A §501(c)(3) Division of the Black Kats

Tip of the Week

This series of weekly training tips is designed to complement and/or supplement your yearly planning regiment.

Week 13
This week we will focus on metabolism.

Metabolism is the sum of all biochemical processes involved in life according to The Columbia Encyclopedia , Sixth Edition, 2001. These processes explain how and why your body is able to use exercise , food, and environmental temperature to influence the release of energy. This paper further explains the increasing and decreasing of metabolism and the effects this has on weight gain/loss.

Simply stated, if your metabolism is fast, you have the ability to use energy effectively to burn calories more rapidly than if you metabolism is slow. This may raise three questions: why would I want to increase my metabolism?, how do I increase my metabolism? & how is my metabolism slowed or decreased?.

You can increase your metabolism by: drinking water; eating small many meals; exercising ; and watching your caloric intake. It is a mistake to deprive your body of food and water believing this helps to lose weight effectively. This actually slows your metabolism (process that burns calories) because your body is unsure when it will get valuable nutrients and fluids to function optimally again. Thus, your body hyper-stores or retains calories (aka] weight gain) making it harder to effectively lose weight now and in the future... In the long run, it may be wiser to eat many small meals (rather than only 3 large meals) while watching and monitoring the caloric intake. Theoretically, you will be less hungry in between meals, eat less, and have more energy. Large meals tend to make you lethargic, tired, and less likely to be active. Water is also essential in this process. Your body is over 70% water and when this percentage is changed (via dehydration or diuretics) your body will also hyper-store this fluid. Again, your body is unsure when water will come again so it is retained...thus making it harder to sweat. This explains why it is harder to sweat when you dehydrated and why it is easier to sweat when you are fully hydrated.

Your metabolism is actually slowed by the natural aging process. This is another reason why, as you age, it appears harder to keep the same ole routine and maintain the same weight. Experts claim your metabolism slows down about 5% per decade. This may explain why children seem to have more energy than teens or teens more energy than adults or adults more energy than senior citizens. This could also be a reason why growing teens should consider changing weight classes.

There are tests for just about everything these days and metabolism is no exception. Indirect calorimetry is a test used to determine metabolism rate. This test is not very common thus making it expensive and hard to find. You may search your local university or hospital or better yet via search engines online for discovery.

It may be a good idea to estimate your metabolism based on your family history, difficulty in losing weight, and your exercise level. This may just help you in determining what is your optimal weight.

Bibliography

Bartleby.com, Metabolism , The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001

McKittrick, Martha, Determining Your Metabolism , WebMD Inc, 2003

Sorgen, Carol Rev Up Your Metabolism , WebMD Features, 2003