We often hear people toss around the term metabolism as something they need to work on to lose weight. This is very much a fact, but it’s not the only thing that the metabolism is going to be doing for you. Your metabolism essentially represents the sum of all your body’s processes.

The faster your metabolism runs, the faster you’ll be burning fat. That’s not all. The greater potential you have to heal injuries, to combat disease, and to just keep your body running optimally. When your metabolism is humming along, this is going to mean that you get greater overall cell turnover because the rates of protein synthesis are higher. This means you’ll replacing old, less optimal cells with new cells that are functioning to their highest capacity.

A fast metabolism is a good thing — provided it’s not so fast you can’t keep weight on of course.

So what do you need to know about how the metabolism works? Here are some points to keep in mind.

Your Lean Muscle Mass Is the Greatest Influencer

The first thing to note is that your lean muscle mass is the greatest influencer over your metabolism. The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism will be. This is one reason why it’s so vital that you are strength training on a regular basis. It’s one of the best things that you can do to help promote a faster metabolism.

Metabolism Is Never Constant

Also, keep in mind that no two days are ever the same. Your body is constantly dealing with a new environment, a new situation, and new cells in place. This means that your metabolism will change from day to day. It probably won’t change that dramatically, but rest assured if you had a day where you did a lot of activity, the next day, your metabolism may be higher because of it. If you sit around all that day, the day following, it may move back down again.

Metabolism Is Inherited to Some Degree

When people say they are cursed with a bad metabolism, they aren’t fully lying. Metabolism is to some degree an inherited thing. There are many factors that will influence your metabolic rate and genetics is one of them.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you are stuck with it for life but know that your metabolic tendencies will be similar to your parents.

Food Does Impact Your Metabolism

Did you know that what you eat impacts your metabolism? If you eat a meal rich in protein, this can actually speed up your metabolism because protein-rich foods take longer to break down and digest, thus releasing more heat energy.

So you can get an edge on weight loss using this info. This said, no food is going to be a zero calorie food.

Likewise, if you diet intensely, your metabolism will slow down and adapt to this lower calorie intake. This is one reason why prolonged dieting is never a good strategy. You need to implement diet breaks to keep showing success.

There’s a Reason Metabolism Slows With Age

Finally, note that there is a reason why the metabolism slows with age. It’s due to lean muscle mass loss. So don’t think that you have to be a victim of a slower metabolism and weight gain. If you strength training and keep your muscle mass intact, you can keep that metabolism firing.

If you keep these tips in mind, soon you will become the master of your own metabolism.

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