Metabolism Help Please.

StayThirstyMan

Ok I'm not 19 anymore and my metabolism is slooooowww. What advice can you share about picking up the pace through food choices. I know activity is key but feel I need more strategies.

BoxerBrawler

When faced with unwanted weight, it’s easy to place the blame on your metabolism. However, it turns out that individuals have more control over their metabolism than previously thought. As mentioned above, body composition has a huge effect on how quickly someone’s body burns calories. One easy way to ramp up your metabolism is to build muscle through lifting weights. Alongside modifying your workout routine, there are several other ways to be sure you’re burning calories at a higher rate:

◾Sleep more. The amount of rest you get each night doesn’t only affect your mood and productivity the next day. Researchers have found that it also affects your metabolism. Sleep-deprived individuals have a decreased ability to manage blood sugar levels and also may find themselves hungrier (particularly for high carbohydrate foods). So, sleep more for a healthier metabolism. (Win, win!)

◾Gulp down some water. Ditch the sugary soft drinks. Researchers have found that consuming water may have a positive impact on how many calories you burn throughout the day. This is due to a process called thermogenesis wherein the body must burn calories to warm the water up to body temperature. Hydrating with water also saves calories over alternative beverages and plays a key role in helping to regulate whole-body metabolism (especially during exercise).

◾Don’t forget caffeine. Coffee lovers rejoice! It turns out that cup of java may give you more than just an energy boost midday. When researchers gave subjects coffee and then measured their caloric burn, they found that the caffeinated individuals burned more calories than their decaf-ordering counterparts.

◾Get enough protein. Dietary decisions (especially protein intake) have a profound impact on metabolism. Researchers examining the effect of dietary compositions on caloric burn have found that those taking in adequate levels of protein have a higher energy expenditure at rest.

DeguelloTex

One strategy would be to use some online BMR calculators with your current stats and then with your current stats except putting in 19 as your age. Then, when you see that the difference is maybe worth a couple of cookies a day, you can adjust your flawed perception of metabolism's being the problem.

scolaris

All good tips!

SezxyStef

I suspect it's normal....if you are packing on the pounds or can't seem to lose you are eating more than you think...

Yes it slows as we age but not by such a large factor that you will all of the sudden gain so much weight that you are left wondering wth...

Liftng4Lis

Your BMR drops a bit as you age, but not that much. It still comes down to CICO.

ninerbuff

Eat less. Move more. At your age, you eat much less than you did when you were 19.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Nuke_64

Your metabolism probably hasn't slowed down as much you think it has. I ran some numbers starting at 19, for a 5'10" male weighing 160 lbs. With no weekly exercise, to maintain the current body weight, below are the age and the calories required:

Age___Daily Calories

19______2186
29______2104
39______2022
49______1941
59______1859
69______1778


Food choices are not going to impact your metabolism. Adding muscle will help, but you have the wrong focus. If you want to lose fat, you need to eat less calories than you use,i.e. CICO.

Camo_xxx

Nuke_64 wrote: »

Your metabolism probably hasn't slowed down as much you think it has. I ran some numbers starting at 19, for a 5'10" male weighing 160 lbs. With no weekly exercise, to maintain the current body weight, below are the age and the calories required:

Age___Daily Calories

19______2186
29______2104
39______2022
49______1941
59______1859
69______1778


Food choices are not going to impact your metabolism. Adding muscle will help, but you have the wrong focus. If you want to lose fat, you need to eat less calories than you use,i.e. CICO.

Run the numbers again and this time specify the percentage of body fat instead of allowing the calculator to choose.

The reason online calculators show a lower calorie burn for older people when you keep the activety level and weigh the same is that they calculate less muscle and more body fat as you age.

Nuke_64

Camo_xxx wrote: »

Nuke_64 wrote: »

Your metabolism probably hasn't slowed down as much you think it has. I ran some numbers starting at 19, for a 5'10" male weighing 160 lbs. With no weekly exercise, to maintain the current body weight, below are the age and the calories required:

Age___Daily Calories

19______2186
29______2104
39______2022
49______1941
59______1859
69______1778


Food choices are not going to impact your metabolism. Adding muscle will help, but you have the wrong focus. If you want to lose fat, you need to eat less calories than you use,i.e. CICO.

