Fight Your Slowing Metabolism as You Age

Many women face the unfortunate fact that, as they age, their metabolism slows down. If you are starting to notice you are steadily gaining weight but your diet and exercise level has not changed, you may already be experiencing a slowing metabolism. Fortunately, you do not have to be complacent and simply accept weight gain as you age. There are a number of ways you can help rev up your waning metabolism and lose excess weight or keep your weight under control. This article will explain what metabolism is and offer some excellent ideas for improving your metabolism to help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Understanding Metabolism

Before you can improve your metabolism, you must understand the definition of metabolism. The most basic definition of metabolism is all of the chemical and physical processes that occur within the body and that are necessary to sustain life. This may leave you wondering how this can relate to weight loss. The link between weight loss and metabolism is that these chemical and physical processes require energy; calories are units of energy. As these systematic actions take place, the body burns energy in the form of calories. These actions may include the functions of the brain, liver, digestive tract, muscles, lungs, and all of the other organs in the body.

The basal metabolic rate is essentially the amount of calories your body would require if all you did was lie still and breathe. Additional calories are required for activities such as eating, walking, digesting, sitting upright or participating in any physical activities. Obviously the number of additional calories required is higher for those who live active lives than it is for those who live sedentary lives.

Two women may both ride a stationary bike for 45 minutes each day, but if one woman crunches numbers at a computer all day and the other woman walks a neighborhood route delivering mail, the calories they both require will likely be quite different. Other factors such as weight and muscle mass also factor into each person's caloric needs. A larger woman would require more calories to sustain her weight than a smaller woman. Likewise, a woman who has more muscle mass will also require more calories than a woman who weighs the same but who does not have as much muscle mass.

Improving your Metabolism with Diet Changes
-----------------------------------------------

If you are considering making some dietary changes to improve your metabolism, it is critical you first consult your doctor. This is important because your doctor can not only help you establish attainable goals but can also evaluate your current health and determine if is safe for you to make diet and exercise changes. We have already briefly touched on some of the ways metabolism can be affected, but we will discuss them in greater detail in this section.

One way to improve metabolism is to divide your total number of required calories into six mini meals spread throughout the day rather than the traditional three large meals. Since digestion requires calories, if you are only eating three meals a day, you are only able to enjoy the benefit of burning calories as a result of digestion three times a day. Dividing each of your three meals into two smaller meals allows you to burn the calories associated with beginning the digestive process six times a day. It also allows for better usage of your nutrients since your body can only absorb and utilize a small amount of nutrients at each meal. When you consume too many nutrients in one sitting, those nutrients are either converted to glucose and stored or excreted without providing benefits to the body.

One common misconception regarding weight loss is that there are foods that burn fat better than others; this is simply not true. According to the National Institutes of Health, "No foods can burn fat. Some foods with caffeine may speed up metabolism (the way your body uses energy) for a short time, but they do not cause weight loss." However, careful food selection can contribute to an increased daily caloric expenditure. Choosing whole grains and fiber-rich foods can cause you to require more energy for digestion. Refined foods such as white breads and pasta are fairly easy to digest and do not require as much energy as whole grain breads and vegetables.

Improving your Metabolism with Exercise Changes
---------------------------------------------------

Exercise, including both cardiovascular exercise and resistance training, can also have a positive impact on metabolism. When performing high intensity cardiovascular exercises, you are burning calories. Regular exercise can keep your need for calories higher and will help to improve your metabolism. Not only do you burn calories while you are exercising, but you also enjoy an additional expenditure of calories as your body cools down from an exercise session.

Resistance training can help to boost your metabolism in a couple of ways. The movements performed in resistance training require calories for your body to move and lift the weights. Additionally, weight training can help increase muscle mass. Muscles require more calories than fat, so increasing the amount of muscle automatically increases the amount of calories your body requires, even at rest.

Improving Your Metabolism with Herbal Supplements

The use of herbal supplements can also have an impact on metabolism. Products such as Meltorin tout their ability to improve metabolism, suppress appetite and control cravings by regulating insulin levels. More information can be found on this subject at: www.Meltorin.com. The information provided on the web site can help you determine if this type of product is right for you.

Learn to Control Stress and Lose Weight

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognizes the profound impact stress can have on the body. They published a perspective on stress written by Harrison Wein, Ph.D. which states, "For thousands of years, people believed that stress made you sick. Up until the nineteenth century, the idea that passions and emotions were intimately linked to disease held sway, and people were told by their doctors to go to spas or seaside resorts when they were ill. Gradually, these ideas lost favor as more concrete causes and cures were found for illness after illness. But in the last decade, scientists like Dr. Esther Sternberg, Director of the Integrative Neural Immune Program at NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), have been rediscovering the links between the brain and the immune system." While this statement is intended to demonstrate the link between stress and the function of the immune system, it can also be applied to obesity which is now considered to be a disease-and which is also often linked to stress.

