Many people have heard about metabolism and metabolic rate, yet they might not fully understand what this is. I was one of those until recently.

Some people choose to blame a sluggish metabolism for not being able to lose weight

The reality is that this is not entirely true.

Metabolism encompasses the chemical process that causes your body to obtain energy from food, keep your brain working, blood pumping and your lungs breathing. Your metabolic rate is the rate that your body burns calories while you are at rest.

Losing weight is about consuming fewer calories and burning calories. It is easy to see why it is important to have a healthy metabolic rate.

The best way to increase your metabolic rate is to exercise regularly

The more you exercise, the faster your metabolic rate will be. Your body comprises of two sections, a non fat section (muscle, tissues and bones) and a fat compartment. Your metabolic rate is linked to the non-fat compartment of your body.

Each pound of non-fat material burns about fourteen calories a day. If you weigh 150 pounds and 100 of these pounds is fat free, you will burn about 1400 calories while at rest. By increasing your exercise level, you will increase your metabolic rate and burn more calories at rest. Eventually, you could be burning as much as 2000 calories per day.

Another way to increase your metabolic rate is to increase muscle strength

By doing this you will increase the non-fat compartment of your body. Let’s assume your increase your lean muscle by 10 pounds, this will translate to an additional 140 calories burned at rest each day. Add this to the calories that you burn while exercising and this becomes rather meaningful.

Your metabolic rate does slow down as you age, however, this can be negated by increasing your exercise

Work on cardiovascular exercises and continue to build muscle, and you will still burn calories while at rest. The reason why some people burn calories faster than others is that they make better food choices. Low calorie foods help to keep the metabolic rate in check.

You do not have to rush out and start training to run the Comrades Marathon or win the Iron Man Challenge to increase your metabolic rate. Small changes such as going for a short walk a few times a week will already help. If you have a sedentary job, try to get up and walk around every half hour or so, these little changes will already get you burning more calories each day.

Watch Dr. Luigi’s video on how to boost your metabolism with herbal beverage.