How many people can boast of eating without restrictions in sweets and taking into account carbohydrates, but they are not getting better? Most often, everything happens the other way around (especially in the beautiful half of humanity). We sit on various strict diets, we hunger sometimes, but the weight decreases very slowly or even increases by several units. And some lucky people still manage to lose weight, but here to keep the arrow of scales at the same champion level is extremely difficult, she treacherously returns back.
What’s happening? What’s the matter? Often the cause of excess weight and problems with its elimination is a slow metabolism (metabolism). Therefore, in order to lose weight, we do not glue the mouth with adhesive tape, but we establish metabolic processes in the body, accelerate metabolism. And now in order.
What is metabolism
Metabolism or metabolism is a variety of chemical processes (reactions) within the body that are associated with the processing of nutritious elements coming from food, transforming them into simple small particles that can penetrate into cells and release energy for normal life. And also the disposal of cells from unnecessary waste elements and the supply of building materials. All processes take place in cells and intercellular fluid.
Slow metabolism is a low metabolic rate in the body, and hence a smaller number of calories burned (the conversion of nutrients into energy) over a certain period of time. Therefore, in a situation with excess weight with a slow metabolism, unused calories are stored in reserve, forming cute folds and second chins.
What factors affect metabolism
- Age. Over the years, the level of metabolism decreases. Therefore, the older you become, the harder it will be to lose those extra pounds. With age, you need to be even more attentive to your lifestyle, diet and habits.
- Male/Female. In men, metabolism is much faster than in women. This is explained by the large presence of the hormone testosterone, which contributes to the formation and maintenance of muscle mass. And for life and normal work of muscles, much more energy is needed than for fatty interlayers.
- Heredity. Diseases and metabolic disorders can be congenital. It is caused by malfunctions in the genes.
- Diseases of the thyroid gland. The intensity of metabolism decreases with diseases that result in a decrease in thyroid function.
- Weight and height. The more body weight, the more energy is needed to maintain it and, accordingly, the higher the amount of calories burned. Therefore: the larger the person, the faster the metabolism.
- Activity. It affects the rate of metabolic processes and the level of physical activity. The more we move, the higher the metabolic rate, as the need for energy increases.
- Stress. Long stay in stress, nervous tension and depression also leads to a decrease in the level of metabolism. This also includes the stress of the body in case of lack of sleep and starvation.
In order to lose weight, you need to consider all these factors, to know your metabolic rate in a state of rest, and accordingly calculate a number of necessary actions to achieve a positive result.
Calculation of metabolic rate and diet adjustment
In order to properly adjust your diet, you first need to calculate your metabolic rate during rest (RMR), which is often confused with the level of basic metabolism (BMR). We will calculate the RMR by the most accurate formula for Mifflin St Jeor, which takes into account weight, height and age. It looks like this:
RMR for women = 9.99 x Weight in kg + 6.25 x height in cm – 4.92 x age in years – 161
RMR for men = 9.99 x Weight in kg + 6.25 x height in cm – 4.92 x age in years + 5
Adjusting the diet
The counted RMR shows how many calories the body needs during rest, and to calculate the daily calorie rate to maintain the current weight, it remains to take into account the level of physical activity. To do this, multiply RMR by the corresponding indicator in the left column of the table:
1.2 – Sedentary lifestyle – Low physical activity or lack of physical activity.
1.375 – Weak activity – Small physical activity 1-3 times a week.
1.55 – Aerage activity – Half-hour exercises or sports activities 3-5 days a week.
1.725 – High activity – Prolonged exercise or exercising 6-7 times a week.
1.9 – Extreme activity – Daily heavy grueling loads and work associated with manual labor.
Therefore, to get rid of extra pounds (if there are no diseases and pathologies), you should:
- Calculate the number of calories consumed per day, recording the caloric value of each meal. Calorie tables for many products can be found by entering a couple of words in the search on the Internet or in the special literature.
- Do not exceed the daily calorie rate, calculated according to the above formula and multiplied by the index of physical activity.
- To accelerate the metabolism. And how it can be done, read on.
