Metabolism is a complex process of converting the food you eat into energy for your cells. Every action that takes place in your body is dependent upon the metabolic process. The more quickly your metabolism works, the more energy you have available for use. Your metabolism will regulate itself based on your typical energy needs and food intake.
Even when you’re not exercising, the processes going on inside your body require a basic amount of energy, usually stated as your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR. This rate can be roughly estimated by multiplying your weight in pounds by ten. In general, if you are not very physically active, your BMR is the amount of calories you burn each day. If you eat more than this, you’ll gain weight. If you eat less than this, you’ll lose weight.
If it will be difficult for you to permanently cut down on your caloric intake in order to maintain a lower target weight, you can increase the amount of calories you burn by increasing your physical activity levels.
While what we calculated is your very general BMR, the truth is that people with different genes, environmental factors, and medical histories will have varying BMR rates. Those who have gone on diets in the past or suffered through hunger will have lower BMRs. Metabolism also slows as you age. So as you get older or if you’ve suffered hunger, you may have to exercise more just to reach normal metabolic levels. Also, the more muscle you have in your body, the higher your rate of metabolism will have to be in order to supply that muscle with a constant availability of energy for function.
That last fact is a very important one, as weight training is both a form of exercise that can burn calories at a very rapid rate and increases muscle mass. Increasing muscle mass increases your base metabolism, so that your resting metabolic rate is greater and you’re burning more calories.
You may see some people trying to sell you on an idea that everyone has a different type of metabolism, with some being more efficient with carbohydrates and others being more efficient with proteins. You can try this to see if it works for you by finding an online metabolic type test.
Related articles
- Exercise and metabolism (bupa.com.au)
- Clinical Assessment: Metabolism (drsharma.ca)
Good tips in the article for diet and exercise. I’m glad to see that it focused on diet and exercise as a coordinated effort. to add to the article, It would also be beneficial to monitor RMR, BMI, and calories burned. Then you would have some accuracy in determining and adjusting your diet for weight gain or loss. Online calculators are available for RMR, BMI & Calories Burned at How to Gain Weight 123 calculators so, enter your age, weight, height and activities you have done during the day. The calculator’s will do the rest and tell you how many calories you use for the whole day and when at rest.