Our metabolism is the rate our body processes the food we eat and burns it for energy. If an imbalance occurs and we eat more than we burn off we become over-fat and overweight. This is what you see happening in the world today with loads of calorie dense processed foods and inactive and sedentary lifestyles all conspiring to slow our metabolism which is the number one reason that two thirds of us are overweight.
When your metabolism slows because of too little muscular exertion, eating the wrong types of foods and too much of them it means that there has been damage to the body’s engine. Think of it like a car that is in need of a tune up.
Many people when they reach this state of health decide to go on some sort of diet. They cut back on calories thinking that it will get them slim again but dieting is the very worst thing you can do for a slow metabolism as it can further slow it down by up to 45 percent.
The body will sense the food shortage and switch on its protective ‘starvation mode’ to conserve energy. This also means that your body will start storing more fat as fat storing hormones are also switched on. Your body now has a propensity to store and hold on to its fat stores and will adjust the metabolism accordingly.
The two things that we used to believe would help us to reclaim our slim body – slashing calories and lots of long duration, low intensity activity both actually work against your metabolism and that is why 95 percent of people using these methods fail to lose weight for the long haul.
Focus on resetting the metabolism rather than weight loss
To rebuild the metabolism and getting it running hot again we need to firstly rebuild and re-tone the muscular system. Our modern world means we are sitting most of the day rather than being active and our muscles weaken and become flabby. Our metabolism then slows to a crawl because of lowered energy requirements.
A proper strength training exercise program is the only type of exercise that can fix things up at base level right in the engine room. Just 2-3 sessions each week are needed but some effort needs to be put into each session to make the necessary changes to boost metabolism. When the muscles are worked directly under a load they will become stronger and firmer and start burning more fuel for energy just to exist.
It is this extra fuel burning that will not only get you slim again but it will keep you slim.
Without the muscle toning your metabolism will continue to slow further and you will simply not be able to avoid becoming overweight. And of course this is not good as it not only spoils your looks but makes you feel less than good about yourself as well as setting the stage for serious disease somewhere down the track.
Support your exercise program with a healthy eating plan. This means ditching the processed foods and getting yourself back into the kitchen and cooking your meals from scratch. Using natural whole foods that are ‘clean’ you will be getting rid of the nasty chemicals that most likely have played a big part in getting and keeping you overweight.
Consistency is the key to a healthy metabolism
Small meals every 3-4 hours each with a portion of protein is going to boost your metabolism. The combination of metabolism boosting exercise (strength training) and metabolism stimulating foods (quality unprocessed) is what is going to return you to that slim trim state you desire.
In just a few weeks you will notice a difference, in a few months you will be noticing big changes and in 12 months or so you will be back to where you want to be. Then you just keep going to maintain it for the rest of your life.
You will never want a sluggish overweight feel-bad body again. You will have to work for the replacement model consistently over a period of time. But so what? That time is going to pass anyway so why not be working towards something near and dear to your own heart – your very own health and how your look and feel physically, mentally and emotionally.
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