Posts Tagged metabolism

Finding Your Metabolic Type

In order to lose weight, it is important to find out about your metabolic type. If you struggle to lose weight, look at the foods you are consuming throughout the day, or keep a food diary. Is your diet full of animal fats, or do you simply not eat enough throughout the day. Be honest with yourself. There are three metabolic types: slow, balanced, or fast. It is possible to change your current metabolic type with exercise and nutrition. Your current metabolism stems from your life style choices, it is nothing hereditary.

Slow Metabolic Type

Those with a slow metabolic type are often obese; suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome (ME), osteoporosis from lack of exercise, and Type 2 diabetes. Every person is born with a fast metabolic rate, but drugs, unhealthy diets, and lack of exercise gradually slow down the metabolism, enough to cause rapid weight gain and internal problems.

Individuals who suffer from a slow metabolism need to eat more alkaline foods like those found in fresh fruit and vegetables and refrain from consuming foods too high in acid like animal fats. It is essential to maintain the perfect PH balance in the body so that the body can work sufficiently, and boost the immune system to prevent toxic diseases.

With a slow metabolic rate, the body is not working sufficiently to burn the energy from food.

Balanced Metabolic Types

Individuals who have a balanced metabolism will often stay at a healthy weight throughout their lifetime. They consume health foods but also ‘treat’ themselves to the unhealthy foods – in moderation.

Fast Metabolic Types

Lean body types and those individuals who can consume fast food and stay at the same weight often have a high metabolism. It could be nervous tension in the body that causes them to burn up foods rapidly, or it could be an overactive thyroid gland – hyperthyroidism. Eating constantly also takes advantage of dietary thermogenesis – the calories burnt during digestion.

Find Out Your Metabolic Type

Answer the following questions correctly to confirm your current metabolic type.  Alternatively, visit your physician for a blood test.

Note how often you eat throughout the day.

a) Two to three meals per day.

b) Three meals per day with one light snack.

c) Three meals, with constant snacks throughout the day.

Note your lunchtime appetite.

a) Light appetite.

b) Normal appetite.

c) Ravenous appetite.

Note what you consume at breakfast.

a) Nothing.

b) Cereal, toast, or fruit.

c) Bacon, eggs etc.

Note the foods consumed at a buffet?

a) Chicken, fish, vegetables, deserts.

b) Both foods from a) and b) food groups.

c) Heavy foods full of fat.

Do you have a good attitude with food?

a) Occasionally, I do not eat.

b) Enjoy food and never miss a meal.

c) Food rules my life.

What are the reasons to cause your weight gain?

a) Wrong food choices.

b) No particular foods cause my weight gain.

c) Bread, sweets, or fruit.

If you chose more As than Bs or Cs, your metabolism is slow.

If you chose more Bs than As or have an equal number of each you have a balanced metabolism.

If you chose more Cs than As or Bs, you have a fast metabolism.

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Muscle vs. Fat

What is important to remember when you are undertaking any exercise or weight loss programme is that if you perform weight training, you WILL put on weight. If you’re obsessed with weighing yourself, this isn’t going to help you one bit and can lead you off the right path onto the wrong.

Instead, get rid of the scales and let your clothes tell the truth. I always know when I’ve lost weight because my clothes are loose. The scales always show me at the same weight or more but I do a lot of weight training.

The reason I state this is because muscle does weigh more than fat, so obviously if you are doing regular weight training the muscle gain will show up on the scale. This can make some people panic but remember muscle is your best friend and will help to burn off the fat over the long term. It may not be overnight but you will certainly look leaner if you keep up weight training.

Another myth that most people worry about with weight training is that they will bulk up to look like Arnie. Even if you start with light weights and perform 20-30 reps, you will start to build muscle. To burn serious fat, try to increase the weights every week. The more weight you can squat or press, the more leaner your muscles will become. Avoid pyramid training which use heavy weights and you’ll be fine. I would highly recommend Body Pump. It is tough but work on building your mental strength to perform weight training.

Even today I weighed myself and I usually never do. Twelve stone. I am lean but I perform a boxing training, body pump, spinning, and skipping over the week so my metabolism is high. Another great thing you must know about weight training is that it will burn still be burning off fat for up to 48 hours afterward. Cardio may burn it for up to 2-3 hours afterward so how cool would it be to burn fat through the night.

Remember to eat lots of protein to fuel the additional muscle.

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Have a cheat day to Lose Weight

What many fad diets do not allow are treats for achievements. Following a healthy diet six days out of seven is an achievement. It is tough to watch whatever you eat all week. To know exactly what you put into your body it is important to keep a food diary. Coffee, tea, alcohol, those few Quality Street…everything counts.

We may not count regular drinking with meals as ‘drinking’ because it is not binge drinking as society wants us to believe. Too much alcohol in the system can cause weight problems. When alcohol is consumed, it converts to instant and usable sugar in the body. If the alcohol is burnt off, for example dancing, great but if it is not it will be stored as fat. Alcohol is also high in calories. Per pint expect to consume over 200 calories. A large glass of wine is over 100. Spirits are the least calorific but when doubles and triples are ordered, the calories are going up. Try to give up alcohol altogether of if you do have a glass of water between each drink to care for the liver and take Milk Thistle, a liver detoxifier.

What I believe is everything in moderation. I love cheese and onion pie, I could eat it for breakfast, dinner, and tea but I would also feel stodgy and lethargic and I hate to feel like that. However, on my cheat day after I have followed a very healthy diet for six days of the week, I can look forward to my pie.

What I have also learnt about cheat days is that when the body consumes healthy foods for six days of the week, the metabolism eventually starts to slow down because the body does not have to get rid of as much waste. Having a cheat day not only boosts the body’s metabolism productively but also can help you to lose weight. Causing this spike by having just one cheat day a week is an effective way to eat what you love and ALSO lose weight.

Get off the silly fad diets or points system. They are getting all the money because you usually have to buy the foods that go with a diet. It is YOU and only you who can make a change. First a healthy body starts with a healthy mindset. Get rid of the negativity and focus on others to make you slim and you can achieve anything.

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Short Intensive Workouts

Short bursts of training is just as effective as a longer session. For example, thirty minutes of running can be broke up into three ten minute sessions throughout the day. Obviously, not everyone has the time to break up a workout, but this can work wonders for your metabolism.

You don’t even need to join a gym to work out your body just thirty minutes per day. Here’s an easy example of how to cram thirty minutes of effective training per day. Rather than take the car, walk 5-10 minute journey to the shops. Grab a skipping rope and skip for ten minutes in the afternoon non stop. Later in the afternoon, perform set a timer for ten minutes and perform squats, press-ups, jumping jacks, squat thrusts, and sit-ups until fatigue. Read the rest of this entry »

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