Middle Aged Metabolism and Weight Control
Copyright © 2008 At Peace With Food
As I was lying on the ground the other day, having slipped on the ice while walking our beloved pet, I was wondering yet again about this whole "new middle age" idea. I was lying there thinking "if I was in my 30's, would I really be thinking about calling my husband and asking him to pick me up, because my back hurt? Or would I simply get my 30+ year old body up and keep walking?"
What I finally did was pick up my 50+ year old body and kept walking, but it was at a much slower pace.
This whole idea of my 50's being more like being in my 30's intrigues me. In a number of ways, many of us 50-ish folks are healthier that than our parents were at our age. Our access to health care, for many of us, is much better, so medically we can take better care of ourselves. The concept of "personal trainer" was unheard of twenty-five years ago, as was the idea of belonging to a gym. Making time for a daily walk wasn't even on the agenda for many people.
We are lucky, though, because so many of us are able to include these benefits into our lives, allowing us to be a much healthier generation.
However, some things haven't changed. As we age, our metabolism still slows down, which is why we tend to gain weight as we age. Metabolism refers to the rate at which the body burns calories. There are many factors affecting what is called our "metabolic rate," including height (tall people burn more calories than short folks), fasting (that's why skipping meals is not a good way to lose weight-your metabolism slows down) and temperature. In colder temperatures, our bodies need to burn more calories to stay warm. I suppose one way to lose weight would be to run around naked in the cold. However, I'm not sure how long this "diet" would last before your neighbors call the police.
The point is that we cannot control many of the factors affecting our metabolic rate, including age (young, middle or old).
The light at the end of the tunnel, though, is activity. When you are active, you're body can build muscle. Muscle is referred to as a more metabolically active tissue because it takes more calories to maintain muscle than to maintain fat. Fat is a lazy tissue, and can get along without any help on our part. But muscle? There's a different story. Muscles use more calories to do their job, so the more muscles you build, the more calories your body uses. And that's why, as we age, we need to stay active. We need to build our muscles, and maintain them to keep weight off. Walking is one important activity I rely on to keep my metabolism up. Others enjoy lifting weights. As long as you have worked with an experienced trainer making sure you don't injure yourself, increased muscle mass is definitely a benefit of this activity. Activity keeps your metabolic rate high, increasing the calories you burn, and helping prevent that fat tissue from growing.
So whether you are lying on the ice wondering how to get up, or stuck in a couch wondering how to get out, think about staying active. It's the activity that will make moving around (and preventing weight gain) a lot easier-at any age.
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Why You Need To Boost Metabolism For Better Weight Loss Result?
Weight loss occurs when the body can burn off more calories in a day than it consumes. This is affected by two factors: how much a person consumes in a day, and how active the metabolism is at breaking down and burning off calories.
For this reason, it is obvious how important it is to boost the metabolism and keep it running at a healthy, efficient level so that you can help your own body to burn off as many calories as possible and result in the highest maximum weight loss attainable in a healthy manner.
In order to better understand how this occurs, one must first understand how the metabolism works. The metabolism breaks down food and nutrients to be used by the body. When not eating, whether you are exercising, sleeping, or even being lazy, the metabolism is still working and burning off whatever is available, whether it be recently consumed food or stored fat, in order to keep the body running.
Quite obviously, a more active metabolism, spurned by exercise and healthy eating, will result in more fat being burned throughout the day in order to keep the body running smoothly which will result in healthy weight loss in the long run.
Many believe that herbs or fat loss pills are the key to burning fat, but this simply isn�t the truth. In most cases, these alternatives will result in only minimal results and can be damaging to the body when abused. These methods are seen as �easy-outs,� but when burning fat is issue, there is no such thing as an easy-out.
Studies have proven that there is really only one way to lose weight in a healthy way, and that involves the lengthy experience of having to pay attention to your diet (try to consume fewer calories and eat foods that boost the metabolism), drink more water (water keeps the body healthy and clean and also helps to keep the metabolism working at a smooth rate), and exercise daily in order to both burn off calories that way and to keep the heart pumping, which will result in both a boosted metabolism and healthier blood levels.
These factors combine to clearly show why boosting the metabolism is such a proven weight loss method. Time and time again it has been shown that boosting metabolism, combined with a healthy diet, will result in weight loss simply due to the fact that the metabolism will constantly be working behind the scenes and will constantly be burning off excess fat in order to keep the body working smoothly. Therefore, boosting your metabolism will result in both a better looking as well as a healthier body.
Now the challenge is how to boost metabolism?
Nutrition is one of the key factors in maintaining a healthy metabolism rate, along with hydration and physical activity. Simply put, no matter how much exercising you do, if you aren�t eating right then you aren�t going to see results. At the same time, eating right doesn�t just mean watching your calories.
Certain foods are known for keeping the metabolism working at a high level. Complex carbohydrates and fiber, for instance, which can be found in oatmeal, whole grain cereal, and milk every morning at breakfast, are known for keeping insulin levels low after eating.
Exercise plays a major role in boosting the metabolism and being able to burn of calories and undesired fat. There are quite a few suggestions for what exercises to focus on, how often to exercise, and when to exercise. In many cases, just doing anything is helpful but doing the right exercises will help to maximize a boosted metabolism.
Should you take diet supplements?
When dieting and eating the right metabolism boosting foods isn�t doing the job fully, there are plenty of healthy metabolism boosting supplements that can be sought out. It is important to pay close attention when looking for supplements, however, as many common �diet pills� and �miracle pills� will simply never work.
Much of what is advertised is completely falsified and it is important not to buy into these quick fixes. Rather, it can be both very helpful and healthy to find certain supplements which will help to boost the metabolism and increase the amount of calories burned each day naturally.
There are few supplements seems to be effective in boosting metabolism; for example Xerisan ASA diet pill. According to some source Xerisan ASA is one of the most effective and natural metabolism boosting pills though it looks expensive.
My conclusion?
Do your homework before you decide to buy any pills.
About the Author
Mahesh Bhat is fitness expert and publisher of several health, fitness and weight loss related information site. Learn how to lose 10 pounds quickly by visiting Weight Loss Review site.
