
on how active you are at that time of day.
Step 2 – Attack The Existing
Fat
This requires a combination
approach consisting of stable blood sugar/energy levels, and progressive cardiovascular/aerobic
exercise and strength
training. If you do not know what you are doing here - then have a look at the
training sections on this web site - they're very good and I use them with my
clients.
Now, we have already talked about how
important stable blood sugar and energy levels are and how to match your eating
to your activity level so now I’d like to cover the exercise part of the
equation just in basic for you if you dont have the time to read more in depth
elsewhere. Activity level is what we have been talking about getting your food
consumption level to balance and match.
So in order for the exercise to even
be worth your time you must be sure it’s progressive. Just because you run on
the treadmill for 30 minutes three times a week, that doesn’t mean your body
has to burn off that unwanted body fat! You have to force the body to make
changes and improvements and the ONLY way to do that is to consistently provide
a stimulus or stress that is greater than what the body is used to. Im sure you
have all heard this before. And you hear this rule again and again - spoken and
written and practiced - simply because it is one of the true rules that does
work and provide the results that you want! Simply
put all the emphasis on progression. How do you do that? Have a look below:
Strength training
- Change exercises frequently
(every 2-4 weeks)
- Increase resistance
- Perform more reps
- Slower reps
- Advanced techniques
Cardiovascular training
- Increase speed/resistance
- Perform intervals
- Increase distance traveled
- Cross train by performing
numerous activities
The final point that people need
to take note of is one that world motivational speaker and excellence coach
talks of all of the time. Write everything down. Plan to succeed. Failing to
plan is nothing more than planning successfully to fail. The more detail your
plan has the more chances you give yourself to succeed. You can’t just say “ok, now I know what to do” and then try a
little of this here and little of that there. You need a roadmap. If you are
serious about achieving your weight loss and fitness goals I highly recommend
you get the help of a professional. Whether that means one on one, personal
fitness training or just a do-it-yourself fitness plan – your chances of
success are much greater.
Even though you are planning
though, please remember, it
doesn’t have to be confusing. Hopefully this information has shown you how
easy it can be if you know what you are doing.
|
![[Gaspari] Super Pump 250 Supplement](/Images/Sh/tn/pdgaspari-superpump250.jpg)
