The Mysteries of Increasing Your Metabolism
Do you remember a time in your life when you could eat whatever you wanted, whenever you felt like it, and your weight stayed the same? I do. Growing up, I never worried about my weight. Of course, I was active, like most kids used to be back in the 70s and 80s. We didn’t have as much available to do indoors (no computers, five or six basic TV channels), so we played outside — burning calories without even realizing it.
Even in my mid-20s, whatever I ate seemed to disappear. I liked taking aerobics and walking my dog — but that was just because it was a fun way to meet people. I remember riding in a mini-van with some women going on a retreat in my mid-20s. They were all a decade or two older than me and were complaining that “If I just look at a candy bar, I’ll gain five pounds to my hips and thighs.”
Me and my big mouth. I remember saying, “For some reason, I can eat whatever I want and not gain a pound.” I’m surprised they didn’t just tell me to shut up, but they ignored my youthful ignorance and one lady said, “You wait, Heather. You just wait. It will change once you hit your mid-30s. Your metabolism will slow down.”
I shrugged, thinking she was wrong, that I’d inherited good genes — after all, my parents were thin, and even my grandparents. Now, of course, I’m realizing she was absolutely right — and over the years, I’ve noticed my parents taking proactive steps to eat a healthy diet and get plenty of exercise. They’ve always made it seem like fun, so I didn’t realize they were making deliberate lifestyle choices.
The metabolism thing — it’s a mystery I’d like to explore in further detail in the months to come. Why does it slow down? How can we increase it?
I was working out at Curves recently and heard a video in the background with Gary Heavin, the founder of Curves, saying, “If you don’t eat, you’ll slow down your metabolism. Your body will go into starvation mode and store fat. If you want to raise metabolism and burn more calories, don’t skip meals; you need to eat.”
In a recent Web Md article, Make the Most of Your Metabolism: How to boost your body’s fat-burning potential, two of the most important tips for increasing your metabolism are:
Exercise, including weight training. This includes aerobic workouts to burn more calories in the short term, and weight training to build the muscles that will boost your metabolism in the long run.
Small, but frequent, meals help keep your metabolism in high gear, and that means you’ll burn more calories overall.
Try these two tips, and you’ll see a difference. I’m not there yet — but I’m slowly working on it.
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1 opinion for The Mysteries of Increasing Your Metabolism
anon
Sep 13, 2007 at 10:00 pm
good blog
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