Everyone has met or known one person like this, eats like a pig and is skinny as a rail. Whether through genetics or a person’s lifestyle, metabolism can be either a blessing or a curse. What can be done though to help it or at the very least, not hinder it? Today we will learn what to do to better manage our own metabolism without getting too deep into the chemistry and academic textbooks.
What is metabolism?
Your metabolism is the rate at which your body converts food and drink into energy and will vary from person to person. It is an important piece of information for making diet decisions and not so win-lose as it may first appear when you get jealous of the skinny guy who can binge on anything he wants. A fast metabolism will convert 100 grams of food into energy quickly, while a slower metabolism will take more time, and it's not always a bad thing. Why does my metabolism slow down?
The body is always trying to stay adapted to it's environment for survival, so conditions where not a lot of energy is needed (desk jobs, driving, etc) it doesn't make sense to burn energy quickly since it's not being used at that speed. People will speak about the harm that can be done to metabolism when extreme behavior such as over training or starvation tactics are considered (usually out of frustration). These cause damage to the metabolic rate because they're not organic, gradual, and sustainable stress put on the body. A huge spike in physical activity will be a big shock to the normal expectation of energy your body thinks it needs just the same as a huge reduction of food will make it slam on the brakes trying to adjust to the new conditions. Then these radical changes are not sustained and the metabolism ends up becoming less efficient because it doesn't know what the hell is going on. But I can speed up my metabolism, right?
For this, we need to really be looking at a bigger context. You want a metabolism that matches your daily energy needs, not some sort of biological magic spell that makes you inhale as much food as you want and not gain an ounce. Increasing the metabolism means increasing the demand for energy and giving your body chance to adjust to a new equilibrium. You do NOT want to slam on the brakes with starvation diets nor rev your engine into the red by over training on weights or cardio. A higher metabolism is not a magic bullet either, when the body moves more it usually ends up wanting to eat more to replenish the energy. Metabolism won't make you skinny; the skinny friend who can eat whatever seems to make life unfair, there's more to it than just that. Said skinny friend may find it difficult to put on muscle or is moving around a lot after he gets up from wolfing down an entire buffet of pasta.
Genetic differences exist, but focusing on things that are hard to change or can not be changed easily is a recipe for despair. The best way to create permanent change to your waistline is by becoming aware and educated on your own lifestyle and the consequences of what foods you eat. There is several tools, supplements, and strategies like fasting that you can research and practice to give you more options as to how to manage your life in a way that's comfortable for you, but focusing on metabolism is not going to produce as big of results compared to fixing your diet.
Don't give up, honor your gift.
-Ed