Metabolism and Weight Loss: What’s the Connection?

Your metabolism will determine how your body processes and uses the food you eat to make and burn energy. This can also impact whether you gain or lose weight. It can also have an effect on how fast you lose weight.

A slow metabolism can impact your ability to get fit and lose weight without you knowing it. A slow metabolism can lead you to believe that you aren’t working out hard enough, or your workouts aren’t delivering the benefits you thought you could get.

Here are some of the common signs of a slow metabolism:

• Continual fatigue – slow metabolism can leave you feeling tired all the time, even when you have had a good night’s sleep.
• Continuous headache – slow metabolism can cause frequent headaches, including severe migraines, and sudden onsets of pain. This is related to malfunctioning thyroid glands.
• Weight gain – slow metabolism can lead to weight gain for no obvious reason, this is most likely related to hypothyroidism. Weight gain can happen even when you eat right and exercise when you have a slow metabolism.
• Constipation – slow metabolism slows the processing of food for energy, which results in constipation.
• Depression – slow metabolism affects your gut and can have an impact on your mind and your mood.
• Dry skin, thin hair, and brittle nails – people with a slow metabolism tend to have low thyroid hormone levels which cause issues with the skin, hair, and nails.

There are a few easy and effective ways to improve your metabolism. Many of these involve making some simple changes to diet and lifestyle. Here are nine things you can do to increase your metabolism:

• Eat plenty of good protein. This increases your metabolism for a few hours.
• Drink more water. This keeps you hydrated and decreases your cravings for sugary drinks that can add calories and water can increase metabolism as well.
• Do a high-intensity workout. This not only burns calories but also increases oxygen levels which makes the metabolic functions work better.
• Build muscle. More muscle mass increases the basal metabolic rate.
• Stand more. This increases your activity level.
• Drink teas, like oolong and green tea. These have been shown to have a positive impact on metabolism.
• Eat spicy foods. Spicy foods contain capsaicin which is shown to increase metabolism.
• Get good sleep. Good sleep gives you more energy, more energy increases movement and metabolism.
• Drink black coffee. This gives a temporary boost to the metabolism.

Metabolism may be the most discussed factor in relation to losing weight. Most people who are leaner are thought to have a higher metabolism. Faster metabolism increases the number of calories burned.

When you burn more calories than you eat, you lose weight. Faster metabolism makes that process work better and more effectively.

Integral Med can help you understand how your metabolism works and how it can be increased. We can help you lose and manage your weight so that you can have a healthier and better quality of life. Call us and we will be glad to help you achieve your goals. We serve patients from Elmhurst IL, Westchester IL, Addison IL, Carol Stream IL, Franklin Park IL, Berwyn IL, Bloomingdale IL, and nearby areas!