Will a Slow Metabolism Make You Fat?

First of all, lets consider what the word metabolism really means.
Metabolism is a biochemical process that transforms the foods we eat into nutrients for our bodies and the rate at which your body breaks down these nutrients in food to produce energy. It also transforms food into fat that our bodies can store or waste they can excrete. This rate is called our basal body metabolic rate and eventually shows up as our scale weight.

What we must aim to do is to metabolise foods so that fat doesn't store up in our bodies.

According to research, changing your eating habits appropriately can change your level, but it cannot change your metabolic type. Studies of identical twins suggest that your baseline metabolism is determined at birth. If you are said to have naturally slow metabolism, weight gain is by no means inevitable.. and though it may be harder , it's nearly always possible to shed pounds or keep off weight, says weight-loss expert Pamela Peeke, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland.

Your resting metabolic rate [RMR], or the number of calories your body burns at rest, is determined mostly by your body composition. The more total fat-free mass you have, the faster your RMR. Hormones and heredity are said to also impact our RMR. The average man, because of lean muscle etc., will likely have have a 10-20 percent high metabolism than the average woman.

Some common myths about increasing your metabolism can be confusing. You may have heard that eating hot foods such as chili peppers or taking certain pills can increase your metabolism. Those myths have not been proven and it's not wise to follow those claims.

However, eating large quantities of foods and inactivity that, in turn, lead to muscle loss, will likely slow down your metabolism. Some scientific data tells us that food choices have no significant impact on RMR. Temporary increases from protein may show up, but the overall change is negligible.

Experts do agree that weight training is the most effective way to build and preserve lean muscle which can increase your RMR short term. By doing some activities each day - or at least several times per week, you will be less apt to gain weight and have faster metabolism.

If however, you choose to eat large quantities of food and make poor choices, along with being inactive, your metabolism will likely continue to slow down and you will gain weight. All of this is common sense to most of us, although many get by for years not living a healthy lifestyle before a severe and awakening threat hit us. By then, it can be too late to fix things.

Research also tells us that an extremely stressful time period of our lives can increase our metabolic rate while they're actually dealing with the stress. Also, do not slash your caloric intake severely, or your metabolic rate will plunge and you will not lose weight. Experts seem to agree that there is no conclusive evidence that yo-yo dieting does permanent harm to our metabolism.

Some say that very fast metabolisers are always hot. They can burn no fat because they're too hot. Many very obese people are stuck at the fast levels and it is very difficult for them to lose body weight.

However, if you continue to make good food choices and lead an active lifestyle, you should be able to build or keep more lean muscle mass. This, according to the scientists, should help you maintain a lower body weight and keep your metabolism burning at a pace that will enable you to live a good life.

For me, I've noticed that people who are constantly moving, whether it be a leg while they're sitting - or just constantly on the go - often carry around less pounds than those of us who move less often and more slowly. It would seem they're burning calories and therefore would naturally have less obesity. Of course, this is often true because of the genetics and personality of those people. Also, I've learned that as people age, muscle mass lessens and metabolism slows. I encourage everyone, regardless of their age, to carry on with any physical type activity that works best for them in their current life.

Sources include:
http://www.meltdown.com/meta.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0846/is_1_23/ai_107488078/
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