Metabolic support for reaching your weight-loss goals

When it comes to weight control, many of us refer to having a slow or fast metabolism. Aside from easily gaining weight or not, understanding the metabolism and how it works is important. Metabolism is all the chemical processes in the body that turn the food you eat into energy, which is used to keep the organs and systems functioning.

The metabolism is constantly running, meaning it is using up calories, even while you are sleeping. All the different organs and tissues require a different amount of energy, which tends to decrease with age, regardless of any other changes.

Several factors make up one's metabolism: genetics, gender, age, body composition and activity level. Men tend to have faster metabolisms than women because they have more muscle mass. Muscle requires more energy compared to fat. For every one pound of muscle, 6 calories of energy are needed daily, whereas one pound of fat requires just 2 calories of energy. Even though that isn't much of a difference, it does add up over time.

There are all kinds of products and strategies for boosting your metabolism, many that require a long-term commitment for sustainable results. However, it is important to note that many of these suggestions, like eating spicy foods, taking metabolism-boosting supplements and caffeine-fueled products, have short-lived effects with a minimal impact on the waistline and may actually cause negative effects like high blood pressure.

Experts state that adopting a healthy lifestyle is much more effective overall for supporting the metabolism - strength training, engaging in high-intensity exercise, drinking plenty of water, getting adequate sleep and consuming a healthy diet. Losing weight too fast with crash diets or calorie-restricted diets can actually slow your metabolism.

Generally, losing weight includes losing muscle mass, which then means that the energy needs required actually decrease, thus slowing the metabolism. When you return to normal habits, the weight comes back but the metabolism does not, which causes further weight gain. With a healthy, slow fat-loss program, the metabolic rate tends to stay the same.

Research shows that we don't have much control over our metabolism, but we can support it by being physically active and consuming the right amount of calories that meets our metabolic needs. While a slower-than-normal metabolism may also be due to certain medical conditions, medications and diseases, gaining weight is generally the result of taking in more energy, or calories, than the body needs. However, if you feel that you're not responding to lifestyle changes, you should speak with your doctor.

Missy Corrigan is executive of community health for Sumter Family YMCA. She can be reached at mcorrigan@ymcasumter.org or (803) 773-1404.