What is metabolism? How to control it?

What is metabolism and how to control it?

You have probably heard people talk about metabolism and speak on how important it is to lose weight, but really, what exactly is the metabolism?

The definition has been confusion among many people and they mostly use the word in the wrong context. To quote dictionary.com, the definition they give is, “the sum of the physical and chemical processes in an organism by which its material substance is produced, maintained, and destroyed, and by which energy is made available.”

There are two categories of metabolism: catabolism and anabolism. Catabolism is the breakdown of organic matter, and anabolism uses energy to construct components of cells, such as proteins and nucleic acids.

To put this in simpler terms, it pretty much means the rate in which the human body burns calories. When someone says metabolism, it usually refers to their metabolic rate.

The metabolic rate is essentially how fast your body is able to turn calories into energy. It’s pretty simple. If a person has a fast metabolism, then they will theoretically burn more calories, and on the flip side, if a person has a slow metabolism, they will in turn burn fewer calories.

This is why people are always trying to emphasize the importance of having, or increasing one’s metabolism. If you can burn more calories throughout the day, it will be much easier for you to lose weight, and maintain your weight over the long haul (1).

Of course, there are many factors that will play a role in one’s metabolism being slower or faster, and we will not go too deep into this matter, but for the most part, many people will have the ability to increase one’s metabolism through food, diet, exercise, and mental well-being.

How Can I control my metabolism?

Today, I’m going to focus on helping those people who want to lose weight, not because the topic of weight loss is more important than other topics I could cover, but because I think I need to clear up a few false ideas that are circulating in the industry.

First and foremost, if you’re overweight, there’s a very good chance that you have a low metabolism! I know that might not be shocking to you. You may have already thought that you had a slow metabolism, but here’s why I’m re-stating it.

Having a slow metabolism means that you can eat ‘only a little food’ and still gain more weight than your neighbor who eats far more than you every day of his or her life.

Your metabolism is basically a bunch of organs and glands that are responsible for regulating how your body burns food for fuel and how it converts that food into energy. These include the thyroid, pancreas, stomach, small and large intestines, and the colon.

When you have a slow metabolism there’s a good chance that one or more of these systems is out of balance or just plain not working properly (and that’s almost always due to improper living, disease, drugs, or a severe accident).

But there are more causes for being overweight other than having a low metabolism. You see, overweight people tend to eat when they’re not hungry, they tend to have a larger appetite, they tend to eat “diet foods” more often (which are rarely conducive to weight loss as the label suggests), they tend to eat before they go to bed, and worst of all they tend to see themselves as being overweight (2).

But the underlying problem that can never be cleared up simply with your actions, is the way you see yourself when you close your eyes. Studies at the National Metabolic and Longevity Research Centre have claimed that overweight people constantly think about their weight in a negative way, thus creating an undesired effect. It’s true that you become what you think about, and if you constantly see yourself as being fat, you’ll never be thin!

Here’s a tip…for the next 30 days (it takes 28 – 30 days to change how you subconsciously think of yourself) take a few minutes in the morning and picture a great looking, tight, sexy body from head to toe – then put your face on that body.

Do this exercise again in the mid-afternoon, and then again right before you fall asleep at night. Do this for 30 days and I guarantee that you’ll experience a dramatic change in the way your body looks.