The correlation between stress and weight loss can be difficult to understand, but this article will serve to simplify the effects of stress on the body and offer you advice on how you can control stress to help achieve your weight loss goals. You may be aware of how stress affects you on a regular basis but may not fully understand how this stress is affecting your weight. If you feel as though you are suffering from chronic stress that is affecting your health or your weight, contact your doctor to discuss your situation and to determine precisely how stress is affecting you and how you can reduce the stress in your life.

How Stress Affects the Body

Have you ever eaten an entire bag of potato chips while working late at night on a presentation due the next day? If you have, you are certainly not alone since many women overeat when they are stressed. They often eat while working and are barely even aware of the number of calories they are consuming. This type of reaction may be a result of how stress affects the body.

One of the effects of stress that is most significant to weight gain is the release of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is released in stressful situations to provide the body with the energy it needs for a fight or flight response. It can provoke a burst of energy, a decreased sensitivity to pain, and increased memory function. All of these attributes can be helpful in a case of acute stress. However, in cases of chronic stress, this hormone is secreted regularly and can begin to cause physical problems that can contribute to weight gain or to an inability to lose weight. Some of these problems may include decreased thyroid function, imbalances in blood sugar levels, decreased muscle mass, and even the inability to sleep.

Methods of Controlling Stress

While the affects of stress and specifically the affects of cortisol may seem daunting, it is worthwhile to note there are methods of controlling stress that can help prevent weight gain or the inability to lose weight that is typical of increased cortisol levels. The link between the brain function and body issues is supported by the stress related perspective issued by the NIH in the following statement, "A growing number of studies show that, to some degree, you can use your mind to help treat your body. Support groups, stress relief, and meditation may, by altering stress hormone levels, all help the immune system. For example, women in support groups for their breast cancer have longer life spans than women without such psychological support." This statement demonstrates how controlling stress can help support physical goals.

Stress can be characterized as either acute or chronic. Acute stress is stress that results in a scary situation such as an attack on your life by an animal or human attacker. Avoiding and managing this type of stress is not always possible, but chronic stress can be managed. Lifestyle elements such as family, work, and financial situations often contribute to chronic stress. In some cases, the stressors can be completely eliminated by changing the situation. For example, a job that causes chronic stress with frequent, difficult deadlines can be resolved by changing jobs. However, stress that cannot be eliminated should be managed with other methods. Some popular stress management techniques include exercise, meditation, keeping a journal, and even breathing exercises. Other activities such as reading a book or listening to music can also help alleviate stress.

Can Supplements Help?

There are many weight loss products on the market today that claim to reduce stress or help you to lose weight. If you suspect the stress in your life is contributing to your weight issues, you may wish to try a product such as Meltorin to help reduce the effects of stress. You can learn more about Meltorin and how it can help you at: www.Meltorin.com. Meltorin can be especially helpful for women who suffer from fluctuating insulin levels as a result of stress. In addition to trying to mitigate the stress in your life and seeking out helpful herbal supplements, you should also consult your doctor before beginning to take any supplements for the purpose of weight loss.

Heavier Weight Sometimes Equals Smaller Jeans

Heavier Weight Sometimes Equals Smaller Jeans

Many women don't understand how weighing less doesn't always equal a fitter body. Muscle mass is more dense than fat tissue. This means two women of the same height, weight, skeletal structure, and body type may look drastically different. The woman who carries more muscles mass on her body will likely look as though she weighs significantly less. This is because the muscle she carries on her body is approximately 20% more dense than fat. This means that the woman whose body is comprised of more muscle will look more slender than another woman who weighs the same but who has less muscle mass.

This article will provide information on evaluating your fitness level without relying on your weight as the predominant form of feedback. However, we must stress that before you begin any fitness program, you should consult your doctor to ensure your intended fitness program is healthy for you in your current state of fitness.

Throw the Scale Away

Weight can certainly be an excellent source of feedback for fitness levels and physical health, but it should not be the only way you evaluate your health. This is because sometimes a woman does not necessarily need to lose weight as much as she needs to shrink fat cells and increase muscle mass. These changes can improve your body fat percentage and may result in a healthier body even if you weigh more than you did before you began your weight loss journey.

Stepping on a scale during a weight loss program and seeing an increase in weight can be detrimental if the source of the increased weight is not carefully evaluated. Have you ever been excited to weigh yourself after a week of dieting because you think you are already seeing results, only to be disappointed by an increase in weight or no weight loss at all? This happens to a lot of women and can be discouraging for women who are not aware of other ways to evaluate their fitness program. Body measurements are one excellent way to evaluate progress. Take measurements in a variety of locations: chest, waist, hips, thigh, calf, bicep, and forearm. You can add additional measurements for any other location you prefer. A decrease in these measurements indicates the program is working even if the scale is not showing an overall weight loss just yet.

