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- Discover efficient ways to boost your metabolism.
- Learn the key role of your metabolism in your everyday life.
- Explore how nutrition can affect your metabolism to lose weight and gain muscle.
The Science of Metabolism: How to Boost It for Weight Loss and Muscle Gain
With spring break around the corner, everyone is itching to know: how do you get that perfect beach body? It’s that time of year when everyone annoyingly turns into an armchair nutritionist, telling you to do this or that diet, cold plunge, or try a new nonsensical workout.
At Rock’s Discount Vitamins, we’re not interested in trends or fads: we’re champions of facts. With a team of health experts committed to you and your body goals, we’ll help you optimize your supplements to achieve the body you want this season.
The Science Behind Metabolic Processes
Think of your body’s metabolic process as a furnace, and like any furnace, it needs some form of fuel, whether gas, propane, or wood, to keep you warm. Similarly, your body converts what you eat and drink into energy to fuel your body. From breathing and growing to providing us with the energy to see and think, our metabolic process powers anything and everything we do.
Can Genetics Affect Our Metabolism?
Our metabolic rate is often affected by genetics. Things largely out of our control—body size, age, and sex—cause differences in everyone’s resting metabolic rate.
- Body Composition: People that tend to be larger in size or those with more muscle typically burn more calories when they’re active and when resting.
- Age: As we age, our bodies lose muscle mass and retain more fat, leading to calories being burned at a much slower rate.
- Sex: Men typically have less body fat and more muscle than women, leading to a faster metabolic rate than women.
Metabolism Supplements
Weight loss and metabolism supplements to boost your metabolism can often push you over the edge and help you meet your fitness goals. Whether it’s to lose weight or gain muscle, metabolism boosters are a great addition to any nutrition plan. Below are some of our favorite metabolism supplements to help you reach peak performance:
Metabolism and Weight Loss
The truth of the matter is that struggling with weight loss doesn’t come down to simply having a slow metabolism, but rather to the amount of calories you consume on a day-to-day basis and the amount you can burn. Simply put, if you eat and drink more calories than your body burns, you will gain weight, slow metabolism or not.
Metabolism and Muscle Gain
Studies corroborate that strength training and weight lifting, activities associated with an increase in muscle mass, also act as natural metabolism boosters. A recent report suggests that muscle, even at rest, burns significantly more calories than fat, increasing your body’s metabolic rate.
How to Increase Metabolism
It’s important to remember that regardless of your genetic makeup, there are things you can control to boost your metabolism. Some of the everyday factors you can incorporate into your daily routine to boost your metabolism include exercising, nutrition, and even the amount of rest your body gets.
Role of Exercise in Your Metabolism
There isn’t a whole lot you can do to increase your body’s metabolic resting rate, which is what’s responsible for burning the majority of the calories you consume. What you can do is incorporate exercise into your daily routine, some of which functions as natural metabolism boosters.
- HIIT Workouts: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) tends to burn a significant amount of calories when compared to other aerobic exercises, which is why they are often recommended when attempting to lose weight.
- Strength Training: From free weights and machines to even your body weight, an increase in muscle mass leads to an increase in the amount of calories you burn at rest, naturally increasing your metabolism.
- Aerobic Exercises: Walking, running, bike-riding, and plenty of other aerobic exercises are linked to a higher metabolic rate.
Proper Nutrition
Weight loss and our metabolisms are interconnected, so it’s important to choose foods that can help boost your metabolism. A recently published study suggests that certain foods serve as metabolism boosters, helping individuals achieve their weight loss goals.
- Protein: Clean sources of protein such as lean beef, chicken, fish, unsweetened Greek yogurt, beans, and some nuts and seeds are a great source of protein. If you feel you’re not getting enough protein throughout the day, protein supplements can be a quick and easy way to up your protein intake.
- Caffeine: Varying sources of caffeine, whether coffee, black tea, or green tea, can help burn extra calories by increasing our metabolic rate.
- Unrefined Carbs: Our bodies tend to burn calories from processed foods at a much slower rate, which is why it’s important to include unrefined carbs in our diet. This includes foods that are rich in fiber, such as leafy greens, veggies, fruits, and whole grains like brown rice.
Insufficient Sleep: A Global Pandemic
Insufficient sleep can have profound effects on your health, more detrimental than simply feeling tired. A recently conducted survey estimates that a staggering 83.6 million adults sleep less than seven hours a day. Sleep deprivation impacts multiple facets of our health, including deeply negative effects on our metabolic rate. A recent study links sleep and metabolic rates, suggesting that not receiving the adequate amount of sleep can negatively affect our metabolism. Sleep is one of those things we can control, so ensuring you get a proper night’s sleep is paramount to achieving weight loss and gaining muscle.
Get that Extra Boost!
No fakes, no fads—just quality products. Driven by a passion for wellness, from dietary supplements to metabolism boosters, we’ve got it all. Help yourself to your body goals with Rock’s Discount Vitamins.
