Metabolic rate is the rate at which the body burns up calories. A body that consumes 3,000 calories a day and burns 3,000 calories a day will stay at the same weight. A body consuming 3,000 calories daily but burning only 2,500 will gain weight at the rate of about one pound a week.
You burn calories to provide energy for three main functions:
- Basal Metabolic Rate: This is the amount of calories you burn just by being alive, even when you’re doing nothing. It accounts for approximately 60 percent of calories you burn.
- Burning Calories For Activity: This is the energy used during movement- from lifting your arm to button your shirt to cleaning house. This accounts for approximately 30 percent of the calories you burn.
- Dietary Thermogenesis: The calories burned in the process of eating, digesting, absorbing, and using food.
You can influence all these factors, and speed up your rate of burning calories, using the following tactics:
- Build muscle: Increase the amount of muscle in your body. For every extra pound of muscle you put on, your body uses around 50 extra calories a day.
- Be active: The average person burns about 30 percent of calories through daily activity; sedentary people only use about 15 percent. Taking every opportunity to move can make quite a difference to the amount of calories you burn.
- Eat spicy foods: Spices, especially chili, can raise the metabolic rate by up to 50 percent for up to 3 hours after you’ve eaten a spicy meal.
- Aerobic exercise: High-intensity exercise makes you burn more calories during exercise and for several hours afterward.
- Eat little often: Eating healthy small regular meals will keep your metabolism going faster than larger, less frequent meals and often helps control hunger, making you less likely to binge.
Quick Tip: Doing just 10 minutes a week of Plyometrics (jumping drills) can make a difference in your fitness by making you faster and more agile.