Increase Your Metabolism

Metabolism is one of the most misunderstood components of any weight loss routine. Our body needs energy to function correctly and we get this energy from calories. We get these calories from the food we eat. This caloric energy is then metabolized by the body's cells and either burned through the daily functions of the body or stored away as fat for future use. The thing to remember is that the body uses an outside energy source, calories from food, to create the energy the body needs everyday. During this process the body also uses energy to create more energy. This is how your metabolism works.

You can increase your metabolism by creating a need for the body to burn more calories. The easiest way to start increasing your metabolism is with an exercise program. Weight training and aerobic exercise increases the demand for more calories simply because the body is using more energy not only during the work out but also after your work out.

Building a stronger cardiovascular system with aerobic exercise and adding lean muscle mass with weight training will go a long ways towards an increase in metabolism. Not only does lean muscle require more calories even at rest, it also helps to increase the enzymes in your body that burn fat. Because of the need for a fit body to consume more calories to maintain its current condition there really is no better way to increase your metabolism then through exercise.

One of the misunderstood ways to raise metabolism is through diet. The vast majority of people who go on "Diets" cut way back on their food intake and therefore greatly decrease the amount of calories they consume. What they don't realize when they do this is that the body reacts to this decrease in calories by slowing its metabolism in order to conserve its energy.

It's the type and amount of calories that are the culprit in most excess weight situations. Cutting to many calories deprives the body of the energy and nutrition it requires. The key is to eat complex carbohydrates such as are found in fruits, vegetables and whole grain breads. It takes more energy for the body to digest and process the calories and nutrients from healthy foods then from the more processed and refined foods found on supermarket shelves today. In fact processed foods and refined sugars are the big culprits in the weight gain epidemic found across the country today.

Through exercise and proper nutrition we can keep our body's engine, our metabolism, running smoothly. The better we take care of that engine through exercise and proper diet the better our metabolism will run, keeping us lean, healthy and looking good.