Understanding And Controlling Your Metabolism

Many people tend to resign themselves to the theory that if they have a slow metabolism, they are genetically doomed to this state for the rest of their life. This is just not so. We have an incredible amount of control over our metabolism, regardless of age or sex. Understanding how to control this can make a dramatic change in both your health and appearance. To have control over your body’s function, and appearance is an incredibly empowering feeling! So, here is a general overview as to how your metabolism works, and what you can do to have more control over it.

First, let’s start by educating you on what your metabolism is comprised of…

“Voluntary Activity Level” – This is all of the energy required for physical activity. Everything from flipping the pages of a magazine, to working out with your favorite personal trainer.

“Basal Metabolic Rate” – The energy needed to passively run all the processes required to maintain your body. Or in other words, it’s what keeps your engine running.

“Thermic Effect Of Food” – The energy cost to digest and assimilate the food you eat.

All three of these components can be tweaked and altered to raise your metabolism, once you understand how…

Your Basal Metabolic Rate accounts for about two thirds of your daily caloric intake.

One quarter of your calorie requirements are used for physical activity. This can vary depending on your job, general lifestyle, workout duration and intensity.

The Thermic Effect of food can account from anywhere from five to fifteen percent of your daily calories. It may not seem like a lot, but it can make a huge difference. This is of course altered through better diet.

So, let’s start by talking about your Voluntary Activity Level and making the most of it.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Cardio: "Quality Over Quantity"

Many of my clients either do cardio on their home machines, or go to a gym on their days off from training with me. Realistically, no one looking to burn fat and raise their metabolism should ever have to do any more than a half hour of cardio. Let’s face it, anything beyond that is incredibly boring for most people anyway. When it comes to cardio for the sake of weight loss, the focus needs to be on intensity. High energy output, in a short 30 min window of time. If it’s within your scheduling ability the morning is the best time to do cardio. Ideally you’re trying to crank your metabolism up, and better to do so as you go into your day to give you much needed energy, as opposed to night when you need to be able to relax, and get a good night sleep.

There are two mechanisms that burn calories from exercise…

1.      The calories actually used to perform the exercise.

2.      The energy needed to recover from the exercise. This is something greatly overlooked... the aftermath of the workout.

Get out of your head the idea of doing cardio to burn calories, but rather to ignite your metabolism!

Of course burning fat and calories is ultimately your goal, but you’ll burn more if you approach your cardio sessions with the goal of igniting your metabolism for a longer lasting effect, rather than just trying to burn as many calories as you can in the moment.

I try to stress the need for the combination of cardio, and weightlifting. Studies have found that following a traditional cardio session, your body will undergo a subtle metabolic increase for several hours. So, regardless of how many calories the machine may be telling you you’ve burned, the actual number is going to be higher. Now, this is where weightlifting comes into play. While you’ll experience a metabolic increase for several hours from cardio, studies have shown that a weight lifting session can increase your metabolic level for over 24 hours! In some cases up to 32!!! Lifting weights not only burns calories, but also requires fat oxidation for energy, a process resulting in burning fat.

People who should spend an hour doing cardio are those who need to do it for conditioning purposes. For example, somebody who is training for a marathon or a bike race. For those who are trying to burn fat, this just isn’t necessary, and in many cases longwinded bouts of cardio can become counterproductive to your goals!

Now, don’t get me wrong... Cardio is an extremely important aspect of the process and should not be overlooked. I’m simply talking about quality over quantity.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

To get the most out of your cardio requires it to be performed certain ways, or at certain times. High Intensity Interval Training, (HIIT) is proven to be one of the best, and most efficient ways to fire up your metabolism, ultimately burning more calories/fat than typical cardio workouts.  The beauty of this is that it applies to any and all forms of cardio. So no matter what your machine/exercise of choice may be, you can apply this method and increase your productivity. So what is it? It is cardio performed in intervals shifting between high intensity and low intensity. The intensity can be altered in a few ways, through speed, resistance, or both.

