Metabolism Tips
Here’s a batch of mini tips to get you and your metabolism going full steam ahead.
Exercising in the Zone
If you’ve wondered what it means to workout in your zone here’s the explanation. When you exercise in your endurance zones you are burning glucose and not fat. This is important because not only do you want to burn fat you want to burn glucose also. When glycogen (a compound stored in the liver and used for energy) is burned it’s called glucose. When your body uses its supply of glycogen, it lets the body know that it needs to store more glycogen next time. So in order to store more your body stores less fat. Imagine the food you eat as a fork in the road that can either go to the right to be stored as fat or it can go to the left to be stored as glycogen. Obviously we want it to go to the left. So if you train your body to go to the left more than the right this helps to speed up your metabolism. But if you don’t exercise your body will assume that it doesn’t need much glycogen because it’s not getting burned. And as you probably guessed the food gets stored as fat. When you exercise in your fat burning zones, obviously you are burning stored fat. So it is important to work out in both zones for maximum metabolism benefits.
Resistance Training
By now you know the importance of resistance training. The more lean muscle you have the more calories your body burns at rest. Also with resistance training you’re still burning calories because you are still getting your heart rate up. That’s why you want to create a balance between cardio and resistance training. This helps to tone the body as you lose the weight. Some women have a misconception about resistance training, especially about lifting weights. Just because you work out with weights doesn’t mean you’ll bulk you. Even super models lift weights. It’s all about your sets, reps and the amount of weight.
No Fasting
Fasting puts you on the fast track to a sluggish metabolism. Women on average should eat 1200-1600 calories a day, and men should eat 2000 or more.
Too Little ExerciseMake sure you exercise a minimum of 3 times a week; 5 would be better. Working out on a regular basis keeps your metabolism stoked and the calories burning. This will also increase lean muscle; the more lean muscle your body has the more calories it burns at rest. So don’t worry about what the scales say but the amount of lean muscle mass you have.Not Enough ZZ‘z
The average person needs 7-9 hours of sleep. Studies show that averaging 9 hours of sleep helps to decrease the aging process. Your body also needs sleep to produce certain hormones. Growth hormones and melatonin are released during sleep and these hormones aid metabolism. Also when there are low levels of these hormones your body releases a stress hormone called cortisol. Coritsol can slow down the metabolism and will aid your body in storing fat. Sleepy and fat; not a great combo.
Eat, play and sleep that’s a pretty good deal in exchange for a healthy and fit body.
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