In simple terms, “metabolic rate” is essentially how fast you burn calories. Imagine if you could somehow flip a switch and magically increase your metabolic rate. Those extra lbs would melt away — you could eat almost anything without gaining weight!
It’s no wonder that boosting metabolic rate can be the holy grail of weight loss. But can we really do anything to influence it?
Metabolic Rate 101
Your cells, tissues, and organs together are the human equivalent of an automobile motor. And just as a car motor needs gasoline in order to work, your human motor needs energy in order to function. That energy is measured as calories, and it comes from the food you eat.
When you turn a car motor off, it won’t burn gasoline. But there’s no turning off your human motor. Even when you are at rest or fully asleep, your metabolic motor is still running. That’s because your brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and all your other organs and tissues never turn off. They might slow down a bit, but they never shut down. This explains the fact that your “resting metabolic rate” — which is exactly what it sounds like, your metabolic rate at rest — accounts for the largest portion of your overall metabolic rate.
For example, if you need to take in about 3,000 calories every day in order to function at your best and have your body weight remain stable, roughly 70% of those calories are entirely devoted to keeping your human engine idling.
Only about 20% or so goes toward providing energy for physical activity and exercise, while the remaining 10% is spent digesting, absorbing, and metabolizing food.
Promises, Promises
With your resting metabolic rate accounting for the largest portion of your overall metabolic rate, it’s no wonder that finding a way to increase it has struck the fancy of so many.
Yes, it would be great to be able to put your metabolism in overdrive while you are sawing logs. Every minute asleep would be more calories burned. And, of course, there has been no shortage of advice on how to do this — eating hot peppers, guzzling green tea, popping herbal uppers, getting wired on caffeine. We’ve tried them all.
Unfortunately, marketing ploys have not translated into scientific fact. These approaches have either failed to influence resting metabolic rate or produced unpleasant or sometimes dangerous side effects that make them pretty much worthless.
Spending hours at a time in refrigerator-like conditions may also boost your metabolism, but this torturous approach isn’t sustainable.
Bodybuilders preach that adding layers of lean muscle mass will boost your metabolism. While it’s true that lb for lb, muscle burns more calories than body fat does, the energy-burning payoff doesn’t nearly match the hype. A case in point is that most athletes, and non-athletes for that matter, would be quite pleased with laying down 4–5 lbs (about 2 kg) of muscle in place of body fat. But if you do the metabolic math, that type of change in body composition would only increase your metabolic burn by a paltry 16 calories per day!
What Does Work?
Let’s be clear: Resting metabolic rate seems pretty impervious to long-term change. So forget the expensive elixirs and magic pills. They aren’t going to flip your metabolic switch and cause extra body weight to fall away or enable you to overeat to your heart’s content.
If you want to boost your metabolism and burn more calories, the best method is the one that is tried and true: physical activity. The more active you are, the more calories you will burn. And although over the long term, this doesn’t increase your resting metabolic rate, your metabolism will take awhile to return to a resting state after exercise. You can use this fact to your advantage.
For example, if you generally train once a day, keep that up. But sprinkle in some additional activity throughout the day. Add a lighter second workout, walk or ride a bike instead of driving, take the stairs instead of the elevator, get up from your desk and walk or run for a few blocks, or do sets of push-ups periodically throughout the day.
If you do something physically active every waking hour or so, the payoff is twofold: First, every extra minute of activity will burn additional calories. Second, you get a bonus caloric burn after you finish, while your metabolism gradually reverts back to its resting state.
Aerobic activities, as well as resistance training, provide metabolism-boosting benefits. In a study of individuals walking on a treadmill at low to moderate intensity for 20–30 minutes, it took 30–90 minutes for metabolic rate to return to a resting level. Following 30 minutes of cycling at a higher intensity, metabolic rate returned to a resting level within about 60 minutes. And after a weightlifting session, metabolic rate can remain elevated for over 14 hours after the last barbell is hoisted.
So think of physical activity as a natural metabolic rate booster — and, it’s free. If you want your metabolic rate to be higher in general, exercise more frequently. Make sure to include aerobic and resistance-exercise activities.
Finally, as mentioned earlier, there is an increase in metabolic rate associated with the digestion of food and the absorption and metabolism of nutrients. Called the “thermic effect of food,” the peak in metabolic rate from this thermic effect usually occurs about 1–3 hours after eating. Here again, you can use this fact to your advantage. For example, the same number of calories consumed from five or six smaller meals and snacks spread throughout the day will produce a higher metabolic rate and burn more calories, than if you consume the same amount of food in two or three larger meals.
Harness the Power of the One-Two Punch
Your best strategy for boosting your metabolic rate and keeping it consistently higher is to be active more often, engage in both aerobic activities and resistance exercise, and consume your calories from smaller meals eaten more frequently.
Topics:
General, Research
Rights of Usage Policy