My metabolic rate

Why should I care about my metabolic rate?

The metabolic rate is an important factor if you want to loose weight. Metabolism is the process where your body converts what your eat and drink into energy. It can be divided in two categories: 

• Catabolism: the breakdown of molecules to obtain energy (breaking down molecules)
• Anabolism: the synthesis of all compounds needed by the cells (building up molecules)

A higher metabolic rate is beneficial because it increases the number of calories we burn over time. 

Many people think that heavy people have a slower metabolic rate that skinny people. This is not true. In fact, in general, how heavier you are, the higher you metabolic rate because a heavier body requires more energy during physical movement. When you loose weight, your metabolic rate will slow down. 

Your metabolic rate is determined by several factors, among others:

• Muscle mass: muscles use more energy than any other body tissue
• Age: young cells renew more often which requires energy
• Length: tall persons require more energy to keep their body warm
• Hormons: several hormons influence the metabolic rate

However, you can exercise some influence on your metabolic rate. 

• Create more muscle mass! The muscles in your body will require more energy than any other tissue in your body, even when you are not working out. Even when you are sleeping you will burn more calories than a person with lass muscle mass. :)
• Eat regularly and eat food with a low glycemic index (complex carbs) and high in fiber! These foods require relatively more effort from your body to digest than foods like simple carbs without any fiber. Your body will use more energy to digest. Eating regularly ensures your metabolism is working continuously and keeps on burning energy. 
• Move! Physical exercise will burn calories. Whether it is a long easy walk on the beach or a heavy bootcap workout with intervals, you will burn those calories!
• Sleep! Try to get at least seven hours of sleep each night. Your energy and activity levels are higher when you slept well, increasing your metabolic rate. 
• Herbs like chili powder and cayenne peppers can increase your metabolic rate. These herbs increases the release of, among others, adrenaline which stimulates the metabolism and increases calorie burn. 
• Drink green tea. Several studies show that drinking green results in burning an extra 70-100 calories a day because of the antioxidants in the tea. 

Do keep in in mind that although your metabolism influences your body's basic energy needs, ultimately it is your total caloric intake and physical activity that determines wether you gain or loose weight!

Work hard and get your metabolism on fire!

First things first; the magic 4: Food

When you want to see real results in your  body, you always need to keep in mind the magic 4! 

1: Food, 2: Training, 3: Rest, and 4:Mental health. I will start telling you more about these magic 4 during my following posts. Lets's start with number one! Food! I love food!

Food is the basis for your energy. When eating right you can have enough energy for the full day and for a hardcore training, without feeling hungry or starving yourself. Like I said, I love food, I love to eat, and so I do! It is important to know what you are eating, what the ingredients and nutritients are. Take a look at the labels on the products, the nutritional values and the ingredients. Try to avoid products with many ingredients, these are often less healthy, and avoid E-numbers where possible. Like many say: Knowledge is power. That also the case with food. 

Macronutrients

The important components in your food to take an extra look at are the macronutients: protein (muscle building), carbs (short term energy), and fat (long term energy and vitality). The composition of the macronutrients should be balanced according to your needs of that day. When building muscle, intake of proteins should be high (I take in many proteins every day). When having a hard workout that day, you want to take in more carbs than on a rest day because you use more energy. 

I get get proteins mostly from shakes, chicken filet, red meat and eggs. When taking in carbs I limit myself to complex carbs; these take longer to digest and will not give me a sugar-dip after consuming. I usually begin my mornings with oatmeal, left to soak overnight with non-fat curd in the fridge. Then before and ofter my weight training I eat sweet potato, brown rice or spelt bread. Fat's I consume by eating nuts (mostly almonds), avocado, and fat fish like salmon. 

Calories

Next to the macronutrients, I keep an eye on the calories I consume. This enables me to make the right proportions of food I eat at each moment of the day. The rule for calories is simple: If you want to loose weight, take in less calories then you use; if you want to gain weight, take in more calories than you use that day. It requires trial and error and see what works for you. 

Eating moments

I eat 6 - 8x a day, so I need to make sure each meal is the right size in order not to over eat. The reason I eat so many times per day is because it keeps my digestion high, so I burn more during the day. Sometimes it is difficult to eat so often because of constraints you face during your daily life. You are ate work, at school, at a client, and people look at you; are you eating, AGAIN? Just try to plan you eating moments right and always have something to eat with your. I prefer to prepare all my food for the week at monday evening and store it in the fridge. I'm always prepared. 

Cheat day

One of my favourites: 1x a week it is cheat day. On this day I can have a 'treat'  for myself. This keeps me motivated to really stick to my diet during the week and than, on Sunday, I can have a nice cheatmeal. I like pizza, apple pie, om my mom's made cookies! I usually try to stick with once cheatmeal, and not a full cheat day, because I still have some work on my body. Love this day!

So.. That were some basics about food and you gained some insight how I deal with you. I hope it helps and please share your thoughts and experiences! There is so much more about food and there definitely will be more posts about this topic! This was it for now, have a healthy day!!