Accelerate the metabolism

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Do you think you have low metabolism? Can't you lose weight and are you looking for a quick and easy way to increase it? All you need is a five-minute break to read this article carefully.

Metabolism is the set of biochemical and energy processes that take place within our body; these reactions have the purpose of extracting and processing the energy enclosed in food, and then destining it to satisfy the energy and structural demands of the cells. A fine regulation mechanism balances all these metabolic reactions, based on the actual availability of nutrients and cellular demands.

The existence of living organisms therefore depends on the introduction of a sufficient amount of energy and matter to satisfy the metabolic needs, commonly referred to as nutritional needs. In turn, these requests are closely related to the daily energy expenditure: many more calories are burned and many more calories must be introduced. At this point we arrive at a simplistic and alternative definition of metabolism:

• metabolism is the speed at which our body burns calories to satisfy its vital needs

from this definition we derive that:

• to accelerate our metabolism we simply need to increase the vital needs of our body, increasing energy expenditure

Daily energy expenditure is mainly influenced by three factors: basal metabolism, diet-induced thermogenesis and physical activity. It is precisely on these three components that efforts aimed at increasing metabolism must be concentrated.

The basal metabolism is the minimum energy expenditure necessary to maintain vital functions and the waking state. As reported in the figure, in a healthy and sedentary individual the basal metabolic rate represents about 60-75% of the total energy expenditure.

The increase in lean mass and physical exercise represents a strong stimulus for metabolic activities. The more muscles we have, the more calories we consume during the day, regardless of age, thyroid function and level of physical activity. The muscle, in fact, is a living tissue, in continuous renewal and with metabolic demands that are clearly higher than in adipose tissue (almost ten times). If you want to calculate your basal metabolic rate or learn more about it, you can refer to this article: Basal metabolism

A better muscle tone helps burn more calories even during physical activity. While doing sports our metabolism increases considerably and remains high even for several hours after the end of training (up to 12 hours after a particularly intense activity). To speed up the metabolism as much as possible, it is advisable to perform a mixed activity, that is characterized by a high intensity work (toning exercises with weights, with machines or free body) followed by an aerobic activity such as running, cycling or endurance swimming.

Muscle exercises indirectly increase the metabolism thanks to the increased secretion of anabolic hormones and the consequent accumulation of muscle mass

Resistance activities significantly accelerate the metabolism during exercise, keeping it high even for 4-8 hours; instead they have a modest effect on the basal metabolism since they tend to leave the muscular masses unchanged.

The combination of these training techniques can greatly increase the metabolism, building muscles rich in capillaries and mitochondria.

To speed up your metabolism remember:

• Do at least two or three workouts a week lasting no less than 40 minutes.
• Alternate aerobic activities with toning exercises, session after session or within the same training session (in this case it is best to start with strengthening exercises and end the session with not excessive aerobic work). See: How to integrate weight training and aerobic activity.
• "Give us" with weights and in general with all toning exercises. High intensity training is in fact a powerful stimulus for the secretion of anabolic hormones; it is unlikely that it will turn the reader into a bodybuilder, but it will nevertheless contribute to considerably accelerating his metabolism.
• Change the training program frequently, so as to favor the metabolic adaptations necessary to face the new stress.
• When doing aerobic activity, try to keep a steady pace, without stopping or giving yourself too long breaks. Exercise at a heart rate of around 70-75% of HRmax for at least thirty minutes. Avoid too long sessions, especially if you don't have an adequate physical condition.
• If you have little time to devote to sport, use intelligent solutions: park a few hundred meters further, take the stairs instead of taking the elevator, use the broom instead of a vacuum cleaner. They are simple tricks, but they also help to speed up the metabolism.
• During the day, try to actively contract the muscles: flatten the belly, clench your fists, move your legs, contract the quadriceps. These spontaneous contractions, to which we often do not pay much attention, contribute significantly to accelerating the metabolism, so much so that they are typical of thin and hyper reactive subjects, while they are observed much more rarely in the obese.

To learn about the caloric expenditure of the various sports you can refer to this article: Calorie consumption calculator and sport

CONTINUE: Increase metabolism with diet »