How to eat to speed up metabolism
- Firstly, it is necessary often that the interval between meals does not exceed 3-4 hours and in small portions. You can make snacks in between, but not buns and pies, and nuts and fruits.
- Secondly, do not overeat! It is not necessary to fill the daily calorie intake in one sitting. It should be evenly distributed to all meals and snacks throughout the day.
- Third, pay attention to the quality of food. Eat more fresh fruits, greens, vegetables, containing a lot of fiber, complex carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. It is advisable to exclude very fatty, smoked, salty and with a lot of sugar products. Limit flour. With a decrease in carbohydrate consumption, more calories are burned, fats and proteins are processed into glucose, which is necessary to replenish the body with energy. Still need to exclude alcohol. It greatly slows down the metabolism.
- Fourthly, in no case do not resort to rigid diets and hunger strikes. Since the body in this case is stressed and reacts to it by a decrease in metabolic processes and the accumulation of a strategic reserve. At the same time, the cells lose their nutrient norm, which leads to the development of many diseases.
Drink enough cold water
Pay attention to how much you drink pure water a day (not counting tea, coffee, juices, etc.). The daily rate should be at least 2 liters. Water takes part in all the chemical processes in the body, therefore, because of its lack, the metabolism slows down.
Why should you drink cold water? To warm it to body temperature, the body will need more energy, which means it will burn more calories.
Overclocking the metabolism of physical activity
The less you are physically active, the slower the metabolism. Therefore, to accelerate it, we try to move more, exercises are needed that increase the heart rate. Performing them in a continuous intensive pace for at least 30 minutes, you can speed up the metabolism, improve blood circulation and burn some calories. We run in the mornings and / or evenings, we go by bike, walk with a quick foot at least 35-40 minutes, climb the stairs, do gymnastics. If before you led a sedentary lifestyle, start small.
In the future, the metabolism of strength training (i.e., exercises using weights) is very well accelerated. Loads with weights help build muscle. To maintain them, you need significantly more calories than for fat deposits (for 1 kg of muscle, about 73 calories per day more than for a similar weight of fat). Therefore, the higher in your body the percentage of muscle mass relative to fat, the more intense the metabolism.
Also, the actions stimulating metabolic processes include: regular sex, massage, contrast shower, taking a hot bath (staying no more than 10-15 minutes), wet wiping, bath or sauna. And also walks in the fresh air and sun rays.
Myths and prejudices associated with metabolism
- There is an opinion that there are products (for example, grapefruit, celery, pineapple) that burn fat.
It is a myth. In fact, there is only a high thermal effect of food. This is when the body expends some amount of energy to digest and assimilate a specific product.
High products have a high thermal effect, containing complex carbohydrates (raw vegetables), fiber, proteins, for processing which consumes a lot of energy. Low thermal effect of products, almost immediately absorbed, such as: sugar, alcohol. - Tea and coffee perfectly stimulate metabolism.
No. The use of such drinks gives only a short-term result, slightly accelerating the metabolism. Also, do not forget about the negative effect of an overabundance of caffeine consumption. Therefore, if you are a coffee lover, you should limit yourself to 2-4 cups a day.
On the other hand, an excellent alternative to coffee is green tea. Due to the combined effect of catechins and caffeine, green tea has an excellent effect on the acceleration of metabolism, and, accordingly, the burning of fats. - Instead of sugar, it is better to use substitutes.
This is not recommended, since not only is this not conducive to losing weight, but it can also damage the metabolic processes in the body.
A few warnings
- For pregnant and lactating mothers, intensive physical training, hot bath, contrast shower, bath are contra-indicated. And the daily rate of calorie intake is much higher. On matters of accelerating and improving metabolism, it is better to contact your doctor.
- Do not use smoking to lose weight. If it reduces weight, it is insignificant, and serious harm is done to the body.
- Do not overdo it in your zeal to part with extra pounds. You can not lose weight sharply. The loss of more than 0.5 kg per week is harmful to health. Therefore, before you change anything in a diet or exercise, consult a specialist.
- Do not forget that the less weight, the slower the metabolism.
Following these recommendations, you will always be the object of girlfriends envy, eating to yourself in pleasure, but not full of fat.