Fitness & Physique Magazine

Irish Marie Carter

Have you ever started a fat loss program only to see yourself gaining weight, despite the fact that the program was balanced and consisted of wholesome food, cardio, and resistance training? There is a biological answer for this seemingly odd incident.

Society has linked a good or fast metabolism to thinness, health, and beauty. It is believed that a person with a fast metabolism is gifted in that they can indulge in any food they want and not reap the consequences of weight gain. However, a healthy functioning metabolism is not just about burning sugar and fat in the form of energy. There is a silent side of the metabolism, a side many people are really not aware of, such as the devastating effects of a slow metabolism and destroyed metabolism.

What is the Metabolism and What Does it Do?

Metabolism is defined as the amount of energy a person’s body burns. This is actually a small part of what the metabolism does. The term “metabolism” refers to the combined sum of all the biochemical and bioelectrical reactions that continually occur on a cellular level to sustain life. As you will learn, the metabolism is not just about fat loss; it’s about health as well.

Your body relies on certain biochemicals to function optimally, and to keep you alive, such as:

Structural biochemicals, which are bones, cells, cell membranes, connective tissue, glands, hair, skin, nails, muscles, organs, and teeth.
Functional biochemicals, which are antibodies, cell mediators, enzymes, hormones, and neurotransmitters.
Energy biochemicals, which are glycogen, ketones, sugar, and triglycerides.

Your body uses these biochemica’s just to function each day. Everything you do, such as reading, thinking, walking, eating, digesting food, elimination, hormone production, and exercising uses up biochemicals. What your body uses it must replenish from the foods you eat. Your metabolism is the sum of all these anabolic and catabolic biochemical reactions. This is why the quality of your nutrition is so very important.

If you have a healthy metabolism your body uses up and rebuilds biochemicals in an efficient manner.

If you have an inefficient metabolism your body uses up its resources faster than it can rebuild them.

Just because you may be an ideal, or close to ideal weight doesn’t mean you have a healthy metabolism. You can be thin or overweight and have an inefficient metabolism.

ARE YOU A

METEBOLIC MESS?

Karen

Sessions

What Causes a Slow Metabolism?

A slow metabolism can be a result of extreme low calories, poor food quality, processed foods, lack of complete protein, lack of essential fats, excess carbs, dehydration, stress, toxins, parasites, prescribed and over-the-counter drugs, chemicals in food, and alcohol.

Many people, in an effort to lose weight quickly, tend to cut calories drastically without having a base plan to follow. This is one of the major reasons why many people dieting suffer from a slow metabolism. When you drastically slice calories below your maintenance level, your body tries to conserve ever last bit of energy for survival. When this happens, the glycogen stores become depleted and your body will oxidize protein for energy.

A lack of calories can be further broken down into the type of calories. Insufficient complete protein can lower your metabolism, as well as a lack of carbs and essential fat. Balance is so important, and knowing how to implement each of the macronutrients can rebuild your metabolism. This rebuilding process will take some time. You have to be patient. You did not destroy your metabolism overnight and it's not going to repair overnight.

You have to realize that when you do begin a balanced eating plan, your weight may not drop as you expected. You have to repair your metabolism before your body can begin melting body fat. Therefore, a side effect can be temporary weight gain until the healing process is complete.

On the Road to Metabolism Recovery

Professional dieters, those who partake in the latest fad diet, yo-yo diet, skip meals, avoid balanced meals, eat excess carbs, lack complete protein, and shun the fat, usually destroy their metabolism. When you don't eat properly, your body is unable to rebuild the functional and structural biochemicals.

Even if you have wrecked your metabolism with any of the factors previously listed you can repair it.