Showing posts with label boosting metabolism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boosting metabolism. Show all posts

Sunday, 31 October 2010

Boosting Your Metabolism - Part 22 - Common Metabolism-Boosting Myths

Myth No. 2 – Dropping Calorie Intake

As we discussed earlier in this blog series (but it’s so important that it deserves an encore near the end), trying to lose weight by drastically cutting down on your calories doesn’t work; in fact, it’s unhealthy.

The thing to remember is that the body’s ability to lose weight is not controlled by calories. Calories are the input. The real control mechanism is that famous concept that you’ve become very familiar with now: metabolism.

Calories are merely units of energy. It’s how your body deals with that energy that determines whether weight is gained or lost.

So with that being said, cutting down your caloric intake to, say, 1000 calories a day isn’t necessarily going to help you lose weight; because it doesn’t necessarily change your metabolism.

Indeed, as you know, if you slow down your caloric intake, your body – which is always trying to help you in the best way that it knows how – will slow down its metabolism.

Really, it makes sense: the body says that something has gone wrong; instead of the 2000 calories that it needs, it’s only getting 1000. The body doesn’t know why this is happening; it doesn’t know that you want to lose weight.

It just senses that something is wrong; perhaps you’re trapped in a cave or something, or stuck in a snowstorm. So the body, trying to help you, will slow down its metabolism; it will do its best to slow down the conversion rate, so that you have as much energy on hand as possible.

Now, if your body was able to read this book and you could say: look, please just do what you normally do, but do it with 1000 fewer calories a day for a while, then we might actually get somewhere.

But the body doesn’t work that way. It won’t help you lose weight if you dramatically cut down on calories.

It will not only slow down metabolism, but also (and here’s the worst part), if and when you ever increase calories again, your body will have to deal with that via a slower metabolic engine. So you can actually gain weight if, after cutting down your calories for a period of time, you consume extra calories (say while on a vacation for instance).

See you next time with Myth No. 3.

Take care and best wishes

Sandra




Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Boosting Your Metabolism - Part 20 - Build Muscle

Many people, particularly some women, are very cautious about undertaking any exercise regimen that can lead to muscle building.

The old perception was that muscle building leads to muscle bulking, and before long, gorging forearm veins and other unwanted results. This is, frankly, not the case.

Provided that women aren’t supporting their workouts with specific muscle-building supplements, there is no need to be concerned; because building lean muscle won’t make them bulk up.

Still, however, the question remains: why would women (and, of course, men) who want to boost their metabolism focus on muscle building? Isn’t cardiovascular exercising the only thing that matters?

Again, the answer is: No! In addition to a healthy and responsible cardiovascular program, muscle building is an exceptionally powerful way to boost metabolism.

How? Because, a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat.

And what does this mean? It means (and get ready to stare in awe) that if you have more muscle on your body – anywhere on your body – you will simply burn more calories as a result.

You don’t even have to do anything. You’ll simply burn more calories, because muscle requires more of an energy investment.

Of course, it’s common-sense that if you build muscle and then leave it alone, over time, the muscle fibres will weaken and you’ll lose that wonderful calorie-burning factory. But that’s no problem, because all you need to do is build and maintain healthy muscle.

It may sound daunting; especially if at the moment you believe you have much more fat than muscle. Yet the important thing for you to remember is that once you start building muscle – through any kind of strength training – your body will itself start burning more calories.

It has to, even while you sleep, or go to a movie, or read a book. It’s like putting your calorie-burning (catabolism) program on auto-pilot. So don’t let a little (or even a lot) of extra flab, at the moment, deter you from believing that muscle building is important.

Yes, you should enjoy cardiovascular exercise too, because that’s ultimately how your body is going to burn existing fat. But muscle building plays a profoundly supportive role in that pursuit.

And it’s an exponential one, too: the more fat you transform into muscle, the more calories you’ll burn simply to maintain that new muscle (and the wonderful cycle goes on and on!).

So you see, building muscle isn’t so scary and it can boost your metabolism too.

Next time, we’ll take a look at what the Common Metabolism-Boosting Myths are, starting with Myth No.1.


