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Exercise To Boost Metabolism – It Works!

exercise to boost metabolism

In this article, I want to look at why we exercise to boost metabolism and why it works.

Why Exercise To Boost Metabolism – Is This The Magic Bullet?

At the moment, there ís so much talk about slimming pills, smoothies and also diets that can ramp up your metabolism, but hardly any talk on the fact that exercise is actually the magic bullet to boosting your metabolism.

You need to think of your metabolism as a powerhouse that converts all the food that you eat into energy.

What Is Metabolism?

what is metabolismThe word metabolism is a noun.

The definition of metabolism is the chemical and organic processes inside of organisms that are necessary to maintain life, or even how quickly you can burn calories or fat.

The chemical processes that allow you to stay alive are a great example of metabolism.

What Factors Can Affect Metabolism?

There are multiple factors that can affect your metabolism and how well it operates.

There are a few things that may well get in the way of our bodies functioning at optimal levels.

Our Age

Studies have shown that as we age, our metabolism begins to slow down or decline.

Unfortunately, this change more than often leads to those extra pounds that are difficult to get rid of.

As we age we can lose anywhere from three to five percent of our muscle mass, especially if we are not active or as active as we were in the past.

Aging and less activity make it easier for the pounds to begin accumulating, especially around our middles.

To counteract the effects of aging, we should aim to burn 30 to 50 percent of our calories through exercise activity daily.

Our Gender

Females tend to have a slower metabolism than men due to a variety of factors including things like estrogen levels and a lower resting metabolic rate. These factors help to determine our overall total daily energy release and play a vital role in the regulation of our energy balance.

Our Hormones

Hormones, unfortunately, can wreak havoc on your metabolism.

Too much cortisol can lead to weight gain and increase our risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Working out before consuming a meal can help to drop those cortisol levels and improve your metabolic functions.

Testosterone levels also decrease as we age and this can trigger a bit of weight gain and leave us feeling exhausted. Daily workout regimens can help to keep your testosterone levels at healthy and stable levels and allow for a healthy metabolism to take place.

Estrogen is another hormone that triggers metabolism malfunction. An imbalance in this hormone can cause your weight to increase rapidly, giving testimony to metabolism that may not be operating in a way that is most beneficial to you.

Finally, thyroid hormone imbalances can disrupt the overall effectiveness of your metabolism. The thyroid hormone helps to control the metabolic processes in the body that are necessary for growth, development, and metabolism.

Hyperthyroidism or a thyroid that is in a hypermetabolic state can cause your metabolism to go into overdrive, leading to weight loss and excessive use of your resting energy.

On the other hand, an underperforming thyroid caused by hypometabolism can create a reduced resting energy expenditure, and cause weight gain.

Exercise and Your Metabolism

metabolism

Figuring out all the ways to regain control of your metabolism can be quite overwhelming but there is one thing you can do to move the needle, and that is to exercise.

Working out helps your muscles to use a fair amount of energy and burn calories. The great thing about exercise is that even after the workout is over your muscles can continue to burn fat and this helps to keep your metabolism functioning at optimal levels.

Which Exercise is Best for Your Metabolism?

Unfortunately, there is no one single exercise that I can tell you to do that will improve your metabolism, but there are a couple of great activities that, when paired together, can do wonders in helping to get that flagging metabolism into overdrive.

Exercise To Boost Metabolism

Aerobic Exercises

Aerobic activity is a must-have ingredient for boosting your metabolism. Interval training is particularly useful and yields even better results.

If you are wondering what interval training is, it is simply physical training consisting of alternating periods of high and low-intensity activity. For example, if you are walking you could alternate between brisk walking and moderate walking.

Walking, swimming, kickboxing, jogging, or even Zumba are excellent options for enhancing your metabolism.

Lifting Weights

Lifting weights is a fantastic approach to helping you not only build muscles but also burn fat.

We all know that muscles use more calories when at rest than fat cells do.

Don’t worry about becoming a gym rat. You only need two days a week to perform two sets of repetitions (12-15) working on those major muscle groups (back, arms, legs, and abs).

In summary, there may be a few options you cannot control when it comes to your metabolism, but exercise is the magic bullet.

Your mind, body, and spirit will thank you in the long run. Order some weights online by clicking on the picture below.

More Ways To Boost Your Metabolism

Here are some more ways in which you can improve your metabolism that work well.

  • Eating more protein can boost your metabolism so that you burn more calories. It can also help you eat less as protein fills you up for longer.
  • Drink more cold water because water can help you lose weight and keep it off. Coldwater is said to increase your metabolism and helps fill you up before meals.
  • Mixing up your exercise routine, and adding in a few high-intensity workouts, can boost your metabolism and help you burn fat.
  • Stand more, because sitting for long periods of time burns few calories and is bad for your health. Try to stand up regularly or invest in a standing desk. Click here for some great exercises to do in your office chair.
  • Lifting weights is important for building and retaining muscle. Higher amounts of muscle will result in a higher overall metabolism.
  • Eating spicy food could be beneficial for boosting your metabolism and help you maintain a healthy weight. One study suggests that eating peppers would burn around 10 additional calories per meal.
  • Drinking green tea or oolong tea may increase your metabolism. These teas may also help you lose weight and keep it off.
  • Drinking coffee can significantly increase your metabolism and help you lose weight. The leaner that you are, the better this trick works.
  • Get enough sleep, because lack of sleep can decrease the number of calories you burn, change the way you process sugar and disrupt your appetite-regulating hormones.
  • Replacing your cooking oil with coconut oil may help boost your metabolism slightly.

Please comment below if you have any thoughts or points to add on exercise to boost metabolism.

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Michel Maling

4 Comments

  1. I have really enjoyed reading your post. I think with my age I need to take exercise more seriously, so I have been looking for what kind of exercise to do. I am glad I found your post, I got a lot of information. I have never thought of aerobic or lightweight, I will add them into my squats routine and see how it would help.

    Thanks for sharing

    • Thanks for stopping by. Remember that keeping active into old age is key to a better quality of life.

  2. I’m now 3 months into my upping my exercise regime. Now that I’m classified as a “senior citizen”, I am aware that my muscles are now on a downward spiral. Previously my exercise amounted to using a rowing machine about 3-4 hours a week and walking about 4 miles 4 times a week. This kept me feeling pretty good, but I still felt my muscles were slowly atrophying. My exercise regime really had nothing to do with losing weight, but to keep toned up.

    I now do weight training and interval exercises 3 times a week as well as my walks. This has helped me finally increase my muscle mass and my endurance. I have never counted calories and never will. I eat most of my carbs early in the day as opposed to the evening and never eat before working out. 

    I doubt I’ll ever be able to burn off 50% of my calories by exercise. Because I gave up sugar, bread, pasta, seed oils and most high glycemic foods, weight maintenance is not an issue. 

    I’m really glad to see there are websites such as yours that are now offering relevant information to people to maintain a healthy lifestyle and adequate activity levels to keep your body functioning well into our sunset years!

    • Thank you for your comment and helpful advice from your side.

      I think you seem to be doing a great job of keeping yourself healthy into your golden years, as we all should.

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