Manipulating Your Metabolism

Rev Your Engine

1. Eat small, frequent meals. Human beings have evolved through thousands of years of food insecurity. During food shortages of antiquity, the people whose metabolisms could adapt so they didn’t need much food to survive were the ones who did, and their genes are the ones that were passed along to us. When you don’t eat enough and don’t eat often enough, your metabolism naturally slows down as a survival mechanism, and you will quickly gain weight once you start to eat again.

Solution: Always begin your day by eating within an hour of getting up, then plan to eat something every 3-4 hours for the rest of the day after that. Portions and calories still count, so choose wisely.

2. Maintain your lean body mass. A pound of fat burns 2-4 calories a day while a pound of muscle burns 35-50. If you’re not paying attention to your body composition, your lean to fat ratio may change even if your weight hasn’t. With less muscle and more fat your metabolism will gradually slow down and ultimately make it harder to maintain your weight.

Solution: Go to a trainer and have your body composition analyzed once a year and change your workouts in order to maintain a muscle mass of 20-22% body weight.

3. Learn to cope. Feeling some stress is very normal, but not knowing how to handle it can be unhealthy. When you constantly feel overwhelmed by stress the levels of a hormone called cortisol become elevated. Cortisol promotes fat storage and can, over time, increase your body fat content and lower your metabolism.

Solution: Take control of your time to be sure you have enough for sleep, play, and leisure. Stress management begins with time management.

There are many products on the market that promise to speed up your metabolism, but nothing has been found to date that can significantly and safely change the way your body burns calories. Don’t let your mind be manipulated by the claims for quick and easy results. Instead, use your muscles and meals to manipulate your metabolism so it will work harder and faster for you.