I have seen people obsessed with eating a big bowl of salads, skipping meals, drinking ice-cold water, and other iced beverages, and the most detrimental of all, consuming highly processed food and yet expecting to loos weight or boost metabolism.
Do you believe that enchanted pills, green smoothies, and special diets can amp up your metabolism?
If you have not considered exercise for boosting your metabolism, you have missed the Magic Bullet.
Before I tell you the best exercises out there to help boost your metabolism, understand that multiple factors affect the way your metabolism operates, especially age, gender, and hormones.
Age
Our metabolism begins to decline as we age, and we also tend to lose up to five percent of muscle mass and become less mobile. As combined effects, it’s easier for the pounds to accumulate around the waistline. Approximately 30 to 50 percent of calorie burn should be through exercise.
Gender
Females have a slower metabolism than men due to various factors, including oestrogen levels and a lower resting metabolic rate, which helps determine our overall total daily energy release and plays a vital role in regulating our energy balance.
Hormones
A rise in blood cortisol level due to stress or other factors can lead to weight gain, risk of heart disease, and diabetes. A workout before consuming a meal can help to drop those cortisol levels and improve metabolism.
Low testosterone levels can trigger a bit of weight gain and leave us feeling fatigued. Daily workout regimens can help keep healthy and stable testosterone and support a healthy metabolism.
Estrogen can trigger metabolic malfunction, and the imbalance in this hormone can cause your weight to increase rapidly.
Finally, the thyroid hormone is responsible for the overall effectiveness of your metabolism. It helps control metabolic processes in the body that are necessary for growth, development, and metabolism.
Hyperthyroidism (thyroid in a hypermetabolic state) can induce metabolism overdrive, leading to weight loss and excessive use of your resting energy. On the other hand, hypometabolism (underperforming thyroid) can reduce resting energy expenditure (metabolism) and gain weight.
Remember this; the metabolism is a powerhouse that converts food into energy and propels it without missing a beat.
If you are overwhelmed in trying to figure out the ways to regain control, continue reading this,
During exercise, our muscles utilise a relatively large amount of energy by burning calories. And the most exciting fact about exercise is that even after the workout is over, your muscles can continue to burn calories stored in your body, keeping the metabolism functioning at optimal levels.
There are three activities, when paired together, can do wonders and help you boost your metabolism.
- Lifting Weights to Burn fat; is a practical approach to helping you build not only muscles but also initiate fat metabolism for energy. When you rest, the muscles use more calories compared to fat cells. For best results, do two sets of repetitions (12-15) for just two days a week on the major muscle groups (back, arms and legs).
- Aerobic Activity; is a must-have ingredient for boosting your metabolism. Interval training is instrumental in yielding positive results. Swimming, walking, kickboxing, jogging, or even Zumba are excellent options for enhancing your metabolism.
- Low Impact Exercises; such as Yoga, Pilates, water aerobics are an excellent choice for people with low exercise intolerance due to underlying health issues such as arthritis, diabetes, heart conditions, or physical limitations such as knee pain, back pain, shoulder pain, or scoliosis.
In short, there might be a few reasons for not being able to control your metabolism, but exercise is your best bet and a magic bullet.
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