How Our Metabolism Works

Metabolisms and the metabolic breakdown process is probably one of the most misunderstood elements of the human body today. Simply signing into Instagram or Facebook for just a few minutes will show you how people associate metabolisms with their bodily processes, and equate it with how they look, feel, and act every day.

The truth of the matter is that your metabolism is part of the delicate ecosystem that exists in your body. It’s a process that is critical for your survival, and unfortunately, many people seem to misunderstand how it contributes to weight gain, fitness development, and energy levels.

The Metabolic Process

There are a lot of metabolic misconceptions floating around right now. Your metabolism is not one fixed part of you. It is a process. Metabolism is the way our cells convert the food we eat into energy, which therefore contributes to breathing, organ function, movement, thinking, and so forth. Our metabolism is what keeps us alive, keeps us breathing, and keeps us moving forward.

Unfortunately, due to bodily stigmas, social media, and the media today, we tend to “blame” our metabolisms instead of being grateful for their life-sustaining services. To some degree, genetics play a minor role in the speed at which metabolisms hum along in individuals. However, we are majorly in control of how we stimulate and maintain our metabolic breakdown process, and it starts with nutrition and exercise. By withholding food (counting calories) from the metabolism, we are actually slowing it in the process.

Metabolic Fitness

The mainstream media lied to you. Starving yourself won’t give you the body you want. It will make you weak and tired instead. Our metabolisms are like thermometers – they aren’t calculators. You can’t determine a fixed amount of calories and expect that to affect your metabolism. It needs to be engaged instead.

To kick-start metabolic fitness, you need to focus on your heart rate. The higher you spike your heart rate during exercise, the harder your metabolism has to work.

Some great exercises to get your metabolism moving include:

And the list goes on. The higher you spike your heart rate, the harder you breathe, the quicker you sweat, and the harder your metabolism works.

Metabolic Nutrition

Believe it or not, counting calories is NOT the answer! Contrary to what you see in the media, you can have the body and health you want by putting down the calorie counter. If you starve yourself, you will actually SLOW down your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) as it dives into damage control mode.

Instead, you should be eating healthy, whole foods like:

And so forth. These foods will provide your BMR with the energy and stamina it needs to keep humming along at full speed.

The Media Lied To You

Do you want to lose weight, get in shape, and feel good about your body? Then stop listening to the media, stop counting calories, and start feeding your body the proteins, vitamins, and minerals it needs to speed up its metabolism. Eat in moderation, minimize sugar in-take, and be sure to always feed your body when it’s hungry.

It’s a much happier, more realistic picture than the one you’ve seen on Instagram.