You’ve probably heard people blame their weight on a slow metabolism. Is metabolism really the main culprit? If so, it can boost your metabolism to burn more calories.
Metabolism as defined by Harvard Health refers to the process by which the body converts food into energy. It is a complex biochemical process wherein the calories in food and beverages get combined with oxygen and release the energy needed for the body to function.
Metabolism is indeed linked to body weight regulation. Although metabolism influences the body’s basic energy needs, the amount you eat and drink along with the physical activity you get, genes, and lifestyle are the things that determine your weight.
Your metabolic rate is an essential prerequisite for weight loss. Your diet and exercise routine will show slower results if you have a slower metabolism. But does it mean that having a faster metabolism will help you lose weight fast? Let’s find out.
What Is Fast Metabolism
High metabolism or fast metabolism means that your body uses excess energy or burns calories more rapidly than someone with a slow metabolism. Many factors can influence your metabolic rates, such as sex, body composition, age, hormone function, and physical activity levels.
Generally speaking, the leaner your body size, the faster your metabolism is. Even at rest, the body needs energy for all its basic functions, such as breathing, blood circulation, growing, and repairing muscle cells.
When the body burns calories and uses them to carry out these basic functions is known as the basal metabolic rate (BMR). The energy expenditure needed for your body’s basic functions stays consistent and isn’t easily changed.
In addition to your basal metabolic rate, there are two other factors in the number of calories burned by the body each day:
- Food processing (thermogenesis): Basic body functions, like digesting, absorbing, transporting, and storing food you consume, also help burn fewer calories.
- Physical activities: Exercises, such as walking, jogging, playing tennis, and other movements, burn more calories than the latter. It is by far the most variable factor that determines the number of calories you burn daily.
Experts call the activity you do all day that isn’t deliberate exercise non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). This activity includes simple activities, such as walking from room to room, gardening, and even fidgeting.
To assess if you have a fast or slow metabolism, here are some signs of fast metabolism drafted by Health Canal:
- Difficulty gaining weight or maintaining weight gain even though you follow a healthy diet.
- You have a high body temperature even when you’re resting.
- You often feel hungry even after eating meals or snacks because your body is processing food fast.
- You may need to urinate frequently because your body’s metabolic processes are increased.
Your metabolism never stops, even when your body is at rest. You might be wondering, Does metabolism matter in weight loss? Let’s find out!
The Connection Between Metabolism & Weight
It may be tempting to blame your metabolism for gaining weight. However, since metabolism involves natural chemical processes, your body has many mechanisms that regulate it to meet your needs.
You only gain weight from a medical problem that causes metabolic slowdown, like Cushing’s syndrome or having an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). Unfortunately, weight gain is a complicated process influenced by genetic makeup, diet, lifestyle, and hormonal controls.
All of these factors can affect your energy metabolism. You gain weight from excessive calorie intake than you burn or you burn fewer calories than you eat. While it’s true that some people lose weight more quickly than others, everyone achieves a healthy weight when they burn up more calories than they eat.
You don’t have much control over the speed of your basal metabolism, but you can control how many calories you burn through physical activities. The more active you are, the more energy you spend, and the more body fat you burn.
If you want to lose weight, you have to increase your time on physical activity. If you can’t spend another minute for a longer workout, try 10-minute chunks of activity throughout the day. Keep in mind that the more active you are, the more calories are burned to release energy.
Experts also recommend strength training exercises or high-intensity workouts, such as weightlifting, at least twice a week. Strength training is vital because it helps build muscle mass. Muscle cells require more energy to burn calories than fat cells do.
Since metabolism is linked with weight loss, here are some strategies that can help increase your metabolism. It may include foods that increase metabolism and burn fat.
How to Speed Up Metabolism
Here are five ways to increase your metabolism:
Take supplements
There are weight loss supplements that target metabolism by increasing the body temperature, where the heat reaches optimal levels, initiating natural fat burning. Many comprehensive reviews about these weight loss pills stated that they increase the temperature of your internal cells that promote weight loss because there’s a boost in the metabolism rate.
Eat plenty of protein
Eating protein can significantly increase your metabolism for a few hours. In addition, it has been shown to give a greater sense of fullness and prevent you from overeating. Protein helps prevent the loss of lean muscle mass; instead, it promotes the build-up of more muscle mass.
Drink more water
Drinking water helps you lose weight and temporarily speeds up your metabolism. Water also fills you up; that’s why some studies suggest drinking water half an hour before a meal can help prevent taking more food.
Drinking plenty of water does not only help in losing weight but improving overall health.
Drink coffee or tea
Drinking caffeinated beverages, like coffee or green tea, has been shown to increase metabolism and fat burning. They help convert fat stored in the body into free fatty acids, which may be burnt when combined with exercise.
Get a restful sleep
Lack of sleep could end up in weight gain. It’s because sleep deprivation has adverse effects on metabolism. Lack of sleep can affect ghrelin levels, the hunger hormone making you always feel hungry, especially at night.
Do high-intensity workouts
The high-intensity exercise involves quick and very intense bursts of activity. This exercise helps you burn more fat by increasing your metabolic rate. To get started, you can do something you’re already familiar with, like biking or running.
Conclusion
Your metabolism plays a vital role in keeping your body functioning. Certain factors, such as muscle mass, age, genes, and physical activity, affect your metabolic rates. Though metabolism isn’t a significant factor in weight loss, some people believe that speeding up the metabolism leads to more energy expenditure, which means more calories are burned, leading to weight loss.
You may also talk to your healthcare provider to look for other ways to lose weight fast and naturally.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the signs of fast metabolism?
The following signs of having a fast metabolism include difficulty maintaining the desired weight, frequent sweating, fast bowel and bladder movement, and high body temperature. When your core body temperature rises, there’s a boost in the metabolic rate; thus, you burn fat faster.
2. Is it good to have a fast metabolism?
Having a high metabolism has its pros and cons. For instance, people with a high metabolism tend to burn calories faster than people with a low metabolism. Meanwhile, a fast metabolism can make it difficult to gain weight or maintain a desired weight.
3. How do you know if your metabolism is fast or slow?
A slow metabolizer will struggle to lose weight despite cutting back on calories. Meanwhile, people with fast metabolism eat a lot yet do not gain extra pounds. If you think you belong to any of these, you know what your metabolic rate is.