Bye for now


Sandra



Sunday, 3 October 2010

Boosting Your Metabolism - Part 18 - Eat Yourself Slimmer

Eat Early!

We have all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In terms of boosting your metabolism, this is certainly true, because again people who do are much less inclined to snack throughout the morning. For instance, if you have a good breakfast of fruit and low-sugar cereal in the morning, the likelihood of you visiting the vending machine at work around 10:30am diminish significantly.

That does not mean you should avoid eating between breakfast and lunchtime of course, but by starting your day in a nutritious way, you will have more control over what you eat throughout the day, and be less inclined to eat anything you can get your hands on.

Another good reason to eat a healthy breakfast is because it directly boosts your metabolism. You see studies have shown that metabolism typically slows during sleep, and does not really get going again until you eat.

Therefore, starting the day with breakfast is like kick-starting your metabolism. You will actually burn more calories throughout the day, simply by eating breakfast.

When you prepare your breakfast, control both the portion size, and beware of high-fat content. High-fat breakfasts, like those including bacon and sausage deliver lots of calories (9 calories for every gram of fat, as compared to 4 for every gram of carbohydrate and protein). Worse still, if you eat such a breakfast, you will not only have ingested a lot of fat (and hence a lot of calories), but you may also still find yourself hungry again in a few hours.

This explains why many people who eat a high fat content breakfast find themselves painfully hungry by lunchtime - it is not their “overactive metabolism” at work, it is simply because the high fat content has been swiftly digested. Conversely, breakfasts that are high in fibre take much longer to digest, which will not only ensure your body is not hungry again for a while, but also help to boost your metabolism because your body is working longer to digest it.

So, eating more (in a controlled way) and eating early, can help you boost your metabolism and slash those pounds – it is one of the most incredibly easy ways to lose weight there is!

See you next time, when we’ll take a look at the 3 food groups that are good for speeding up your metabolism.


Sandra



Sunday, 26 September 2010

Boosting Your Metabolism - Part 17 - Eat Yourself Slimmer

Eat More Often?

You may have heard before that eating frequently throughout the day can be very good for boosting metabolism, but if you ever wondered why, here are a couple of reasons.

The first is that people who tend to eat throughout the day do considerably less snacking. As a result, they are able to avoid the potato chips or candy bars that they might otherwise consume if they suddenly became hungry. People who eat throughout the day do not tend to experience severe hunger pangs, because they never reach that stage.

The second reason is that by eating throughout the day, you are constantly keeping your metabolism working. It is a little like having a generator running all the time; it will simply use more electricity than if you just powered it up 3 times a day.

Now, it goes without saying (though it should be said anyway just in case!), that just because it is good for metabolism-boosting to eat frequently, does not mean that you can eat junk all day long!

If you choose to eat more frequently, then try to be more aware of what you eat; because you can easily exceed the amount of daily calories you need if you do not keep an eye on this.

So, if your plan is to follow the eat-more-to-burn-more approach, it is often a good idea to keep a food journal that notes what you eat throughout the day (and drink of course).

Merely focusing on the number of your daily calories is only half the trick though. Try to ensure that you are also eating enough protein, carbohydrates, fats (the good unsaturated kind!), and the other vitamins and minerals that your body needs for a healthy way to lose weight.

See you next time in 'Boosting Your Metabolism - Eat Early!'.
 
 
Sandra
 
 
 
 
 


Monday, 23 August 2010

Boosting Your Metabolism - Part 14 - Relax .... Your Waistline Depends on It

Hi again,

You may perhaps think this week’s blog title is a little strange, or at best irrelevant to losing weight, but the fact of the matter is, that experts have now identified stress as having a key influence on our metabolism.

Essentially, what happens is that when the body is under constant stress, it releases stress hormones that flood the system. These stress-related hormones actually tell the body to create larger fat cells in the abdomen, resulting in both increased weight (through increased fat cells), and a slower metabolism.

