Do you have a slow metabolism?
Better yet, do you LOOK at a cookie, and gain 27lbs?
What about just struggling to LOSE weight, but have no problem GAINING it?
If your answer was yes to any of those questions, especially the cookie one, this article will be for you.
Whether through age, through previous diet history, through lifestyle change, your metabolism has gone down hill.
You don’t burn as many calories, you really don’t eat that much food yet still gain weight.
No need to fear, Eric is here.
I am going to teach you how to increase your metabolism the RIGHT way to see results.
And no, this will not be an ad for some fat burning pill with a promo code at the end.
Just real science that you can take and implement today to help start seeing results.
What Actually Is Your Metabolism?
It is funny, people will be quick to blame their metabolism for their lack of fat loss..
But when I ask them to explain to me what metabolism actually is, they cannot quite speak with the same conviction.
I cannot teach you how to increase something without actually knowing what it is first.
In the simplest of words, your metabolism is simply the sum of all chemical processes going on in your body at any one time.
At any one point in time there are millions of processes going on inside your body. Your heart beating involves your metabolism, your eye movement reading this, digestion of the food you eat.
Anything that is allowing you to live and breath right now, is apart of your metabolism.
Now that you have a basic understanding of what metabolism ACTUALLY is, you can have more context when Sally from the gym complains how hers is just SO SLOW.
Now let’s look into what components play a role, and how we can use them to your advantage to speed up your metabolism.
RMR, Resting Metabolic Rate
Your RMR, or resting metabolic rate, is the most practical component of your metabolism.
Some people use BMR, basal metabolic rate, but that is literally when your body does NOTHING but lay in bed and not even more..
I mean, you at least gotta blink or something right?
So your RMR is what we can use to begin to talk about how your metabolism works.
These are the calories you burn when you stand up and get out of bed. Your brain processing and thinking as you read this. Everyday life things.
What can go into your RMR? Super glad you asked.
Lean Body Mass
Your lean body mass plays a roll into what your RMR is.
This is can be how much muscle you have. Also, Your muscle to fat ratio.
This can also be how tall or short you are.
Taller people, like myself, burn more calories than those who are shorter. We will talk more on this when we get into gender as well.
Depending how tall or short you are, you can have differences in bone mass, and in overall total body expenditure.
This can lead to a difference in how hard your body has to work to maintain itself.
Muscle Burns More Calories.. Kind of.
One BIG thing I do want to briefly touch on is the fact that more muscle can lead to an increased metabolism.
Now, this is 110% true.
The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn. Absolutely.
BUT, the amount it does is minimal.
For every 1lb of muscle you add, you burn an extra 6-10 calories a day, at most.
So if you added 10 lbs of muscle, you would potentially only burn possibly 60 more calories a day.
Is it more? Yes. Is it so significant you should listen to someone selling you something crazy about building tons of muscle to boost your metabolism?
Nope.
Now you should clearly be building muscle, but it isn’t a justice to you go to go and eat pizza and ice cream.
Do it for health reasons, for strength reasons, increased bone density, all things that build you up.
Rather than worrying about it tearing your fat down. That will be done mainly through diet anyway.
Click HERE to find out how many calories you should be eating to lose fat.
Gender
Here we are, the forever war between girls and boys.
Who truly started cooties? One will never know.
Anywho, yes, men normally burn a bit more calories than women.
But that is not some magical fat loss potion.
It is just science.
Like we said earlier, taller people have more energy that their bodies have to use.
There is more blood to be circulated, takes more energy to go up and down steps, more bone mass to them, etc.
Men are typically taller, so they typically burn more calories.
We also just said the more lean body mass / muscle mass you have, you burn more calories.
Again, men typically have more muscle mass / lean body mass to them.
Both of these things lead to a higher metabolism, because again it is just more work their body has to do.
I coach mostly women, and trust me when I say, you all are much more bad ass than us men could ever be.
So you win.
AGE
Oh boy, Age.
This one is the crutch of many individuals wanting to lose weight.
They claim they are not 18 anymore, so their metabolism doesn’t work like it used to!
I am here to tell you to STOP using this excuse as to why you cannot lose fat.
Does your metabolism slow as you age?
Yep. Sure does.
BUT, first and foremost it is usually lifestyle based, not solely because you got older.
You eat less overall, eat less protein, your lean body mass decreases, your activity level goes down.
If you have been following thus far, those things are key factors when it comes to how your metabolism works.
Second, the amount it decreases is almost next to none per year.
Good thing for you is, however much is does slow down, this can pretty much be reversed.
Through proper strength training, well thought out nutrition, and losing body fat, you can pretty much reverse that aging process.
Click HERE if you want to contact me about possibly coming up with a plan for you to do just that.
Genetics
Yet again, another thing people look towards to pin the tail on their fat loss scapegoat.
I debated whether I wanted to go into this or not, because if I give you a reason to quit, most of you will.
The truth is, genetics plays a HUGE role in your metabolism.