Run the numbers again and this time specify the percentage of body fat instead of allowing the calculator to choose.

The reason online calculators show a lower calorie burn for older people when you keep the activety level and weigh the same is that they calculate less muscle and more body fat as you age.

So a 19 year old with 15% BF and 160 lbs has the same caloric requirement as a 59 year old with same weight and BF% if they have the same activity level? That makes sense because I guess in actuality we tend become less active as we age as we tire more easily. Thus, the lower need for calories is due to the lower activity level as we age.

Still, the point to the OP was, don't blame your metabolism.

Camo_xxx

Nuke_64 wrote: »

Camo_xxx wrote: »

Nuke_64 wrote: »

Your metabolism probably hasn't slowed down as much you think it has. I ran some numbers starting at 19, for a 5'10" male weighing 160 lbs. With no weekly exercise, to maintain the current body weight, below are the age and the calories required:

Age___Daily Calories

19______2186
29______2104
39______2022
49______1941
59______1859
69______1778


Food choices are not going to impact your metabolism. Adding muscle will help, but you have the wrong focus. If you want to lose fat, you need to eat less calories than you use,i.e. CICO.

Run the numbers again and this time specify the percentage of body fat instead of allowing the calculator to choose.

The reason online calculators show a lower calorie burn for older people when you keep the activety level and weigh the same is that they calculate less muscle and more body fat as you age.

So a 19 year old with 15% BF and 160 lbs has the same caloric requirement as a 59 year old with same weight and BF% if they have the same activity level? That makes sense because I guess in actuality we tend become less active as we age as we tire more easily. Thus, the lower need for calories is due to the lower activity level as we age.

Still, the point to the OP was, don't blame your metabolism.

My best research and experience indicates yes that is the case.

Obviously in the real world at 59 you are not likely to have the same BF% as the 19yo nor the desire to be as active. However being 50 and recently went from from a obese couch potato to a ripped 12% BF and riding my bike hundreds of miles per week I can tell you it is possible.


Moral of the story is, move more, eat less

DeguelloTex

And, really, you're not competing against the 19 year old you, anyway. Most likely, some of the (small) metabolic hit already took place when you (generic) got fat. At this point, you're just competing against the relatively recent you and the cost of that is probably less than a couple of cookies a day. Absent a medical condition, blaming metabolism is almost certainly a cop-out.

tayloralanj

@cushman5279 good points, especially the water and protein because those are two of my guiding principles,,,,,,,,,,the others involve muscle confusion (which I understand is an urban myth but it makes me feel good) and don't drink fruit juice thinking it's healthy.

Camo_xxx

As far as the OP needing more strategies ......

For me, I set a goal, the goal had a concrete non negotiable final completion date.
Then I broke that goal down by month and then weekly and finally daily targets.
The strategies I used to hit my D,W, M goals developed and varied during the 12 month process but the goal never wavered.

12 months later at exactly 7am it was time to measure the final result:
lost 90 lbs,
A 100 mile bike ride was a walk in the park
Doc had taken me off blood pressure and cholesterol Meds
Had a decent 4 pack of abs ( those last 2 are a *kitten* )

When I started I though I was just old and broken.... Turns out I was just fat.

cafeaulait7

Y'all correct me if this is off, but I'd say what we can do as we age is:

-- Add muscle, or don't lose any in the first place

-- HIIT is supposed to help daily metabolism more than steady-state cardio (recent studies, anyone?)

StayThirstyMan

Thanks for the insightful responses! Adding more muscle means an increase in weight but that's not the problem. The problem is burning fat off off the old frame. Will do and enjoy the results. Eventually the weight will be where I'd like it to be.

StayThirstyMan

What's best for your metabolism to start each day.

Exercise then eat....?
Eat then exercise?

ninerbuff

StayThirstyMan wrote: »

What's best for your metabolism to start each day.

Exercise then eat....?
Eat then exercise?

Doesn't matter. It's more preference than needed. Metabolism is consistent whether you eat before or not.
Don't fall for the "eat breakfast to kickstart your metabolism for the day". Once you get out of bed, it's kickstarted.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

StayThirstyMan

Good to know. Thanks for the response.