You can also buy a pair of jeans a size or two smaller than your current size to evaluate your fitness program. Try on these jeans each week and note how well they fit. You should notice some improvement each week and can reward yourself with a new pair of shoes when you can finally fit into these jeans. Although you are now a size or two smaller, your weight may not have decreased noticeably. This is perfectly understandable especially if you have added muscle mass to your frame.

How Do I Gain Muscle Mass?

Now that you understand that you shouldn't base your fitness level on the amount of muscle mass you have, you need to know how you can achieve greater muscle mass. Muscle mass is gained through resistance training. This includes activities such as lifting weights and working out with resistance bands. The key to gaining muscle mass is to work each body part to the point of exhaustion. This means the weight you are lifting should be sufficient to cause the last few reps of each set to be taxing. This will likely result in muscle soreness the following day, but this soreness is a good sign the muscles were worked sufficiently in your training. Increasing muscle mass has a few added benefits that include a more attractive appearance and an increased metabolism. Increased metabolism is significant because it can contribute to weight loss.

Try starting an exercise program where you work your biceps, triceps and shoulders on Monday, your legs and abdominals on Wednesdays, and your back and chest on Fridays. This will ensure adequate rest for each body part. As part of each routine, you should do 2-3 exercises for each body part. On the first week of your program, you should select a weight you can lift for 10-12 reps; during the second week, select a weight you can lift for 8-10 reps, and during the third week, select a weight you can lift for 6-8 reps. On the fourth week, select a weight slightly higher than in the first week and attempt to complete 10-12 reps. Continue the pattern of increasing the weight and decreasing the number of reps for the next two weeks, and then return to the higher rep level of the first week and again try to increase the weight slightly.

Taking Supplements to Improve Your Health

Increasing muscle mass is an important part of a fitness program, but the other factor in the equation is decreasing the size of fat cells. This can be accomplished by burning more calories than you are consuming. Lifting weights will help increase your metabolism and make your body burn more calories, but you can exacerbate this effect by taking herbal supplements such as Meltorin which will help suppress your appetite and increase your metabolism. To learn more about Meltorin, visit their website at: www.Meltorin.com and consult your doctor to determine if this type of supplement is right for you. However, as with any supplement, it is important to note these products are meant to be used as part of a healthy program of proper nutrition and adequate exercise. The Food and Drug Administration echoes this sentiment by stating, "Any claims that you can lose weight effortlessly are false. The only proven way to lose weight is either to reduce the number of calories you eat or to increase the number of calories you burn off through exercise. Most experts recommend a combination of both."

Find the Right Weight Loss Program for You

The National Institute of Health understands the increasing problem of obesity in America and has created the Weight-control Information Network to increase public awareness of the weight control options available. They have issued a fact sheet to help individuals select an appropriate weight loss program because they understand, "Choosing a weight loss program may be a difficult task. You may not know what to look for in a weight loss program or what questions to ask." We also understand the struggle many women like you face on a daily basis, and we have simplified the information you need to select the right weight loss program in this article.

Visit Your Doctor

Visit your doctor before starting any weight loss program or implementing any significant dietary changes. Your doctor can evaluate your current fitness level and determine if you are healthy enough to begin exercising regularly. If your health is poor, your doctor can recommend starting your exercise regimen slowly with walking and then incorporating more strenuous forms of exercise once your fitness level improves.

Most women are aware they should visit a doctor to ensure they are fit enough to begin an exercise program but do not realize their doctor can also assist them in their quest for the right diet program. One of the most important ways a doctor can help you is by evaluating your current weight and body composition and determining how much weight you need to lose. Your doctor can help you to set a long-term weight goal and incremental goals to keep you motivated throughout your weight loss journey.

Rule Out Health Issues before Starting Your Weight Loss Plan

You should also visit your doctor before embarking on a weight loss program to ensure the excess weight you are carrying is not caused by a medical condition such as hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism results in a deficiency in the thyroid hormone that may result in a slow metabolism. Correcting this condition can return the metabolism to its normal function and can help to make weight loss easier.

In the event that a medical condition is the cause of excess weight, the use of chemical substances to return the hormonal balance may be necessary. You can discuss your options with your doctor and you may want to look into the herbal supplement Meltorin. This supplement can help you lose weight and control your appetite during your weight loss endeavor. You can read more information about Meltorin at: www.Meltorin.com. Herbal formulas such as this can be extremely helpful when other weight loss methods have been less successful.