Let’s use the elliptical as our example with contrasting levels of resistance. Rather than hop on, press “Quick Start” and go at it for 30 minutes at a steady pace, start off at a comfortable resistance. After 2 minutes raise the resistance to a point you find challenging. Then back down again after another 2 minutes. So, I might start at level 6 for 2 minutes, and then move up to level 10 for 2 minutes back and forth for the duration of the session. Most machines have an interval program built in so you don’t have to do all of this manually. This process does a few things. It breaks up the monotony and repetition, and it also is a more efficient way of revving up your metabolism. It's important to always continue to push yourself as well. If you start finding that your cardio is becoming very routine, then try mixing things up either by adjusting your speed, resistance level, intervals or even the type of cardio you're doing. Variety in both cardio, and lifting is essential to garner maximum results no matter what your fitness goals are.

But with what do you fuel this hard working machine?

The Importance Of Protein And Your Metabolism

There are three main reasons why protein should be a priority in your diet…

1.      You need the amino acids from protein to recuperate, and build strong new muscle tissue.

2.      Protein helps us stay lean by stabilizing our blood sugar levels.

3.      The Thermic Effect of protein.

It’s not uncommon for people to feel perspiration on their forehead after a protein rich meal. This is evidence of the increase in metabolic rate, and therefore temperature in your body. A higher metabolism, means a higher core temperature. Most people who get cold easily, typically don’t exercise often, and have slower metabolisms. In spite of their body fat levels.

Foods high in protein maintain this burning effect. Protein has DOUBLE the metabolic stimulating effect than nutrients such as carbs, or fat do. The calorie burning lasting effect from this can be from up to 5 hours following a meal. If you’re eating 5 to 7 meals a day, that incorporate protein into them, you’re feeding that metabolic fire all day long. Throw on top of all that your workouts with me, and you will soon be a well oiled metabolic machine!

Which leads into me into…

The Importance Of Eating 5 Times A Day

It’s important to eat multiple meals throughout the day in regulated portions, so as to give your digestive system work to do, which keeps your metabolism active, but with only enough work to do for three hours between meals.  So, once the first meal has been processed, then the next is on it’s way. Ideally, it is best if each meal contains SOME protein. This routine keeps the energy giving metabolic fire burning all day long.


This also prevents your body from going into "starvation mode", and storing fat. When your body sees a steady source of nutrition being delivered to it throughout the day, it doesn't see as great of a need to store fat away. Going long stretches in the day without eating, or starving yourself actually sets you up to store more fat. If you eat breakfast, and don't eat again till dinner, your body sees a long period of time go by without being fed the nutrition it needs. So, the next meal you eat, your body will stash as much of it away in the form of fat as it can... not knowing when it's next meal will be coming in.

The five meals consist of …

Breakfast

Snack 1

Lunch

Snack 2

Dinner

Your breakfast should be a combination of protein and carbs. The combination of the two will give you the metabolic boost you need in the morning to get going.

Did you know an apple will give you more energy in the morning than a cup of coffee? Your snacks may include fruits and vegetables. Fruit contains energy-giving fructose (low on the glycemic index), several essential vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals, plus dietary fiber for better health, digestion and blood glucose control. So, even if you're counting carbs to lose weight, make sure you eat plenty of healthy fruit.

Protein drinks, and bars make for excellent "snacks" to fulfill your Meal 2, and Meal 4 requirements. 

Lunch should be a combination of protein and carbs. Chicken, turkey, or fish with some vegetables would be ideal.

You usually want to cut your carb intake post lunch. 50 grams or less. This way when you get up and do your cardio the next morning, your body doesn’t have the carbs from the night before to draw on for energy. It must then resort to it’s backup, the stored fat in your body.

Dinner should fall along the same lines as lunch. A protein rich meat, and preferably some vegetables.

Your body is built for adaptation. By constantly keeping your metabolism working through proper diet and exercise, over time you’ll train it to continue to do so on it’s own, thus allowing you to maintain your new body. Everyone’s body is different, and has different needs. That is where I come in. To help you figure out your body’s chemistry, and needs. Together we can find the best exercise/diet plan to help you achieve your goals.