The body needs to undergo several chemical processes to stay alive. Your basal metabolic rate is responsible for 50 to 80% of the energy used in the body. It’s the collective chemical processes done by your organs to keep you alive. But other than that, your metabolism will also be responsible for whether or not you can lose weight efficiently or gain muscle. So what are the things that can ruin your metabolism? Can you do something to change it?
Low Muscle Mass
The first thing that can affect your metabolism is your muscle mass. One reason why men have a faster metabolism than women is that men generally have a higher muscle mass percentage compared to women.
Men have 26 pounds more muscle than women on average. According to experts, it is estimated that muscle burns around 4.5-7.0 kcal per pound per day. Fats, on the other hand, burn one-fourth of what muscles can burn. This explains why fat individuals make it easier to gain weight due to body fats.
The only way to build muscle mass is by engaging in physical activities. Resistance training is a good way to train specific muscles. Resistance training is known to increase muscle strength, improve muscle function, and increase the cross-sectional area of the muscle fiber.
We’ve mentioned earlier that metabolism plays a role in building muscle. However, a low muscle mass shouldn’t stop you from doing resistance training. Even if you are struggling to build muscle mass, there are other factors at play that can help build muscle mass. One of which is the food that you eat. Protein, when broken down, turns into amino acids, which is the building block of muscles. It means that if you are not taking enough protein, you will most likely not get to your muscles to develop the way you want to.
How much protein is needed to develop the muscles? A person who regularly lifts will need around 1.2 grams to 1.7 grams of protein per kilo of his weight. A 150-pound individual will need to eat 180 to 255 grams of protein just to maintain muscle mass.
Stress
Stress is another important factor that can affect your overall metabolism. Though stress is inevitable, there is a threshold to how much our system can take. Exposing yourself to daily stressful scenarios can harm your metabolism. It can spike your body’s cortisol level making you feel hungrier than usual.
To fix the problem, you need to give yourself some days off. Be sure to know when to step back from things that make you feel stressed and just unwind. Have a day off or do something that relaxes you.
Age
Age is a factor that can affect your body’s metabolism. As you go past your 30s and into your 40s, you may find yourself having a more difficult time losing fats or building muscles. Unfortunately, this is something that you can’t fight. However, you can do a few things that can alleviate the effects of aging. Eat healthier, continuously live an active lifestyle, and get enough rest. These things could do the trick to keep your metabolism at a healthy level for your age. You have to also be realistic. Your metabolism in your 20s will not be the same when you’re in your 40s.
Weight loss diets
There are instances when weight-loss diets do more harm than good in the long run. Food deprivation may get your body to lose a few pounds in the first few weeks, but in the long run, your body may then adapt to food deprivation that it starts to slow down its chemical processes. In the end, you’ll have a more difficult time losing weight once you return to eating how you used to.
Underlying Conditions
There are underlying conditions that can stop you from having a fast metabolism. People diagnosed with hypothyroidism tend to have low T3 and T4 hormones that they don’t burn the normal amount of calories. On the other hand, there are those individuals who produce a higher amount of T3 and T4 hormones that prevent them from gaining weight. In both situations, you must see your physician to fix the problem.
Lack of sleep
Another reason why people are experiencing slugging metabolism is due to their lack of sleep. Unfortunately, many are sleep-deprived these days. 70% of Americans report being sleep deprived at least once a month.
The lack of sleep can alter your body’s ability to metabolize glucose. It can also decrease leptin levels and increase ghrelin making you feel hungrier than usual.
What can you do about it? You just have to get enough sleep every night. You might want to know your habits that prevent you from doing this. Are you staying late because you are on your phone? Or perhaps, you don’t feel comfortable in your room that it takes an hour or two before you feel the urge to sleep?
You can make small changes such as getting the room temperature low enough to get you to relax but not shiver. And also, you might want to turn off the lights and even get some pillows that you feel comfortable using.
Conclusion
Maintaining a healthy metabolism can do wonders for the body. It can help you recover faster, lose fats when you want to and build muscles easier. The reality is that it’s a tricky discussion since there are lots of things that can affect our metabolism. And though it will eventually get slower as we age, be sure to do your best to keep it at a healthy level.