Your metabolic rate or metabolism refers to the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions that occur within living organisms. Although It’s rarely the sole cause of weight gain or loss it is a significant factor.
If your body uses more calories than you take in, you’ll lose weight. Your metabolism controls the conversion of food into energy for vital tasks such as breathing, circulating blood, building and repairing cells, digesting food, and eliminating waste, as well as for moving and thinking.
What is metabolic rate?
Your metabolic rate is the minimum amount of energy an individual uses being alive. This is measured as the number of calories that the body uses in a day – basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR accounts for 60-80 per cent of our total energy expenditure in a day and includes vital functions like breathing, sleeping and blood circulation.
For most of us, physical activity accounts for 15-30 per cent of our daily energy expenditure and a small percentage of energy is used extracting energy from food.
Fast and slow metabolism
While other factors can come into play, it’s true that some people just have a naturally fast metabolism which means they burn calories quicker and don’t gain weight.
A slow metabolism burns fewer calories, which means more are stored as fat in the body; that’s why some people have difficulty losing weight by just cutting calories.
What affects our metabolic rate?
Here are the main factors that influence our metabolic rate:
- Genetics.
- Muscle mass: muscles are more metabolically active, needing energy to contract and relax, and to repair themselves against daily wear and tear. The more muscle a person has, the higher their BMR.
- Body size: people with larger bodies have faster metabolisms because larger bodies have more cells.
- Age: as we age, we lose muscle mass which gently slows the metabolic rate.
- Gender: men tend to have more muscle mass than women, so they burn more calories.
- Hormone disorders: such as Cushing’s syndrome and hypothyroidism can slow your metabolism, as can changes to hormone levels during menopause.
At approximately 60 years old, metabolism starts to slow down, and as people get older, they begin to lose muscle mass which also slows metabolism.
Also, men tend to have a faster metabolic rate than women. However, women tend to consume fewer calories per kilogram of lean body mass and burn fat more preferentially during exercise than men.
What speeds up metabolism?
There are factors we can’t control such as genetics and sex but metabolism can be influenced by diet and exercise.
Diet to boost metabolism
Your diet can increase metabolic rate:
- Protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs, milk and cottage cheese temporarily boost metabolism by roughly 15-30 per cent as they require more energy to digest.
- Caffeine in coffee and tea.
- Spices such as chilli, turmeric and ginger may boost metabolism by slightly increasing the rate at which your body burns calories.
- Water and maintaining hydration has been seen to increase metabolism, in one study drinking 500ml of water increased metabolism by as much as 30%.
- Avoid ultra processed foods (UPFs), these contain high levels of fat, sugar, salt and additives and are linked with a higher chance of obesity.
- Support your gut health – Having a varied diet will support a diverse gut microbiome.
Exercise and lifestyle to boost metabolism
Exercise and lifestyle affects metabolic rate:
- Strength training, specifically resistance training increases resting metabolic rate.
- High-intensity interval training (HIIT) may increase metabolic rate and help you burn more calories.
- Getting adequate sleep may help with metabolic control. This may help you produce a hormone which helps build muscle and burn fat.
There is not one quick fix or metabolism booster that is going to significantly increase the amount of calories you burn. Instead, focus on maintaining muscle mass, choosing the right types of foods and paying attention to basics, such as drinking plenty of water and getting restful sleep.
Further reading
10 ways to speed up your metabolism
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