Introduction
According to Mark Roemer Oakland, many people tend to gain excess weight even when they consume food in limited quantities. These people suffer from a slow metabolism which causes food to digest slower than normal and makes it difficult to lose weight. However, there are many other factors that affect weight gain and weight loss. To understand the problem more clearly, it is important first to understand what metabolism means and how it affects your body.
What is Metabolism and Basal Metabolism?
Metabolism (A.K.A metabolic rate) is defined as the chemical process through which your body converts the food you consume into energy. Your body expends energy in a number of ways and for many different types of activities such as through exercise or everyday activities.
The amount of energy that your body requires to function properly (breathing, repairing cells, circulating blood) at rest is known as the basal metabolism or basal metabolic rate (BMR).
The factors that determine your basal metabolic rate are listed below:
- Age – As we grow old, the amount of muscle to fat ratio decreases as we lose muscle mass and gain more fat. As a result, the basal metabolism slows down.
- Body size and composition – People with more muscle mass and weight burn more calories, even at rest. Thus, they have a faster metabolic rate compared to people who are lean or fat.
- Gender – Since men have more muscles mass and less fat compared to women, they tend to have a faster metabolic rate since they burn more calories.
Other factors that determine how many calories you burn per day include:
- Physical activity – Any kind of physical activity such as cycling, swimming, or even taking your dog out for a walk burns calories. Thus, people who exercise daily or practice strength training and resistance training burn more calories than the average individual.
- Thermogenesis (food processing) – The type of food also affects the number of calories your burn daily since they affect digestion, absorption, transportation, and storing of food in your body. Typically, when you consume protein and carbohydrates, 10% of the energy is lost in the process of digestion and absorption of the food and nutrients.
The link between Metabolism and Weight
It is a common myth that a slow metabolism is the primary reason for weight gain or what prevents you from losing weight. However, it is just one of the several factors that affect the process of gaining or losing weight.
Factors that affect weight gain include:
- Medical problems such as Cushing’s syndrome, hypothyroidism, etc.
- Genetic makeup
- Diet composition
- Hormonal controls
- Drastic lifestyle changes due to a change in environment
- Unhealthy sleep cycle
- Physical activity
- Stress
- And more
Conclusion
Thus, although it is easy to blame a slow BMR for the lack of adequate weight loss, it is just one of the factors that you should focus on when trying to lose weight. Mark Roemer Oakland suggests you follow a proper diet and practice suitable weight loss exercises to lose weight more effectively.
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