Day 23 Metabolism

Every function of every organ in the body relies on the energy provided by the metabolism of calories. How much energy you need on any given day depends on what you are doing, what you ate and the state of your health. The basic metabolic rate (BMR) refers to the minimal amount of calories you need to live. Some people need only 1200 calories, while professional athletes need 2000.

People with a high metabolism burn more calories than people with a low metabolism. Intense exercise requires more energy than resting on the couch and you burn more calories digesting good food then junk food.

The goal is to have the calories you eat match the calories you burn or it gets stored as fat.

So how do you know how much energy you need?

Unless you have access to a calorie meter that accurately measures your BMR, you will only be able to estimate your energy needs. However, by performing certain exercises and eating certain foods with a high thermogenic potential, you can easily increase the amount of calories you burn.

Here are a few simple and surprising strategies to help boost your metabolism.

Exercise Less Intensity

Turns out that when the body needs energy during intense exercise it goes for the more easily metabolized foodstuff first. Carbs are quickly turned into energy and require less energy to metabolize. So to burn the fat, you need to perform exercise more often and less intensely. Sure, intense exercise can burn calories and build muscle mass that will burn energy more efficiently. But it is the steady fire that will help to improve metabolism. The best strategy is to alternate brief intense exercise with slow and steady moderate exercise.

Drink Coffee and Tea and Heat

Coffee is a stimulant that contains caffeine. It can help you stay awake but also boost energy expenditure and speed up metabolism. So don't be afraid to drink a cup of Joe.

Green tea has compounds called phenols that have great thermogenic properties. Give the green light to green tea and drink it hot or cold to promote energy expenditure.

Spice it with Heat. Some plants contain the bio-active ingredient capsaicin, which not only makes them spicy hot, but also doubles energy expenditure for 3 hours after a meal. Plants belonging to this family are a hot ticket for boosting metabolism. Include red peppers, cayenne, jalapenos, habaneros, and Tabasco to recipes. It may also work to decrease appetite centers in the brain by boosting the release of certain neurotransmitters.

Ginger is also another good add. It not only aids in digestion but increases body temperature and metabolic rates as much as 20 percent after eating. Slice fresh ginger and stir-fry it with vegetables for an energy invigorating meal.

Day 17 - All I need is exercise?

This data came in the form of a study at the University of Texas.

In this study, nearly 100 initially sedentary participants either stayed sedentary (about half of them) OR began exercising (the other half). They exercisers were given a program to follow that added up to about 5 1/2 to 6 hours of activity per week and that lasted for a total of 12 weeks. The non-exercisers did nothing for the 12 weeks except show up for measurement sessions.

These individuals, as stated above, did no exercise before the study began. As a result of this sedentary lifestyle, they averaged between 35% and 40% body fat.

Once the study began, the training group gathered together for 3 weight training sessions and 2 group exercise sessions per week. All the training was overseen by a weightlifting coach and group exercise coach. So there was a pretty high level of quality control.

Now, it’s important to note that they didn’t alter the participant’s eating at all. And they did this on purpose. They tested the effects of exercise alone – without diet. In other words, the question became:

“Without a diet, can exercise alone reshape a person’s body?”

At the end of the 12 week study, the answer is:

“Not so much"

That’s right, when analyzing the data, I was shocked to find that even with 3+ hours of training per week with a weightlifting coach and 2+ hours of training per week with a body-weight circuit instructor, didn’t really work. The formerly sedentary participants didn’t do much better than their couch-sitting counterparts. So U need to diet.

Day 11 - More Exercise

Physical exercise is important for maintaining physical fitness and can contribute positively to maintaining a healthy weight, building and maintaining healthy bone density, muscle strength, and joint mobility, promoting physiological well-being, reducing surgical risks, and strengthening the immune system, boy, that's a lot.

Exercise also reduces levels of cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone that builds fat in the abdominal region, making weight loss difficult. Cortisol causes many health problems, both physical and mental.

Frequent and regular aerobic exercise has been shown to help prevent or treat serious and life-threatening chronic conditions. Endurance exercise before meals lowers blood glucose more than the same exercise after meals.

There is some evidence that vigorous exercise is more beneficial than moderate exercise.

Both aerobic and anaerobic exercise also work to increase the mechanical efficiency of the heart by increasing cardiac volume, or myocardial thickness. These are generally beneficial and healthy if they occur in response to exercise.

Not everyone benefits equally from exercise. There is tremendous variation in individual response to training: where most people will see a moderate increase in endurance from aerobic exercise, some individuals will as much as double their oxygen uptake, while others can never augment endurance. Similarly, only a minority of people will show significant muscle growth after prolonged weight training, while a larger fraction experience improvements in strength. This genetic variation in improvement from training is one of the key physiological differences between elite athletes and the larger population. Studies have shown that exercising in middle age leads to better physical ability later in life.

Day 2, Not So Bad Yet

We've all heard about the benefits of exercise for our hearts and to reduce cholesterol, but what about for happiness, improving intelligence and memory as well as for alleviating addiction, stress and aggression.

Scientists at Yale University found that regular exercise stimulates the hippocampus which is an area of the brain responsible for mood. Their study of mice showed that exercise activated a gene in the hippocampus called VGF. It's linked to a chemical involved in new nerve cell development.

Exercise doesn't make you more intelligent, rather it stimulates the brain making for improved learning capacity thereby optimizing performance. Exercise increases blood flow to the part of the brain which is responsible for memory and learning. The stimulation improves brain functioning in learning situations.

Increased blood flow to the brain also improves memory function. From studies with mice at the Columbia University Medical Centre (NY), new brain cells grew in the dentate gyrus area, an area which is affected in old age. With new cell growth due to exercise, memory would improve. At least in mice.