When working to cut down a few pounds, it helps to understand how your metabolism system works.
Basically, metabolism refers to the chemical processes that occur in the body to maintain organism and cells through nutrients. These reactions include those that break down food nutrients and those that repair the body.
Building the body requires energy from the food you eat. So, the amount of energy your body uses depends on your metabolism rate.
This means that if you eat and drink more than your body needs, the surplus is stored as fat in the body. Without exercising, this leads to increase in pounds.
As such, it helps to understand how metabolism works before you start a workout plan.
Types of Metabolism
There are usually two types of metabolism that take place in the cell.
1. Catabolic Reaction (Catabolism)
This is essentially an exergonic reaction. This means large molecules are broken down into smaller ones during the reaction. Typically, food is usually broken down into their simpler forms.
In their smaller size, they can be easily used to create energy and provide the building blocks for body growth and repair.
In this reaction, there are also two processes that occur:
- Hydrolysis: This is simply the reaction by which the breakdown of food is done. It’s simply the reverse of a dehydration reaction.
- Oxidation: In this reaction, all electrons and hydrogens are removed from organic molecules.
2. Anabolic Reaction (Anabolism)
Anabolism is an endergonic process, which uses energy. In this reaction, small molecules join to make large complex molecules. For example, when sugars come together to form glycogen, it occurs due to an anabolic reaction.
In this case, when you eat more than the body needs for daily anabolism, the excess nutrients are stored as fat.
Understanding Your Metabolic Rate
Your metabolic rate is typically the rate at which your body burns calories. Through the burning of calories, your body gets the necessary energy for involuntary activities, internal organs, and the nervous system.
One thing you must understand is that the rate of metabolism varies by each individual. Your rate can be affected by several factors, including:
1. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
This is the minimal amount of energy your body uses during rest. Your body needs this energy to maintain homeostasis.
Your BMR is defined by your total lean mass, which usually requires a lot of energy. This means that if your lean mass reduces, your BMR will reduce, too.
The basal metabolic rate is important to your total energy consumption. As such, it’s advisable to preserve or increase through physical exercises when trying to cut a few pounds. Adequate lean mass gives you the strength you need to workout daily and minimizes your risk for injuries while training.
Men and women have different daily BMR, which is usually continuous but varies throughout the day. For example, the BMR is usually low early in the morning.
2. Physical Activities
Your hourly energy consumption increases when you engage in physical exercises. For example, the muscles can burn up to 3,000k kJ per hour during intense exertion. The amount of energy you use during exercises can be controlled.
Factors that tend to affect your overall energy consumption include age, body size, the amount of lean muscle, gender, drugs, and infections.
3. Food You Eat
The basal metabolic rate also increases after eating. This is because you need energy for eating, digestion, and metabolism. Your BMR usually rises soon after you have started eating.
The activity rate of your metabolic system will depend on the type and size of the food you’re eating. For example, proteins can cause the BRM to rise by 20 to 30 percent while fats raise it by 0 to 5 percent.
Metabolic System Regulation
Your body has a hormonal system that controls your metabolism. There are several hormones involved in regulating blood sugar level and carbohydrate metabolism. They include:
- Insulin – This hormone is produced in the pancreas by the Islets of Langerhans and works by lowering blood sugar level.
- Natural growth hormone – The pituitary gland produces this hormone. It works by stimulating reactions that increase blood sugar level. This helps to slow the uptake of glucose by tissue cells.
- Glucagon – Glucagon is also made in the pancreas, and it increases blood sugar level
These hormones are also involved in controlling proteins and fats in the body.
Metabolism and Weight Gain
For older people, you must understand that you can’t grow taller anymore. Instead, you can only experience weight gain.
Also, people with more muscle usually use more energy. This is not the case with older people because they tend to experience muscle loss. Thus, they have no enough lean muscle mass to use as much energy as possible. The unused energy is stored as fat. Over time, this is what leads to weight gain.
At this point, you need to start thinking about eating less of certain foods. Typically, eating less helps to reduce your anabolic reactions. They, you’ll want to make time for regular exercises to speed up the catabolic reactions. This will help to speed up the burning of fats and carbs.
The idea here is to maintain the right balance between anabolic and catabolic reactions to maintain your weight.
Observing your dieting is important because your body cells require nutrients to maintain your BMR. Ensure to watch your fat, carbohydrates, and proteins when planning your meals. These are the main dietary components that affect your metabolism rate.
The Bottom Line
When working to lose weight, it’s important to understand the functioning of your metabolic system. Before starting your weight loss program, bear in mind that your sex, age, and weight are important factors.
You’ll also need a diet plan that suits your exercise plan. This will ensure that you have the right amount of energy for certain exercises. Vitamins, such as vitamin A, niacin, B2, and pantothenic acid, are also essential in metabolism.
Plus, you also need to find the right doctor to help you through your weight loss program. Working with the right doctor will help you to avoid common mistakes that make people fail in weight loss.