Conquering Metabolism This Summer -- Without the Gym!

Losing Weight & Feeling Great!

Perhaps you have heard the buzzword "metabolism" over and over again, but never quite understood how to improve it, or what it really is.  Or, perhaps you've the usual approaches, but your efforts never really seemed to create the change that you needed to create energetic, healthy days.

"Metabolism" is a word that represents all the caloric reactions happening in the body. This includes burning calories for energy and movement, building lean tissue, immune system functions, brain activity, digestion, and more.

Your metabolism is unique to you: Roughly 60-70% of the calories burned in a day come from the normal daily reactions in your body that are necessary just to keep you alive. Your heart beating, your kidneys clearing waste from your blood, your brain functioning, the digestion of food, and other factors all contribute to that 60-70% -- even while you sleep!

Roughly 10-20% of calories burned are done so through normal daily activity. Walking around the office, doing the dishes, cooking, etc burn those 10-20%.

So, where do the remaining 10-30% of burned calories come from?  Those calories are burned from additional physical movement -- cardiovascular or anaerobic exercise.

If you're not getting these types of exercise in your day-to-routine, then you're missing a big opportunity for longer life and better health, because you're not burning any additional calories. That 10-30% above becomes zero, and your daily caloric expenditure is going to come from those calories burned from just being alive and maintaining normal daily activities. It is important to understand that the number of calories you burn each day is a major factor in maintaining weight and/or weight loss.

Are you ready for the good news?

Following these suggestions, below, will cause additional caloric deficit, but they will also lead to an increase in calories burned throughout the rest of the day... Yes, those calories burned "just to keep you alive" suddenly increase!  It now costs your body more calories each day just to live, all because you did any or all of the following:

• 2-3 times per week of appropriate strength training (100+ additional calories burned)
• 3-5 days a week of 20-60 minutes of appropriate cardiovascular exercising (100+ additional calories burned)
• Nutritionally packed meals/snacks   (5-10% additional calories burned)

Further, your age and genetic factors generally don't have to weigh as heavily into your metabolism as you might think.  While these factors can certainly play a role against you, lifestyle far outweighs the effects age and genetic heritage.  For example, people tend to lose muscle mass as they age, and that, in turn, reduces metabolism.  But, this isn't a necessary function of aging.  By sustaining muscle mass through healthy diet, proper exercise, and supplementation, a person can maintain muscle mass (lean tissue) through the aging process, and thereby minimize the effects of age working against metabolic factors.

Now, here is the bad news:  Skipping meals or cutting calories too low will lower your metabolism tremendously. This is generally the cause of weight loss plateaus. For example, a dieter loses weight quickly by eating very little -- usually fewer than 1200 calories daily. Then, after a few weeks of this, the breakdown of muscle and bone density has taken its toll on a dieter's metabolism, and the body weight starts to return. 

So, this is metabolism in a nutshell -- a crash course on the body weight basics.  But, there are lot more specifics that will be pertinent to you, and as with any science, the "devil is in the details".  If you aren't already, then we strongly suggest beginning regular Wellness with a Perfect Personal Trainer nutritionist and weight management expert.  Not only will your metabolism greatly improve (and stay that way), but your joints, bones, and heart will be tremendously healthier, also. 


And, with Fathers' Day coming up, we'd like to recommend a gift certificate for Dear Old Dad.  You can purchase in any quantity of sessions, and a free fitness assessment and consultation always starts things off - giving Dad the chance to meet with a trainer before using any of his gift certificate.  To make an easy purchase, just click here:  http://perfectpersonaltraining.com/gift_certificates/index.php


Questions or concerns about health and wellness with Perfect Personal Training?  Just call us at (877)698-3648 between 8am and 8pm Eastern Time during the week.  Every day, we help our clients achieve physical and mental success through safe, scientific, and well-balanced exercise.  Our clients love their results!