Metabolism is the most over used and misunderstood word in the fitness industry.Simply put, metabolism is the speed at which your body burns through food. Everyone is so quick to blame their bad metabolism on an uncontrollable force (age, genetics, etc.). The truth is those things only effect a small part of the worlds population and you are probably not one of those unlucky humans.
The reality is, you MAKE or BREAK YOUR METABOLISM. Yes your metabolism is slow but you made it that way, not your age, and not your family’s genetics. There is a multitude of things that effect your metabolism but the following 5 are huge contributors to why your metabolism is so slow.
1. Muscle Loss = Slow Metabolism
The saying “use it or lose it” fits perfectly with this anti metabolism problem. After years of you either doing no strength training or ineffective strength training you actually start losing muscle mass. This becomes a huge anti metabolism agent as your muscle is the foundation of your metabolism and determines the speed of your metabolism. This is why we have developed all our fat loss programs around strength training and not cardiovascular exercise. Strength training is the only way to maintain muscle mass and long term fat loss.
2. No Breakfast = Slow Metabolism
You already know how important it is to eat breakfast but for some reason you still don’t do it. Unfortunately that seemingly simple meal you missed is taking a toll on your metabolism. After a long night sleep your body has been on a very light level of starvation due to no food so your metabolism… has slowed itself to maintain what energy it has left. Breakfast is like jump starting a car but its the jump start for you sleepy metabolism. A big healthy breakfast along will boost your metabolism and keep your energy high and maximize the calories your burn in a day.
3. Adaptation – Ineffective Exercise
All exercise is not equal! Just because you are exercising does not mean you are being effective. After a short period of time your body adapts to the exercise your doing (3-4 weeks). Once it adapts there is very little effort that needs to be made to create change, the muscle and cardiovascular system have stopped progressing. Over time this begins to effect muscle mass (your metabolism) and your muscle begins to shrink (your metabolism slows). This is why with every session we have with clients the session is different, no two are the same. We never allow the body to full adapt and never give the metabolism a chance to slow down.
4. Little Food = Little Metabolism
For most when they want to lose that extra fat they start cutting the calories by cutting the amount of food they were eating. They end up having fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and a small meal at dinner. Now if your trying to slow your metabolism this is a great method to do so. Another way our metabolism stays active is by being fed. The energy your food provides each meal are little jump starts for the metabolism all day long. So the goal should not be to minimize food intake but to minimize bad food intake, increase good food intake, and increase the amount of times you are eating a day.
5. No Carb – NO Metabolism
Yet another myth amongst those who want and need to lose weight, cut the carbs! There is a little truth in it but as usual it is taken to the extreme and ends up hurting more than helping. Proteins are great but only provide a little energy to the body and do not keep the metabolism very active. Carbohydrates on the other hand are like putting alcohol covered wood into a fire, instant boost! The goal though is to get the right carbohydrate and avoid the bad ones. This is something we speak extensively on in our MAP (Metabolic Advancement Program), our Grocery Shopping Tours, and Our Fat Loss Seminars.
Now that you get a little more idea of how You Are Killing Your Own Metabolism. You can stop blaming what’s not really there and take some action. Truth is though taking action can be hard, working out right can be a challenge, and creating new lifestyle habits on your own prove to have a high failure rate. If you really are sick and tired of dealing with the extra pounds, the low energy, and a slow metabolism let us help you get on track with one of our professionally designed programs made for one thing, results! http://www.personaltrainingbangkok.com/ & http://www.bangkokbootcamp.com/
Ryan Meo
Fitcorp Asia