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A faster metabolism is the most precious commodity when it comes to exercise and body shape. Now there is wisdom about how we can kick our metabolisms into high gear to be healthier, more shapely, and lose weight. Shape’s got the scoop on what’s proven to help you get your best body through winter and beyond. The latest research shows three fundamental principles that are key to improving your physique:
1) Do cardio beyond your comfort zone. Adding intense bursts as well as longer, more moderate sessions will help you burn extra kilojoules during every workout and possibly even increase your fatburning potential.
2) Focus on getting enough protein and eating at regular intervals to prompt your body to incinerate those kilojoules instead of storing them.
3) Lift heavier weights and use moves that work several muscle groups at once, so you increase your lean tissue. Once you see how great you look — leaner, firmer and sexier than you ever thought possible — you’ll finally understand the real power of the “m” word and how you can use it to bag the body you’ve always wanted.
HOW DOES MY METABOLISM WORK?
Metabolism refers to the cellular processes that convert the food you eat into energy you need to get through your day, no matter what you’re doing. When you’re lying on the couch, your metabolism is idling. When you’re jabbing in kickboxing class, it’s in overdrive (which is where we like it to be much of the time).
Your resting metabolism is the energy it takes simply to sustain your basic bodily functions. It accounts for 60-75% of your total daily kilojoule burn and depends on several factors, including your build, weight, genetics, hormone levels and muscle mass. Your activity level accounts for 15-30% of your daily kilojoule burn and it’s the one component that is within your control. The longer and harder you exercise, the greater the metabolic boost. Finally, the energy it takes to eat and digest meals contributes 10% to your total daily kJ burn.
FIND YOUR NUMBER
While it’s not healthy to obsess about every kilojoule, it may be useful to work out roughly how many you’re burning. For an estimate, enter your height, weight and age at www.caloriesperhour.com Some gym machines also give you a basic guide to how many you’re burning.
THE PLAN
> Drink green tea. A 1999 study of 10 men found that consuming high doses of green tea extract burnt about 330kJ. However, two recent studies, found no weightloss benefit to green tea.
> Eat six small meals a day, not three large ones. The theory goes that the more often you eat, the more kJ your body has to expend digesting food. But the research suggests that any advantage from that is negligible. Nevertheless, eating small, frequent meals works as a weight-control strategy for many people, by keeping blood sugar on an even keel and helping control hunger.
> Eat at the same time every day. While eating small portions throughout the day may not help much, there is good reason to eat those meals on a regular schedule: animals that were put on predictable diets, so they could anticipate when they were going to eat, experienced hormonal changes that helped them better process and burn the kJ they consumed. Animals that didn’t know when the next meal was coming were more likely to store kJ as fat.
> Drink more water. In a small German study, subjects who drank 500ml of water at a time experienced a 30% increase in metabolic rate in the hour afterward, burning an extra 100kJ. The researchers recommended cool water because the body expends extra kilojoules warming it to body temperature.
> Lifting the heaviest weights you can — safely, and with good form — making sure you’re working several muscle groups at once and changing up your exercises regularly, will help you tone up faster. And adding lean muscle is the only way to rev your resting metabolism (every 500g of muscle you put on burns about 42 extra kilojoules a day).
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