Metabolism
It refers to the thousands of chemical reactions that turn what we eat and drink into fuel in every cell of the body. These reactions change in response to our environments and behaviors, and in ways we have little control over.
Metabolism is not a single thing that can be calibrated with “metabolism boosters” like chili peppers or coffee, or by following special diets.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
- Basal metabolism is the energy our body needs to keep our cells working and accounts for 65-80% of most adults' caloric consumption.
- The thermic effect of food is the energy our body uses to process food and accounts for 10% of most adults' caloric consumption.
- Physical activity accounts for 10 - 30 % of most people’s caloric consumption .
Not everyone overeats and becomes overweight, and not everyone who becomes overweight or obese develops illnesses like diabetes or heart disease.
There was never a special diet, exercise regimen, or supplement that worked universally to control weight. Through trial and error, we have to discover habits and routines we can stick with that help us eat less and move more.
- A caloric deficit leads us to unknowingly compensate by eating more.
- For some, crash dieting can permanently slow their metabolic rate, leading to longer calorie retention.
- Bodies don’t burn more body fat while on a high-fat and low-carb ketogenic diet, compared to a higher-carb diet.
- Many underestimate their calorie intake and blame genetics.
- “Slow metabolism” isn’t a major cause of obesity, and no product will speed your metabolism up in a way that will lead to substantial slimming.
- Lean muscle and fat tissue in the body, age, and genetics, among others, influence the metabolic rate.
- Women tend to burn fewer calories than men.
- A diet that universally leads to healthy weight loss.
- Why two people with the same size and body composition have different metabolic rates.
- Why some ethnic groups — African Americans, South Asians — have a higher risk of developing metabolic disorders like diabetes.
- How the brain knows what the body weighs
- The mechanism that controls our metabolic rate.
RELATED IDEAS
- For an average adult female, the estimated daily intake is 1600 to 2400 calories.
- For the average adult male, it is 2000 to 3000 calories per day.
- Children have a higher speed of metabolism, especially in stages of infancy.
- Two people of the same body type and weight can have a 30 percent variation in their caloric needs due to how much body movement happens during the day.
There are 3 main ways:
- the basal metabolism, the energy used for your body's basic functioning while at rest
- the energy used to break down food (also known as the thermic effect of food)
- the energy used in physical activity.
Most of the energy you burn is from your resting metabolism.
Capsaicin, found in peppers, can boost your metabolism. At acceptable doses, pepper can burn ten additional calories per meal.