For those who are trying to lose weight, metabolism and exercise are very important subjects. They combine the two aspects of how to lose weight. Namely, how many calories your body burns on its own and how many additional calories you can burn through increased physical activity. Understanding their relationship will help you lose weight more efficiently.
Basal Metabolic Rate
Your basal metabolic rate is the rate at which your body converts the food you eat into energy. Everyone's basal metabolic rate is different, based on age, weight and height. Basal metabolic rate accounts for most of the calories you burn in a day. Basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories required to complete basic body functions like breathing, circulation, thermo-regulation and digestion. However, basal metabolic rate does not include exercise.
Anaerobic Exercise
Anaerobic exercise is nearly the most intense form of exercise you can do. It is completed at roughly 90 percent of your maximum heart rate and is mostly comprised of activities like weight lifting, or sprinting. While other forms of exercise get energy in the form of calories from fat, anaerobic exercise gets calories from glycogen in your body. The result is that rather than losing fat, you are usually gaining muscle. However, a body with increased muscle mass has a slightly increased metabolic rate because muscle burns more calories than fat. Though this increase is minor, building muscle will also help enhance your other physical activity, like aerobic exercise.
Aerobic Exercise
Unlike anaerobic exercise, aerobic exercise does not add muscle and does not lead to increased metabolic rate. However, aerobic exercise or cardiovascular exercise is the best exercise for burning calories and losing weight. Aerobic exercise is completed at roughly 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate and includes activities like running, swimming or cycling. Aerobic exercise is the optimum intensity for burning calories from fat. Because burning calories from fat is a metabolic function, aerobic exercise is understood to offer the highest rate for metabolic weight loss while exercising.
Dieting
Because it is nearly impossible to change your overall metabolic rate, dieting is the best form of metabolic weight loss. Your body's metabolism will first take energy from the food you eat. If there is not enough food, your body will get that energy from calories stored in fat. Therefore, if you consume fewer calories than your body needs, your metabolism will start burning fat as a result. There are 3,500 calories in one pound of fat. To lose one pound of fat per week, subtract 500 calories from your daily intake. Combine this with both aerobic and anaerobic exercise to get the most substantial and balanced weight loss results.
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