What Does It Mean When You Have A Low Metabolism?

Metabolism is a term that often gets thrown around in reference to the ability to gain or lose weight, but recognizing that all cellular processes in the body contribute to your metabolism can help you to understand how to maximize this process to keep not only your weight in check, but your body healthy and disease-free. Human beings have approximately 100 trillion cells, so for optimal health, performance and body composition, all of these cells must be functioning properly. Nutrient deficiencies can disrupt this fragile cellular balance, causing declines in health.

Metabolism and Energy

Metabolism is clinically defined as the process that breaks down your food and beverages into usable energy. Once this biochemical process is under way in the body, energy is released to help you with not only exercise, but internal functions such as tissue growth, digestion, circulation, nutrient absorption and waste removal. The number of calories necessary to carry on these functions is referred to as your basal metabolic rate, and accounts for 60 to 75 percent of the total calories that you burn every day. There are certain factors that lead to a lowered basal metabolic rate, which include your body composition, or the amount of muscle that you have. The more muscle an individual has, the more calories the body will burn, which increases the basal metabolic rate. Women typically have a lower basal metabolic rate than men because women naturally carry a higher body fat percentage. Finally, as the body naturally ages, tissues break down and body fat increases, all leading to a slower basal metabolic rate and less calories burned.

Homeostasis

While it is easy to blame weight gain on a slow metabolism, many people do not realize that your metabolism is a part of the body's natural process, and it strives to maintain balance, or homeostasis, in the body. Therefore, if you have a sluggish metabolism, the real indicator lies in the nutrients you are or are not feeding your body. If you participate in "yo-yo" cycle of dieting or starvation diets, your metabolism slows down to conserve calories and energy. The real culprit of weight gain is not entirely a slow metabolism, but too many calories being consumed in proportion to what is being expended each day.

Increasing a Slow Metabolism

You can work on improving a slow metabolism by adding more activity and muscle tissue to your body. Just as you commonly hear that slow metabolism parallels weight gain, those with fast metabolisms are said to be more active, and there is some truth to this statement. Adding one additional pound of lean muscle tissue to your frame can burn up to 50 additional calories a day, increasing your metabolic rate, or the amount of energy the body uses in a given period, while also helping you to shed extra pounds of fat.

Metabolic Syndrome

Some conditions cause a slow metabolism outside of poor nutrition and activity levels. Two of the most common conditions are Cushing's syndrome and hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is the result of an underactive thyroid gland, and Cushing's syndrome occurs when the body is exposed to high levels of the hormone cortisol for extended periods. Cushing's syndrome can also result from high blood pressure, diabetes and bone loss, and is identified by pink or purple stretch marks on the body, a rounded face or a fatty hump between the shoulder blades at the base of the neck. These two conditions lead to a very sluggish metabolism, and need to be diagnosed and treated by your physician.