Metabolism is often a confusing topic for both fitness oriented folks and regular joes to wrap their heads around.
For those who might be carrying a bit of extra weight around the midsection, the metabolism gets a badwrap and is the reason to blame for that little extra pudge.
On the other hand, metabolism is also that magical body function that somehow keeps skinny people skinny because their metabolism works faster for whatever reason.
First off, what exactly is the metabolism and what does it do?
The metabolism is something of a catch all phrase for the functions in your body that produce energy from food and allow the body to expend and conserve energy. It includes a laundry lists of hormones and processes that might be out of the scope of this article.
To put it simply, metabolism is what provides your body with the energy to get out of bed in the body, perform essential bodily functions like breathing, digesting, and pumping blood, and of course burn calories for energy throughought the entire day.
For those who might be carrying a bit of extra weight around the midsection, the metabolism gets a badwrap and is the reason to blame for that little extra pudge.
On the other hand, metabolism is also that magical body function that somehow keeps skinny people skinny because their metabolism works faster for whatever reason.
First off, what exactly is the metabolism and what does it do?
The metabolism is something of a catch all phrase for the functions in your body that produce energy from food and allow the body to expend and conserve energy. It includes a laundry lists of hormones and processes that might be out of the scope of this article.
To put it simply, metabolism is what provides your body with the energy to get out of bed in the body, perform essential bodily functions like breathing, digesting, and pumping blood, and of course burn calories for energy throughought the entire day.
Yup, the entire day. Even when you’re sleeping. But we’ll touch more on that in a bit.
Even with the numerous benefits of the metabolism, it’s often blamed for weight gain and negative changes in body composition.
With so many fad diets and special tricks marketed to speed up one’s metabolism (think grapefruit cleanse, hot sauce diet, gimmicky supplements, etc) the reality and truth of metabolism often gets blurred with fiction.
To help clear up some confusion, here are some uncovered truths about metabolism and the top 5 myths debunked.
Even with the numerous benefits of the metabolism, it’s often blamed for weight gain and negative changes in body composition.
With so many fad diets and special tricks marketed to speed up one’s metabolism (think grapefruit cleanse, hot sauce diet, gimmicky supplements, etc) the reality and truth of metabolism often gets blurred with fiction.
To help clear up some confusion, here are some uncovered truths about metabolism and the top 5 myths debunked.
Myth 1: Skinny People have faster metabolisms
“You only look like that ‘cause you have a fast metabolism!” Boy if I had a dollar for everytime someone has told me this, or I’ve heard someone else say in passing.
So why is it that some slimmer and skinnier folks appear to eat whatever they want and never gain a pound?
Clearly it’s because we have a faster metabolism than the average bear, right?
Not so fast there.
Metabolism actually has a lot to do with body size and body composition, but not exactly in the way most people think.
Skinnier and leaner individuals almost invariably have slower resting metabolisms.
There is literally less of them to burn while at rest.
Inversely, larger individuals tend to have higher metabolisms than the skinny guys.
This isn’t to say that any additional body weight (fat) can boost metabolism.
Muscle mass is the type of increased body mass that has a huge effect on the amount of overall calories someone burns throughout the day.
When comparing two individuals with similar weight, the person with the larger amount of muscle mass with generally have a faster metabolism.
This is why it’s important to always keep weight training consistent when dieting and restriciting calories.
An increase state of muscle mass when starting a diet can help accelerate fat loss much quicker than just a diet only plan.
“You only look like that ‘cause you have a fast metabolism!” Boy if I had a dollar for everytime someone has told me this, or I’ve heard someone else say in passing.
So why is it that some slimmer and skinnier folks appear to eat whatever they want and never gain a pound?
Clearly it’s because we have a faster metabolism than the average bear, right?
Not so fast there.
Metabolism actually has a lot to do with body size and body composition, but not exactly in the way most people think.
Skinnier and leaner individuals almost invariably have slower resting metabolisms.
There is literally less of them to burn while at rest.
Inversely, larger individuals tend to have higher metabolisms than the skinny guys.
This isn’t to say that any additional body weight (fat) can boost metabolism.
Muscle mass is the type of increased body mass that has a huge effect on the amount of overall calories someone burns throughout the day.
