I'm overweight because my metabolism is slow! But the truth about metabolism is miles away from excuses for extra pounds
For some people this may be an argument for some extra pounds - because it is hard to lose weight if the metabolism is slow. It has become quite common to talk about a slow or fast metabolism, but in practical terms it means only how many calories the body burns during the day. The basic premise for this reasoning, then, is that people with a slow metabolism do not expend as much energy to perform the same task as people whose metabolism is fast. But the question is whether metabolic rate can really vary enough to realistically affect body weight.
Everyone is certainly familiar with metabolism as a term from biology classes. It refers to the chemical reactions required to maintain vital functions in the body. The three main roles of metabolism are the conversion of food into energy, the breakdown of food into "building units" in terms of proteins, lipids, nucleic acids and some carbohydrates, and also the elimination of nitrogenous waste.
Universal basal metabolism
If you've ever focused on your metabolic rate, you've probably focused your attention on how much energy you take in from the foods (their energy value is measured in calories) you consume, and how much of that energy your body can use. At this point, however, it should be said that "caloric need" is definitely not a universal "value". It is true that a person needs a certain amount of calories for their body to function at all (i.e., in this case, to ensure basic functions at rest), but a different amount of calories is required based on the specific activities performed and the associated workload.
In the first case - i.e. providing the energy for the body to function at all - this is the so-called basal metabolism. This process cannot really be influenced in any way (and it is the basal metabolism that some refer to as fast or slow). However, the body's energy needs are of course higher - first of all, the body needs energy to process food efficiently, and secondly to be able to be physically active. And it is of course these two components that can be influenced. Yet fundamentally, the person who burns calories faster does not have a "fast metabolism", but simply has extra pounds. Because, of course, it is overweight people who need more energy not only to keep their bodies running, but also to maintain that weight in the first place.
Who has a "fast" metabolism?
So who can be said to have a "fast" metabolism (this refers to basal metabolism, of course)? First and foremost, men. They are more "muscular" and biologically their organs are bigger than women's, which means that they burn more energy. Better burning is then also common in young people (infants have the fastest metabolism due to the need to grow) and in people who have low body fat. But that's where the significant differences in metabolic processes end. That is, apart from minor (and as yet unexplained by science) inequalities that are probably related to genetics.
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What all influences metabolic rate
Metabolic rate and energy requirement is then very individual and varies from person to person. It depends on many different factors, some of which are simply immutable - these are just genetic predispositions, but also gender, age, body shape. The amount of physical activity performed also plays a role. In addition, metabolic processes can also be influenced by health conditions - especially the thyroid gland. The more thyroxine hormone it produces, the higher a person's basal metabolic rate will be. Interestingly enough, basal metabolism can also be accelerated by fever. It is true that for every 1 degree increase in a person's internal body temperature, basal metabolic rate increases by about 14%.
However, body composition cannot be ignored - for example, an overweight woman with 40% body fat and 75 kilos of muscle mass burns fewer calories at rest than a woman with 30% body fat and 110 kilos of muscle mass - because muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue. Incidentally, this is the reason why basal metabolic rate slows down with age - because as people age, they usually lose muscle mass and gain fat tissue. Thus, basal metabolism decreases by about 1-2% every 10 years.
How to "kick-start" the metabolism
Bragging about a slow metabolism has never helped anyone lose weight (not to mention that it must be clear to everyone by now that there is no such thing as a "slow metabolism"). But by losing weight, we definitely don't mean dieting! In fact, if calorie/energy intake is restricted, metabolism slows down. And in this case, a direct proportionality applies - the less one eats, the slower one's metabolism is.
On the other hand, it is a fact that metabolism can be helped by the choice of specific foods - for example, digesting proteins requires a relatively large amount of energy, whereas digesting fats requires virtually none. So increasing your protein intake is certainly a good start, but you still can't do without exercise. In fact, the easiest way to help your metabolism is to start working on building muscle mass and generally increasing physical activity. By increasing the amount of muscle mass, one will also increase the amount of calories needed to maintain muscle. So instead of complaining about a slow metabolism, just do something to make it "faster"...