Obviously, these are two very negative factors in our quest to boost metabolism and lose weight, because the last thing that we want is more and bigger fat cells in our abdomen, coupled with a diminished metabolism. Yet, tragically, this is what happens to many people who experience constant, continuous stress, especially those of us who have to balance so many competing objectives, such as work, family, and other vital tasks.

So the simple advice here is to learn to “relax and chill out”. For many that may be easier said than done, but being aware of the need for you to do so is the first step towards finding a way that works for you.

As women, we often respond very differently to stress stimulants from one another – one woman’s pain can be another woman’s gain, and the same is true for finding ways to relax. But there are some simple techniques that do work for a good proportion of women, so see if any of the following appeal that you might like to try.

Walking is a good one – yes it’s great in that it’s exercise, but for many, finding a little time to walk alone, is often a good way to step back and gain a little clarity and a perspective on life and any of the perceived stresses it places upon us.

Many women find tranquility and relaxation by listening to music, and with today’s technology, it need never be further away than your jacket pocket or handbag. Obviously you need to set aside a little ‘me time’ to really absorb your music and get the benefit – a 23 minute dash round the supermarket doing your weekly grocery shop with Led Zeppelin banging in your head is going to provide limited benefit, but if you haven’t tried experimenting with music before, give it a try – you may be surprised how quickly you can zone in and how relaxed it can make you feel.

Other ideas you may like to try include meditation, yoga, or even just trying to eat less stimulating foods that contain caffeine and sugar etc. Whatever you decide is right for you, the main thing is to try to build a daily regime into your life that includes periodic ‘time outs’ where you can re-centre yourself and de-stress.

Remember, while relaxing is good advice for anyone, it’s important to realize that stress negatively influences metabolism - so there is a link between how much stress you experience and your ability to break down cells and lose weight.

So if you don’t want to relax because you don’t have the time, at least be aware that your stressed-out life is probably playing a greater role in your weight gain or your inability to lose weight than you may have realized.

See you next time with ‘There Really is Something GOOD about Your Time of the Month !’


Take care


Sandra

PS. To discover how you can relieve stress, lose weight and have a general feeling of well-being Click Here and find out for yourself.









Sunday, 8 August 2010

Boosting Your Metabolism - Part 12 - Get on the Wagon

Maybe you have noticed that people who carefully choose low-fat, low-calorie meal choices, are often very disciplined when it comes to not ordering the Chef’s Special pecan pie for desert, yet order a glass or two of wine with their meal?

Well, unfortunately, these people are really undermining their efforts to boost metabolism, and are simply unaware that many alcoholic drinks are laden with almost as many calories as sugary-rich soft drinks.

A bottle of beer can deliver a few hundred calories, and most cocktails are in the same range. Wine is generally considered to deliver the least amount of calories; but even this is a bit of a slippery slope.

Three glasses of wine can be worth 300 calories that the body simply has to deal with in one form or another, but that’s not all, because studies show that drinking alcohol with meals actually encourages over eating; which means yet more calories that need to be burned away (or transformed into fat!).

The tip here isn’t to stop drinking alcohol altogether (despite the title of this section). If you enjoy alcohol then there’s no particular reason why you have to quit cold turkey, but you will save a bit of money and not consume as many calories.

If you are compensating for these added calories through exercise or muscle building, that’s okay and catabolism cannot occur. But if you go heavy on the alcohol instead, without compensating, then anabolism will inevitably occur, and new cells will be created from those calories (mostly fat cells).

So the call here is simply that you become aware that alcohol influences your metabolism significantly. If you consume excess alcohol, (even without becoming inebriated), you force your system to deal with more calories and worse still, they will be ‘empty’ calories with little nutritional value.

Just something to bear in mind till next time, when we continue through the Lifestyle section of Boosting Your Metabolism.

See you again soon


Sandra



Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Boosting Your Metabolism - Part 8 - Build Lean Muscle

Many women are very cautious about undertaking any exercise regimen that can lead to muscle building.

The old perception was that muscle building leads to muscle bulking, and before long, gorging forearm veins and a shrinking cleavage, is frankly not the case.

