No two persons have the same metabolic rate, and it is perfectly normal. If you find it difficult to put on weight, you most likely have a fast metabolism. On the other hand, if you’re struggling to lose weight, it can mean that you digest food and burn calories at a much slower pace.
Prior to creating a weight loss plan, it is important to determine a person’s metabolic rate. Doing so can prevent unhealthy diets and exercise regimens that can do more harm than good. Weight loss plans that are not tailored to address specific concerns are bound to be difficult to follow. For instance, fasting and strict portion control can lead to starvation and a weakened body. Intense exercise routines can also cause torn muscles, ruptured tendons and irregular heart rates.
Fortunately, you can lose weight via healthy means by keeping an eye on the following factors:
Meal timing and frequency
A common misconception that plagues beginners is the misguided belief that whether you eat tons of food at once or space it throughout the day does not affect weight. On the contrary, meal patterns significantly affect metabolism.
According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who followed regular meal patterns had faster metabolic rates than those who followed no apparent meal patterns. What’s more, the people who had fast metabolic rates frequently ate small meals up to six times throughout the day.
Therefore, when you eat regularly, the body is able to process the food steadily. But when you eat erratically – such as skipping meals, snacking frequently or eating very late – the body loses its homeostatic balance and fails to properly digest the food and burn calories, a characteristic of low energy expenditure. Moreover, when you do not eat, the body’s metabolism slows down to conserve energy, which can negatively affect weight, cholesterol levels and insulin sensitivity.
Meal timing makes a difference, too. For instance, eating breakfast can jumpstart the body’s metabolic processes, leading to weight loss. Avoiding late dinners and midnight snacks can also have the same effect.
Meal composition
What happens if you change the ratio of the fats, proteins and carbohydrates that you consume, but not the total calorie count?
Recent studies have shown that low-fat diets simply do not work. The same can be said for low-carb diets. In fact, weight loss following a low-carb diet comes at a high price: poor health. Sources of carbohydrates provide fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals as well, so skimping on carbs deprives the body of important nutrients. Low-carb diets also give you constipation, bad breath, hemorrhoids, headaches, and even muscle weakness and pain.
That leaves the question of protein. What happens when you consume more lean sources of protein, such as nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains, eggs and fatty fish?
High amounts of protein can greatly enhance metabolism. So at the end of the day, you burn more calories than you store when you eat more protein.
For example, a study published in the International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders showed that people who got 36 percent of their daily calories from protein burned 71 more calories a day than those who ate low-protein diets.
Moreover, quality protein consumption allows you to lose weight along the hips and belly. A higher protein diet can help you lower your waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio and intra-abdominal adipose tissue, otherwise known as belly fat.
On the other hand, plant compounds like antioxidants also significantly affect metabolism. For instance, a popular weight-loss beverage like green tea contains compounds known as catechins that have demonstrated metabolism-boosting activities.
But green tea owes much of its weight loss abilities to the catechin known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), an antioxidant that greatly stimulates metabolism. Catechins also combat free radicals and eliminate unhealthy fats.
