Slow Metabolism & Obesity

A slow metabolism, over time, contributes to weight gain. In much the same way, a fast metabolism helps you to lose weight. You shouldn't think of metabolism as being the single, or even the most important, factor in your body weight, however. It isn't. Obesity is the result of taking in significantly more calories than you burn. Your eating habits, along with your level of physical activity, play a far greater role in obesity. Your genes, behavior, environment, culture and socioeconomic status also contribute to body weight. Fortunately, you can help your body burn more calories by adopting a healthier lifestyle.

Identification

Metabolism is the conversion of a substance from one form to another. It refers to the processes your body performs to turn the food you eat and the beverages you drink into energy that your body can use. There are three components to metabolism: basal metabolic rate (BMR), unrestricted physical activity (UPA) and the thermal effect of food (TEF). BMR is the number of calories your body uses just to keep you alive, with functions like breathing, brain function, blood circulation and cell repair. UPA is energy used for daily activity, like moving, walking, fidgeting and exercising. TEF is your body's energy expenditures for digesting and storing food for future use. The rate at which your body performs some of these actions is fairly fixed. You can't really make your body burn more calories to pump your heart, for example, but you can give a jolt to your metabolism by exercising vigorously and limiting your calorie consumption.

Obesity Facts

Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the "Journal of the American Medical Association" reports that about one-third of the United States population is obese. Among men, the rate is 32.2 percent and 35.5 percent among women. One in every 3 children ages 2 to 19 is overweight or obese (31.7 percent), according to the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says American society has become obesogenic; that is, the environment promotes eating too much and moving too little. It says the major contributing factor is energy imbalance, too much in and too little out, and it cites metabolism as one of many factors that causes energy imbalance.

How Metabolic Rate is Calculated

You can measure your BMR, which represents about 60 to 75 percent of your total metabolic rate, according to MayoClinic.com. Women should add 655 + (9.6 x weight in kilograms) + (1.8 x height in centimeters) - (4.7 x age in years). The formula for men is 66 + (13.7 x weight in kilograms) + (5 x height in centimeters) - (6.8 x age in years). Remember this figure is only one part of your total metabolic picture. You can influence the speed of your metabolism with diet and exercise.

How Slow Metabolism Affects Weight

According to Dr. Michael Goran, of the Institute for Prevention Research at the University of Southern California, the average adult consumes close to 1 million calories each year. A calorie is a unit of energy. If energy, or calorie, intake exceeds energy expenditure by as little as 25 kcal/d, or kilocalories per day, a person becomes obese. In the end, says Goran, obesity is the end result of a mismatch between energy intake and energy expenditure, with a net accumulation of calories stored in the body. Your body size and gender affect your BMR, making it slower than you wished, and as you age, your BMR decreases, due to decreases in muscle mass. However, slow metabolism, according to MayoClinic.com, is rarely the sole cause of obesity, although some medical conditions, such as thyroid problems and Cushing's syndrome, will significantly slow down your metabolism enough to cause weight gain.

What You Can Do about Slow Metabolism

You can tweak the TEF and UPA components of metabolism. Start each day with a healthy breakfast to jump-start your calorie burning for the day, and have a portion of protein in each meal you eat. In addition, get regular exercise of at least 30 minutes per day. Be sure you get some strength or resistance training in your daily routine. This is because you will force your body to maintain its muscle mass. Muscles are metabolically active. Just to keep your muscles, your body will burn 40 to 120 calories per every pound of muscle you have each day.