When comparing two individuals with similar weight, the person with the larger amount of muscle mass with generally have a faster metabolism.
This is why it’s important to always keep weight training consistent when dieting and restriciting calories.
An increase state of muscle mass when starting a diet can help accelerate fat loss much quicker than just a diet only plan.
Myth 2: Skipping a Meal Slows Down Metabolism
“Eat multiple small meals throughout the day to stoke the metabolic fire!” You’ve probably heard this before.
It turns out that this old notion of eating a meal every three to four hours to ramp up your metabolism is pretty flawed, to say the least.
In actuality, how frequently someone eats has very little to do with the speed of their metabolism.
Eating every four hours is popular mainly due to increased frequency of getting to put some food in your face and helps subdue large cravings, which can help limit the desire for junk and high calorie foods and limit portion sizes.
Certain individuals may benefit from consuming multiple meals throughout the day, but for MOST of us, it’s important to consider the overall calorie content (and macronutrients) of what we’re eating.
This means calories count!
Whether you eat 2,000 calories of bread in one sitting or spread it out throughout the day, the calories will still be the same and have a similar effect.
Remember this. It’s important!
It’s not always about what you eat, but how much you’re actually eating.
“Eat multiple small meals throughout the day to stoke the metabolic fire!” You’ve probably heard this before.
It turns out that this old notion of eating a meal every three to four hours to ramp up your metabolism is pretty flawed, to say the least.
In actuality, how frequently someone eats has very little to do with the speed of their metabolism.
Eating every four hours is popular mainly due to increased frequency of getting to put some food in your face and helps subdue large cravings, which can help limit the desire for junk and high calorie foods and limit portion sizes.
Certain individuals may benefit from consuming multiple meals throughout the day, but for MOST of us, it’s important to consider the overall calorie content (and macronutrients) of what we’re eating.
This means calories count!
Whether you eat 2,000 calories of bread in one sitting or spread it out throughout the day, the calories will still be the same and have a similar effect.
Remember this. It’s important!
It’s not always about what you eat, but how much you’re actually eating.
Myth #3: Eating Late makes you fat
There’s no doubt you’ve heard this before.
This somehow has become the most ubiquitous and popular piece of nutrition advice on the planet.
It’s easy to think that our bodies have some type of internal clock set to store anything eaten after 8 pm as fat, but when you think about that logically, it’s pretty stupid in the first place.
Like I stated at the beginning of this, the metabolism isn’t that simple and includes a host of hormones and functions that are continuously working and functioning.
And it’s definitely not some on/off switch that shuts down when you fall asleep.
Simply refraining from eating late at night isn’t enough to prevent your body from creating and storing fat.
Instead of focusing on the time of consumption, it’s important to focus on HOW MUCH you’re really eating throughout the day.
For example, if your maintenance calories for the day (the amount of calories your body needs to remain the same) is 2500, and you consume 3000 calories all before noon and not a single calorie after, your body will still be in a caloric surplus and primed to add body weight.
Conversely, if you don’t eat a single thing up until the minute you go to bed and whoof down 1500 calories, your body is primed to LOSE body weight (fat) due to consuming fewer calories than the maintenance limit of 2500 calories.
There’s no doubt you’ve heard this before.
This somehow has become the most ubiquitous and popular piece of nutrition advice on the planet.
It’s easy to think that our bodies have some type of internal clock set to store anything eaten after 8 pm as fat, but when you think about that logically, it’s pretty stupid in the first place.
Like I stated at the beginning of this, the metabolism isn’t that simple and includes a host of hormones and functions that are continuously working and functioning.
And it’s definitely not some on/off switch that shuts down when you fall asleep.
Simply refraining from eating late at night isn’t enough to prevent your body from creating and storing fat.
Instead of focusing on the time of consumption, it’s important to focus on HOW MUCH you’re really eating throughout the day.
For example, if your maintenance calories for the day (the amount of calories your body needs to remain the same) is 2500, and you consume 3000 calories all before noon and not a single calorie after, your body will still be in a caloric surplus and primed to add body weight.
Conversely, if you don’t eat a single thing up until the minute you go to bed and whoof down 1500 calories, your body is primed to LOSE body weight (fat) due to consuming fewer calories than the maintenance limit of 2500 calories.
