FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO LOW METABOLISM - Part I

Metabolism is the process by which our body converts what we eat and drink into energy. Even when you are at rest, your body needs energy in order to keep you breathing, to keep your blood pumping, to digest your food, to keep your brain firing, and a host of other functions.

According to Dr. Jason Fung, a kidney specialist and world leader on weight loss and obesity, there are numerous complex and interacting hormonal systems that tell our body when we are hungry and when we are not. Hormones like leptin, ghrelin, and several others are assigned the task of controlling our hunger and satisfaction.

Body chemistry plays a role in the rate of our metabolism, and quite a few factors are involved in determining what our metabolism looks like. This is why not everyone loses weight at the same pace.

Here are some of the factors that affect your metabolism.

Number one, which we all can wrap our head around, is age. As we age, our metabolism naturally slows down. In fact, after age 30, our resting metabolic rate starts to decrease by 1-2% a year. This is one reason why we gain more weight as we age.

The second issue that impacts our metabolism involves a decrease in muscle mass. Body fat increases as we age, and muscle burns energy at a higher rate than fat. So, generally speaking, the more muscle we have, the higher our metabolic rate. But that isn’t always true. For instance, someone may have a high muscle mass, because their body adjusted this way as a result of carrying extra weight in the form of fat, but their metabolism is low.

Thirdly, our gender can make a big difference in our metabolism. Because men have a lower body fat percentage and higher muscle mass than women of the same age, they can lose weight faster than women. Men produce roughly 90% more testosterone than women. Testosterone is a sex hormone that helps increase muscle mass and decrease fat mass.

The fourth reason for lower metabolism involves hormonal imbalance. Everyone’s sex hormones decline with age. For women, a lack of estrogen - and for both men and women – a decrease of testosterone can change our muscle to fat ratio. On the other hand, it’s also a problem if we lose muscle below our acceptable range. It’s a balance.

The fifth reason for low metabolism is poor nutrition, low-calorie or crash diets and skipping meals. If you aren’t eating properly by getting in a balance of proteins, vegetables, fruit and fat, you can be creating a deficit of micronutrients that affect your rate of metabolism.

We will look at five other factors that affect your metabolism next week. Bottom line, you have to understand that, if you are not losing as much as you would like as quickly as you would like, there are many factors at play. You don’t have to like it, but there are good reasons for it. If we don’t make peace with the reality of this, things will never change, and we will just remain frustrated.