It affects obviously your gender, your height, your lean body mass, all of these things.
A lot of it again is lifestyle based, but there are just cases of genetics winning no matter what.
If you are a 5’5 male out there reading this.. You aren’t making it to the NBA.
Just not gonna happen.
Some people have the perfect genetics for bodybuilding.
Here’s the thing, we are talking about fat loss here, not professional basketball or professional bodybuilding.
So, even if we say your genetics are the worst ever.
Why would you not still do EVERYTHING you can to make the best of them.
To increase your lean body mass. To do proper strength training. To eat healthy.
Regardless, that is a great idea.
So, don’t use genetics as a crutch either. This is fat loss here we are talking about, not stepping onto the court or a body building stage.
TEF, Thermic Effect of Food
Protein protein protein.
Protein is the #1 macronutrient I see missing in the average individuals diets when I go through my initial nutrition coaching evaluation.
Protein should be a staple in ANY fat loss diet. Let’s talk about why and how it helps boost your metabolism though.
Let’s talk practical application first.
Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, meaning it will fill you up and keep you full the longest.
This then means if you are not hungry, and stay full, you tend to not eat at much.
Then leading to eating less calories aka being in a calorie deficit.
Which is the only way to lose fat.
It also is the only macro nutrient that can help build and maintain muscle / lean body mass. Which as we know from above, helps with boosting your metabolism.
There is also something called the thermic effect of food.
This basically just means how many calories your body has to burn digesting food.
Protein has the highest thermic effect of food. Meaning when you eat protein, your body has to burn more calories to digest it. Just because you ate a chicken breast.
Obviously you can see how, if you make your diet high in protein, all day your body is burning more calories digesting it, as opposed to if you were eating carbs or fats all day.
TEA, Thermic Effect of Activity
This picture was just absolutely hilarious, so I had to use it.
Okay so thermic effect of activity.
This is basically just the calories you burn through exercise and or movement through the day.
And before we get any farther, NO your fit bit or apple watch tracking your calories is not accurate.
It actually over estimates by 50%. Click HERE to find out why.
Okay, moving on.
Strength training I believe is the most important for long term fat loss.
This will increase your lean muscle mass, increase your lean body mass, and with the right diet decrease your body fat.
This will have the biggest impact on boosting your metabolism long term.
It will burn less calories than cardio in the short term, but long term will allow you to burn more.
More importantly, will KEEP the fat off, without having to do hours and hours of cardio.
Because I’d rather watch grass grow than do hours of cardio.
Next up would be said spoken cardio.
Whether LISS or HIT, low intensity steady state or High intensity training.
Both can be beneficial and both can have their benefits.
Not only physical, but mental and emotional as well. Which I would argue is maybe a bit more important for most people.
It is not very high up on my list as far as importance of boosting metabolism, but it certainly plays a role.
The last would be NEAT, and that is the Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.
Now don’t worry, big word, but it just means all of the stuff you do throughout the day that is not dedicated exercise.
Walking into the grocery store. Brushing your teeth. Scratching your head.
People VASTLY underestimate NEAT when it comes to fat loss.
This is why counting steps became so huge. Shooting for 8-10k steps a day is an amazing way to increase NEAT.
Eventually leading you to move more, and increase your metabolism.
Park farther away at the store, walk around the perimeter of your house 5x, take the stairs no matter what.
I strongly urge you to not be one of those who underestimate how much getting 10k steps can help your fat loss journey.
Supplements / Metabolism Boosting Foods
So, I HAVE to go into this, but keeping it very brief.
Anyone who tells you you can take a pill to burn fat, run.
Run far, far away. After you laugh at them.
Also anyone who tells you to eat a certain food because it can boost your metabolism ( besides protein we learned because science not because some marketing ad ), run even farther.
Seriously, anyone who tries to sell you on a fat burning pill or metabolism boosting food, they are doing just that.
Trying to get your money and sell you something.
No other way around it.
Let’s put an end to it one person at a time.
Final Thoughts
So, as you see, nothing here is sexy.
I can’t go sell you something some product from any of this.
Nothing is about doing this ONE trick to start boosting your metabolism!
Or eat this food or do that workout to boost your metabolism!
Because in 100% honesty, it is quite simple.
Move more, optimize your lean body mass, keep protein high, and you will increase your metabolism.
It would be just down to science at that point, your metabolism would HAVE to increase to keep up with the work you are putting on it.
Focus on things you can control, things that will give you the biggest return on the change you put in, and I promise you will see change.
Though I would love to hear, what is the craziest thing you ever heard or read to increase your metabolism?
It is always great to hear what fitness marketers can come up with these days.
I hope you enjoyed the article, learned something, and can take it with you to start using your metabolism to your advantage.
If you have any further questions leave them below, or feel free to reach out to me at coacheric@ericrobertsfitness.com.
If you are interested in seeing if we are possibly a good fit for coaching together, head to the link HERE!
Talk soon.
-E.