Myth #4: Metabolism is all about burning calories and breaking things down.
A lot of people think of metabolism as how quickly you can burn consumed calories, but there’s a whole other side to that.
A catabolic process (don’t worry bros, being catabolic is a good thing in some instances) is part of the digestion process to release stored energy in calories, is the part many are familiar with.
The secondary part here is the anabolic part, or how the body stores released energy from carbohydrates and fats for later use.
A properly functioning metabolism does an adequate job of balancing both catabolic and anabolic functions.
A lot of people think of metabolism as how quickly you can burn consumed calories, but there’s a whole other side to that.
A catabolic process (don’t worry bros, being catabolic is a good thing in some instances) is part of the digestion process to release stored energy in calories, is the part many are familiar with.
The secondary part here is the anabolic part, or how the body stores released energy from carbohydrates and fats for later use.
A properly functioning metabolism does an adequate job of balancing both catabolic and anabolic functions.
Myth #5: You can’t control your metabolism.
It’s always going to be easy to place the blame of unwanted weight on the metabolism, as if it’s something they have no control over.
So before you continue to go on playing the victim, there are some ways you can directly control how your metabolism functions.
One major way is taking control of your body composition.
This means: losing fat and building muscle.
And yes, both can be done simultaneously, especially for someone who is newer to lifting weights.
Lifting weights is a surefire way to slowly ramp up your metabolism by adding lean muscle mass.
Sleep habits also have a direct effect on your metabolism.
If you’re staying up half the night rewatching old episodes of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix, your metabolism is sure to take a hit.
Ensuring you’re getting adequate rest each night can make you more productive the following day and allow you to be fully energized.
There’s research to suggest that sleep deprived folks have a harder time managing blood sugar levels and tend to become hungrier between meals and crave high carbohydrate foods.
Drinking adequate amounts of water is a no brainer here.
Now here’s something you probably didn’t expect to hear. Consuming caffeine (preferentially before noon) can help give your metabolism a boost in it’s ability to burn calories throughout the day.
So don’t feel too bad about that second cup of coffee or mid day Red Bull. If it makes you productive and gives you some energy, then by all means have at it.
Lastly, be sure to consume enough protein!
Protein consumption has a profound effect on metabolism.
Research suggests that folks who take in higher amounts of protein rich foods during the day tend to have a higher energy expenditure at rest.
Hopefully this short article can shed some light on some mainstream metabolism myths out there.
The bottom line here is you can make a change in your body. You don’t always have to be stuck with your current situation.
All it takes is a little bit of information and some will power.
It’s always going to be easy to place the blame of unwanted weight on the metabolism, as if it’s something they have no control over.
So before you continue to go on playing the victim, there are some ways you can directly control how your metabolism functions.
One major way is taking control of your body composition.
This means: losing fat and building muscle.
And yes, both can be done simultaneously, especially for someone who is newer to lifting weights.
Lifting weights is a surefire way to slowly ramp up your metabolism by adding lean muscle mass.
Sleep habits also have a direct effect on your metabolism.
If you’re staying up half the night rewatching old episodes of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix, your metabolism is sure to take a hit.
Ensuring you’re getting adequate rest each night can make you more productive the following day and allow you to be fully energized.
There’s research to suggest that sleep deprived folks have a harder time managing blood sugar levels and tend to become hungrier between meals and crave high carbohydrate foods.
Drinking adequate amounts of water is a no brainer here.
Now here’s something you probably didn’t expect to hear. Consuming caffeine (preferentially before noon) can help give your metabolism a boost in it’s ability to burn calories throughout the day.
So don’t feel too bad about that second cup of coffee or mid day Red Bull. If it makes you productive and gives you some energy, then by all means have at it.
Lastly, be sure to consume enough protein!
Protein consumption has a profound effect on metabolism.
Research suggests that folks who take in higher amounts of protein rich foods during the day tend to have a higher energy expenditure at rest.
Hopefully this short article can shed some light on some mainstream metabolism myths out there.
The bottom line here is you can make a change in your body. You don’t always have to be stuck with your current situation.
All it takes is a little bit of information and some will power.
