After the ripe old age of 40, our bodies' metabolism rate slows by 5% each decade thereafter. As you burn less and less calories you start to gain 5-10 pounds each year without even realizing it.
But age is not the only contributing factor to a slow metabolism. Many other things can affect your metabolic rate as you age including: pregnancy, medication, illness, and certain metabolic disorders (such as insulin resistance: a hormonal imbalance linked to how our body produces insulin).
There are surprisingly easy ways to prevent your metabolism from coming to a halt. With the right amount of exercise, the right nutrients, and proper sleep patterns, you can burn a massive amount of calories no matter how old you are.
Supplements: these are key to stabilize your blood sugar levels, and can help promote fat burning. To metabolize calories efficiently and effectively, you need to have constant stabilized insulin and blood sugar levels. This is especially great news for those with insulin resistance – because supplements are an essential part to correcting this hormonal imbalance. Some examples of supplements that help regulate metabolism are Omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin b12, and folic acid, to name a few.
Protein: provides a fat burning affect greater than that of carbohydrates. Our metabolism clings to food, and eating 3 protein packed meals a day, in addition to 2 protein filled snacks, will help burn those calories fast. It is dangerous to eat less than 1,000 calories a day, and providing enough protein for your body will help you gain muscle mass, which is also important for revving your metabolism. If you eat as often as every 2-3 hours that should suffice, and never leave 5 hours between eating. Some great protein snack and meal ideas include: nuts, low-fat cheese, eggs, fish, turkey, and avocados.
Strength Training: is a key contributor to building lean muscle mass, which is ideal for a fuel-efficient body. While cardio strengthens the heart and lungs, strength-training focuses strictly on building muscle mass. The more muscle we have, the more calories we burn even while we are asleep.
Sleep: is obviously essential to our every day lives, but it is also known that people who are sleep deprived tend to gain more weight. Eight hours of sleep a day is ideal for the average person. The hormones leptin and grehlin control our hunger and metabolism, which can be easily effected by the amount of sleep we get. If we don't get enough sleep then our hormones are also more likely to lean us towards eating unhealthy sweet snacks.
Metabolism Boost for the Middle Aged
