Understanding your metabolic rate

Many of you will have heard the term 'metabolic rate before', but may not be altogether clear on exactly what this means. Basically, your metabolic rate stands for the energy (number of calories) you burn each day just to keep your body working. By 'working' I mean staying alive by your heart beating, your lungs breathing air, and your digestive system processing the foods that you consume, to name but a few of many examples. The metabolic rate is referred to as the resting metabolic rate, of the basal metabolic rate.

Over the years research has taken place to measure the number of calories burned by people who have a healthy weight, and also those that are overweight, when they are resting.  The measurement taken in this instance is the oxygen that they breath in, and the carbon dioxide that is subsequently breathed out. This is to ascertain how much energy these people expend through just their bodies working normally, without any added movement. Many results have shown that those people who are overweight, use up more energy for this. The primary reason is that their bodies are larger, they have bigger muscles and organs that make up their composition.

However, once a difference in the size of people's bodies have been taken into consideration, there have been similarities shown in the metabolic rates of those with a lean, or thinner figure, and people who are deemed to be obese.

Somebody's basal metabolic rate can be affected by the size of their body, and how the size is constituted. Fat requires less energy to function than muscle. The trend with everybody is that as we age we will lose muscle from our body, but gain fat. This factor upholds the fact that our basal metabolic rate gradually decreases as we get older.

So two people who are of the same age and weight can have different metabolic rates if one is more muscular than the other.

Naturally we also use up energy each day as we move around while carrying out our daily activities. Basal metabolic rate and the energy needed for physical activity make up the total energy that we expend. Your total energy needs depend primarily on how active you are.

But you hardly eat anything right?

It is common for overweight people to believe that they eat very little, yet still put on weight. This is why many overweight people blame their weight on a 'slow metabolism'. However, research has shown people tend to eat more than they think they do.

When people are asked to write down everything that they ate and drank in a day, often they will miss things out. The reason for this can be to give a different impression to those conducting the research, or because they honestly forgot some things. There is also the chance that after knowing that what they were eating was coming under scrutiny, they could have gone for healthier options.

The point is that if you consume more calories than you body requires, you will gain weight.

If you genuinely want to be able to lose weight then understanding your metabolic rate is critical, as this will lead to you knowing how many calories you need to be eating each day. Once that is clear and you are able to amend your diet and eating habits to suit this number, you are going to be going the right way to be able to lose weight and slim down.

This is the most simple and effective way to help your metabolism and achieve your weight loss goals. It beats fad diets and miracle pills that are sold to thousands of people looking for a quick fix, and subsequently failing.

To find out exactly how to calculate your metabolic rate check out my site all about the metabolism at the link below.

http://www.metabolism-boosting-foods.com/basal-metabolic-rate.php

Speeding up your metabolism on an exercise bike

Finding out the easiest and most effective ways of speeding up your metabolism may have been one of the many things on your list of new years resolutions at the turn of the year, but coming up to half way through 2012, can you honestly say that you have made any ground?

Many people may have given it a go and then given up after a while, where as many more did not even make it that far. The point of this post is hopefully going to encourage you to make just a little bit of effort that could make a really big difference when it comes to raising your metabolism.

Ok so the idea and cost of joining a gym is going to be something that puts many people off doing regular exercise, as well as fitting this around a busy work and personal schedule. It may not be practical to go for a run each day, or even a couple of times a week, perhaps because the weather where you live can make this very difficult, or maybe you just don't feel confident enough to get out in public and do your exercise. There has got to be a way of avoiding puffing and panting in front of people, or having to risk face all kinds of weather conditions in order to get a big of exercise in right?

Well there is, and although this is hardly an original idea I can tell you for nothing that it is something that can really help you out and fit into your life whenever you do get a bit of free time to exercise.

The best thing about an exercise bike is that it can cost you next to nothing, and it is a one off cost, unlike the gym where you may pay a monthly, or annual fee, and then possibly every time you go as well. For most people in today's society that is going to be a strain on the wallet as well as the body.
You don't have to buy the latest and greatest exercise bike with all the mod cons on, and it doesn't even have to be new. As long as you can get hold of one that works then it is going to do a job for you. Most exercise bike even several years old can tell you how far you have traveled, calories burned, and the speed you are going at.

Have a look in your local paper, the free ads, or places online like eBay, gumtree and craigs list, or even a local garage sale. You will find plenty of exercise bikes on sale, and at very affordable prices.

Once you have your exercise bike in your home then it is there whenever you have a free hour, or even twenty minutes here and there. You can put it in front of a television so that there is something to help take your mind off of what you are doing, or just put some music on to listen to. The point is that it is exercising conveniently and comfortably. If there is no room for it in the house, then how about the garage? Sure it may be a bit colder out there but it is still private and you are soon going to get your body temperature up when you are cycling away.

Considering there are always times when we are sat on the computer, or in front of the television, there really is no excuse not to take part in a very simple form of exercise within the privacy of our own four walls.

Using the exercise bike on a regular basis is a brilliant way of speeding up your metabolism as it is a great work out that is going to burn calories that are contributing to a slow metabolism. You can start off slow with short distances and then build yourself up as you get used to it. Progression is something that can easily be achieved and in a few months you could be really making a difference to your weight.

Consistency is the best thing when it comes to raising your metabolism, consistency with your diet, and consistency with exercise.

At the end of the day it is down to you and how much you really want to make changes that are going to speed up your metabolism. If you are serious about it and want to help yourself then you are going to have to accept that this idea is one of the easiest answers that you are going to come across.

I hope you take my advice and good luck to you.

If you want to know more about the various ways of speeding up your metabolism why not check out my website for more ideas and also on the many metabolism boosting foods that can aid your diet.

It can be found by clicking the following link: www.metabolism-boosting-foods.com

Find out about foods that boost the metabolism

I am going to be running this blog to coincide with my site all about metabolism boosting foods. Much of the information on there will be elaborated on here, along with a variety of other topics to do with the metabolism.

The metabolism itself is something that many people battle with every day of their lives. Everything that we eat and drink, as well as the activities that we take part in each day, or lack of, have an effect on the speed of our metabolism. Gaining a hold of it is something that can be challenging, but more importantly it is something that is possible.

One of the key things that can be done in order to help speed up your metabolism is to tailor your diet around foods that boost the metabolism. That's right there are certain foods that you can eat, which will have a positive effect on your metabolic rate.

Knowing exactly what these are is one thing, but actually making sure that they play a large and regular part in your diet, is quite another. Breaking a routine of eating the foods that you are used to, and introducing new ones, is something that many people moan and groan at. When they try to give this a go it can be a real struggle, and that is primarily why many people fail with all of the many different diets that there are floating around out there.

If you are serious about giving that slow metabolism a kick start then you have to be prepared to make certain changes in your life, not just in your diet but also in your level of physical activity. Mix these changes together with a little routine and a lot of patience and you really can reap the benefits of increasing your metabolism.

Follow my blog and you will find out exactly how you can increase your own metabolism, primarily through implementing foods that boost the metabolism into your diet. But for now while the blog is just getting started, take a look at my website at all of the free information that there is on offer there.