Plainly, metabolism is the process that is happening within your body that converts what you eat into usable energy – energy that will be used by your body from heating itself to growing and maintaining cells in your body.
Metabolism runs in two interactive processes of catabolism and anabolism. Catabolism, also known as the “destructive metabolism” is the process of breaking down the food you eat into simpler forms so that your body can use it to function.
Basically, catabolism transforms the food you eat into vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins so that the body can use it to keep itself working; from making your heart beat, to doing anything; basically everything that is happening to your body.
Anabolism works like a chargeable battery within your system. It stores energy in your body to make sure that there is enough energy to make your organs work and enough energy to support the natural growth of cells. It also stores energy that can be used in the future.
Understanding how metabolism works is critical in achieving a desired body weight. For your metabolism will determine the amount of workout and type of diet you have to undertake to achieve your desired weight.
It is also very Important to understand your Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR. BMR basically is the amount of energy needed to keep everything in your system running.
Simply put, this is the amount of energy your body needs while at rest. Some people naturally have a high BMR rate while some people have low BMR rate. Genetics has something to do with it.
Ectomorphs or the naturally thin people tend to have a high BMR rate that is why they do not get fat no matter how much they eat. While endomorphs have a low BMR rate that their slightest indulgence in food will almost always automatically register in the weighing scale.
Something can be done to improve an individual’s BMR however especially when your body type falls to the endomorph category.
Critical to this is engaging in an exercise to develop muscle mass because muscle mass speeds up your metabolism. No matter what your body type is, metabolism rate is the same when you do an exercise whether you are fat or thin.
So if you are an endomorph with a slow BMR, you have to exert a little effort to burn more calorie and make up for your deficient BMR. And once you have developed muscle mass with your workouts, your BMR will significantly improve for muscles require more energy to maintain thus increasing your chances to reduce weight.
Another way to increase metabolism rate is to distribute eating frequently in smaller quantity. For eating increases your metabolism rate as the activity requires energy to digest, convert and absorb the food that you eat.
In addition, eating prevents you from getting hungry which has a negative effect on your metabolism rate. For when a body is hungry, it raises your body’s defense mechanism of slowing your metabolism so that it will require less energy to maintain itself.