Questions to Ask when Searching for a Weight Loss Program

The fact sheet issued by the National Institute of Health contains an excellent list of questions to ask yourself to determine which weight loss program is right for you. Use this list of questions when discussing weight loss programs with facilitators of different weight loss programs:

* Is one-on-one counseling or group counseling a part of the program?
* Is it necessary to keep a food diary or to purchase foods from the program?
* Are supplements included in the program?
* Is there a specific exercise regimen associated with the program?
* Does the program teach you to live in a healthier manner, including proper diet and adequate exercise?

* Are there accommodations for cultural or ethical beliefs such as religious influences on dietary restrictions or avoidance of meat products for moral reasons?
* What qualifications and certifications do staff members have?
* Does a doctor oversee the participants or was a doctor consulted in formulating the program?
* What fees are associated with the program?
* What are the typical results of the program?

The above list of questions is an excellent start for selecting a weight loss program. Before consulting with a representative from a specific weight loss program, you should carefully evaluate your preferred answers to the above questions to determine which weight loss programs most closely match your ideals.

Boost Your Metabolism and Lose Weight in Your Sleep after the Birth of Your Baby

By the Vteam, Kamau Austin Publisher

New moms often complain about how difficult it is to lose the weight they gained during their pregnancy. If you are one of these moms struggling to lose the excess weight, learning more about boosting your metabolism can be the answer to your weight loss problems. An increased metabolism helps you to burn more calories all day long-even while you sleep. This increased calorie need, combined with a healthy diet low in calories and saturated fats, can put you on the path to weight loss success.

While changes to metabolism can help a woman shed excess weight, increasing your metabolism alone will not likely have the desired effect. According to a recent article published on the Mayo Clinic web site, "To lose weight, then, you need to create an energy deficit by eating fewer calories, increasing the number of calories you burn through physical activity, or preferably both."

Weight Lifting Increases Your Metabolism

Many women shy away from the weight room because of the inaccurate belief that weight lifting will cause them to add bulky and unsightly muscle mass; most women do not want to create the hulking physiques sported by body building competitors. However, it is simply not true. To achieve these types of results, women would have to consume large amounts of protein and spend hours each day lifting weights. It is almost impossible to build that type of muscle by accident.

However, with a carefully constructed weight lifting routine, you can add enough muscle mass to your frame to increase your metabolism and help you burn excess fat. Muscle requires the body to use more calories than fat or other tissue matter requires. Simply stated, this means the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn each day. Muscles require calories at all time-even while you sleep.

Eat More…Often

Another way you can boost your metabolism is to divide your regular calorie consumption into six small meals instead of three large meals. If you are already following a diet with a reasonable number of calories but are consuming these calories in only three meals, this habit may have an adverse affect on your metabolism. Consuming large meals puts a strain on the digestive system and does not increase your metabolism.

By dividing your three regular meals into six mini meals, you will enjoy an increase in metabolism. By dividing your meals this way, your body will also be better able to absorb and utilize the nutrients you ingest. Additionally, your body will spend more time and energy digesting these smaller meals. Each time your body begins the digestive process, it requires energy. This energy need requires the body to consume calories.

Add Intervals to Your Workouts

Many people believe a lower intensity workout burns more fat. This misunderstanding prevents many women from increasing their metabolism and losing the excess weight they are so desperate to shed. If you are one of those women who believe long, low intensity workouts are the key to weight loss, we are here to explain why you are making a mistake. Low intensity workouts do burn a higher percentage of fat, but it is important to note this is a higher percentage of a smaller amount of total calories. The percentage of fat burned during intense workouts may be lower, but you are burning significantly more calories so, in the long run, intense workouts help you to lose more fat.

Moms who have babies who are old enough to ride along in a jogging stroller can go out for long jogs interspersed with sprint intervals. Start by jogging for five minutes to warm up. Then sprint for two minutes and jog or walk for one minute. Repeat this pattern several times and then conclude the workout with a five-minute jog to cool down. You may only be able to do 3-4 sprint intervals initially, but you should be able to increase the number of intervals as you begin to lose weight and improve your cardiovascular health.

Sometimes Products Can Help Boost Your Metabolism

There are many different ways to boost your metabolism, but sometimes, one of the best ways to do this is by using chemical products. Meltorin is a promising product developed to help you enjoy an increased metabolism. This product boasts fine ingredients that combine to help you to lose weight quickly and more efficiently. You can find more information about Meltorin at the following web address: www.Meltorin.com.

Disclaimer: Before taking any products for the purpose of increasing your metabolism or even beginning an exercise regime, consult with your doctor to ensure you are healthy enough to start a new fitness program. Your doctor can also help you to establish a healthy weight loss goal and a well formulated plan for attaining your goals.