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Eat Frequently
It is important to understand what happens when you skip a meal or go on a crash diet. When you skip a meal your metabolism slows to conserve your energy. And when you lose weight too quickly for a few days, your body thinks it is threatened with starvation and goes into survival mode. It fights to conserve your fat stores, and any weight loss comes mostly from water and muscle.
Never skip a meal, especially breakfast, and eat healthy snacks between meals. Eating frequently prevents hunger pangs and the binges that follow, provides consistent energy, and may be the single most effective way to maintain metabolism efficiency.
When you will be away from home or work, plan your snacks and take them along so that you will be able to eat regularly and won't be tempted by junk food. This may be good advice for people who stay at home, too.
But remember that it was probably snacking between meals that caused you to become overweight in the first place. It will be very important that any snacks are healthy, that they are pre-portioned so you won't be tempted to overeat, and that meal sizes are reduced to compensate for the additional calories the snacks provide.
It is important to understand what happens when you skip a meal or go on a crash diet. When you skip a meal your metabolism slows to conserve your energy. And when you lose weight too quickly for a few days, your body thinks it is threatened with starvation and goes into survival mode. It fights to conserve your fat stores, and any weight loss comes mostly from water and muscle.
Never skip a meal, especially breakfast, and eat healthy snacks between meals. Eating frequently prevents hunger pangs and the binges that follow, provides consistent energy, and may be the single most effective way to maintain metabolism efficiency.
When you will be away from home or work, plan your snacks and take them along so that you will be able to eat regularly and won't be tempted by junk food. This may be good advice for people who stay at home, too.
But remember that it was probably snacking between meals that caused you to become overweight in the first place. It will be very important that any snacks are healthy, that they are pre-portioned so you won't be tempted to overeat, and that meal sizes are reduced to compensate for the additional calories the snacks provide.
Exercise Regularly
Dieting or restricting your caloric intake can cause your metabolism to slow. Exercise can help to counter this effect.
And exercise is the one sure way to burn more calories safely. The improved health you will gain through regular exercise will increase your life expectancy so significantly that the benefits will far outweigh the aging effect of an increased metabolism.
At home, at the gym, playing sports, participate in both aerobic and strength building activities on a regular basis. Not only does the exercise itself increase your metabolism, but exercise -- especially cardio -- causes your metabolism to remain elevated for a period of time after you finish exercising. And strength building exercise builds muscle which helps to keep your metabolism elevated 24 hours a day.
Improve Your Body Composition or Percentage of Muscle vs. Fat
Generally speaking, aerobic activities like running burn more calories than strength building activities like weight lifting. But it is important to note that muscle burns calories, while fat does not. This means that the more muscular you are, the higher your metabolism will remain at all times.
If you examine the equation used to calculate RMR, you will see that metabolism decreases with age. This is largely due to the decrease in muscle mass typically experienced as people age, and can largely be countered by continuing to perform strength building activities.
While genetics will always have an effect on your appearance, through diet and exercise you can control your body composition.
Walking journal for Jan. 4, 2007
One must be flexible. Today is not an outdoor walking day. We've had a severe winter storm roll in over night. The wind chill is inhumane, and the streets are like a skating rink. Today will be an indoor day. In the past I've been known to go to the mall to walk. But I have to be honest and say, I hate that. I hate the mall anyway, but taking my exercise routine there is the worst. And the marble floors really do a number on these middle aged hips. So today I'll resort to Plan B. I have stairs. 14 stairs to be exact. I tend to run up and down these stairs many times a day as is, but today I'll go a bit further. If I do 5 or 6 sets of stairs my heart really gets pumping. If I do 8-10 sets my legs get a little quivery. If I bumb it up to 12-14, I'm just about done and that 15th set usually has me crawling to the top. But I don't have to do them all at once. Like I said, the first 5 sets get my heart going. So I'll do 5 sets and then take a break. Then I'll come back and do 5 more. By going this route I'll be able to do more then 15 without having a heart attack. I'll aim for 20 sets spaced over a couple hours. I'll report back in when I'm done. Gotta love the homemade stairmaster.
Update: total stair sets completed = 20
I also took down the Christmas tree, rearranged some furniture and vacuumed the upstairs. :}
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