Provided you aren’t supporting workouts with specific muscle-building supplements, there is no need to be concerned; because building lean muscle won’t make you bulk up.

Still, the question remains: why would women who want to boost their metabolism focus on muscle building? Isn’t cardiovascular exercising the only thing that matters?

Again, the answer is: No! In addition to a healthy and responsible cardiovascular program, muscle building is an exceptionally powerful way to boost metabolism.

How? Because a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat.

And what does this mean? It means that if you have more muscle on your body – anywhere on your body – you will simply burn more calories as a result.

You don’t even have to do anything. You’ll just burn more calories, because muscle simply requires more of an energy investment.

Of course, as you can probably guess, if you build muscle and then leave it alone, over time, the muscle fibres will weaken and you’ll lose that wonderful calorie-burning factory. But that’s no problem, because all you need to do is build and maintain healthy muscle.

It may sound daunting; especially if at the moment you perceive yourself to have much more fat than muscle. But the important thing to remember is that once you start building muscle – through any kind of strength training – your body will itself start burning more calories.

It has to; even while you sleep, or go to a movie, or read a book. It’s like putting your calorie-burning (catabolism) program on auto-pilot.

So don’t let a little (or even a lot) of extra flab, deter you from believing that muscle building is important.

Yes, you should enjoy cardiovascular exercise too, because that’s ultimately how your body is going to burn existing fat. But muscle building plays a profoundly supportive role in that pursuit.

And it’s an exponential one, too: the more fat you transform into muscle, the more calories you’ll burn simply to maintain that new muscle (and the wonderful cycle goes on and on!).

For more great ideas on building lean muscle Click Here and take a look...

See you in Blog 9!


Sandra


Saturday, 17 July 2010

Boosting Your Metabolism – Part 6: Strategies, Techniques and Tips

If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you’ve tried – at least once in your life – to boost your metabolism.

Perhaps (like most of us) you weren’t quite certain what metabolism is, and perhaps (again, like most of us) you probably didn’t quite know all that you needed to know in order to accomplish your goals.

Maybe you started a rigorous exercise program of jogging and muscle toning, or eating several small portions a day, rather than three large traditional meal-sized portions, or maybe you even started taking all kinds of supplements that promised to boost your metabolism.

The thing is, is that all of these methods can indeed work. Exercise, eating strategically, and ensuring that your body has catabolism-friendly supplements are but three of many generally good ideas.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is that many of us have no real scientific understanding of what methods boost metabolism, and how or why they work. Some of us, in fact, don’t really even know if they work, we just think that they do.

To give an example, supposing a person were to start a vigorous exercise program that includes significant aerobic cardiovascular movement, such as jogging or cycling. And indeed, after a week, they noticed a drop in weight.

The obvious reason that many would conclude for this is because that person has boosted their metabolism. But have they really boosted their metabolism? May be, may be not. Could it be due to water loss through perspiration that hasn’t been adequately replenished? May be, or may be not.

The point here is that many people – at risk to their health and wellness – don’t quite understand what methods boost metabolism, and the strategies, techniques, and tips, to make it happen for them. And that’s what we’re going to rectify in the blogs ahead.

You won’t come across any casual information that a friend of a friend heard on TV. Nor will you be subjected to off-the-cuff information of how to boost your metabolism.

Rather, we’re going to look at the popular, easy, fun (yes, believe it or not), and successful ways to boost your metabolism.

To most easily introduce and discuss them here, I have taken key ideas and broken them down into 3 broad categories:

1. Exercise
2. Lifestyle
3. Diet

As you go through each of the key points, you are bound to note that there is some overlap between them. For example, it’s hard to imagine that introducing exercise into your life isn’t, in many ways, a lifestyle choice.

Similarly, integrating all kinds of metabolism-boosting foods into your diet is surely going to influence how you spend your time (less time in fast food line-ups for sure!).

So, please don’t get bogged down in the categories, they are merely provided here to help organize key points, and to help you easily refer to them in the future. The important thing for you to do is understand each of the points, and evaluate how you can responsibly integrate them into your life.

Till next time

Best Wishes

Sandra