How to manipulate your metabolism

When a person is born, they receive a myriad of things, things like pigmentations, what their voice will sound like, and even their body type. However, hair color can be changed, voices can be fine tuned, and bodies can be sculpted to a desired shape. A body doesn’t change by hair dye or music lessons, though, but by a natural process called metabolism.

A person’s metabolism is primarily predisposed based on three traits that a person cannot change and one trait that is changeable. The first factor is age. During a body’s youth it works more efficiently. As one ages, the metabolism slows down. After age 40, every passing decade will decrease a metabolism by 50%. The next factor is gender. In general, men have faster metabolisms than women. Heredity is the third contribution. A person’s ability to gain and lose weight is already encoded into their genes, and so is the rate at which it happens. Parents that are skinny will tend to have skinny children, whereas a heavier set couple will produce a larger child. However, this can be controlled with the fourth factor. A person’s weight will help determine their metabolism. A heavier body has to work harder at all times and will burn calories faster. This is why diets are most efficient in the beginning. These diets can continue to be easy with proper metabolism care.

There are ways to influence the weight part of metabolism. Working out is the fastest way to burn calories, which speeds up the metabolism process. Whatever the body is made to tolerate, it will react accordingly and adjust. If one makes the body work hard on a regular basis, it will keep up a higher metabolism and continue to burn calories. Putting on muscle will also force the body to work harder at all times because it is heaver. It was determined that a pound of muscle will burn 35 calories per day whereas a pound of fat only burns two. No matter how much exercise is done, though, it won’t matter if calories are not taken in responsibly.

Eating can actually benefit a person’s metabolism if done right. A body will go into “starvation mode” if it doesn’t receive food for an abnormally long period of time. In starvation mode, it will metabolize everything slowly and store absolutely everything it can to prevent the loss of all energy sources.  The most effective way to eat is small, frequent meals spread out through the day. This keeps the metabolism constantly working on low calorie jobs. Snacking regularly will stave off hunger and starvation mode. If there is too much empty time between meals, the metabolism will slow down to compensate for the lack of food.

There is theoretically one more way to rev a metabolism. The thought is that proteins, because they are harder to digest than carbohydrates, will utilize the metabolism more due to the extra amount of work it has to do. Another theory is that spicy foods will increase a metabolism up to 20% for 30 minutes. The idea is that the body heats up and burns the calories faster. Research has actually shown that, in conjunction with fatty foods, this theory can actually work. However, whether fatty foods are worth it to make hot peppers burn calories faster is worth it or not is up to the user.

To conclude, a metabolism is primarily designed in the womb but the body’s owner has choice over its efficiency. A metabolism can speed up or slow down depending on eating habits and exercise, and can be maximized by eating small protein rich meals frequently while keeping up an exercise regimen that builds muscle.