Metabolism = Your Friend

By Parminder Deo, pdeo@smu.edu

Your body is made to use energy. You can burn calories by doing just about anything from walking to sleeping. You might even burn a few calories after reading this blog ☺

It is important to stay tuned to your metabolism to keep it going. Here are a few ways to increase your it and become a calorie-burning machine:

Eat regularly! Your body needs food to function properly; especially your brain. Feed the beast! If you are starving yourselfy your body has to compensate and your metabolism will slow down. Muscle and fat will be broken down and used as fuel. If you lose this muscle mass, the less your body will be able to burn calories.

Exercise! Muscle burns more than fat— it’s a fact. Doing cardio and resistance training keeps your body burning more calories especially after your workout. If you are sweating after a 45 minute workout session you know you had good resistance. Try to get in two to three workouts in a week.

Get more sleep! By skipping even a single night of sleep of your bodies metabolic rate slows down by 5%. This leads to 20% less calories burned according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. You might think that being awake longer gives you more time to burn more calories. But, sleeping is key for that faster metabolism.

Keep these tips in mind and stop making metabolism the bad guy. Treat your metabolism right and you will be in much better shape... literally.