Mastering Metabolism To Lose Belly Fat and Healthy Weight Loss ~ Part 3

There are three major components that help determine how fast an individual’s metabolism operates.  Of those three, one has already been mentioned, but each plays a very important part in the make-up of metabolism.
•    Body Composition – there are important concepts to understand about how body structure affects the metabolism.  First, the larger the mass, the more energy it requires.  That means that a person with more mass can intake more calories without retaining fat.  However, muscle burns more energy than fat because it requires a lot of energy to sustain it.  That being said, of two people who weigh the same, the person who has more muscle will naturally burn more calories each day. Healthy weight loss and to  lose belly fat.

•    Age- This plays a great deal into another fact about age.  As we age, we tend to lose muscle mass.  On average, a person who doesn’t fight it, will lose up to seven pounds of muscle each decade after the age of twenty-five.  As we already know, less muscle means a slower metabolism.

•    Sex- Sorry ladies, but it’s true.  Men are able to burn more calories than their female counterparts.  This again comes back to body composition.  In general, men tend to have more muscle mass and also tend to outweigh females.  That means they are at a natural advantage.
There is one other thing that plays a huge part in how our metabolism operates.  That is the natural instinct of the body.  When the body feels that it is being starved – even if that isn’t truly the case – it will naturally slow the metabolism, so even if you are counting calories and hitting the gym, the effects won’t be as noticeable as a result of the body’s reaction.
It is essential for a person to maintain a healthy lifestyle while dieting.  It is very common for those who are trying for healthy weight loss or to lose belly fat to actually eat too few calories.  Taking in less than one thousand calories (the number can be higher for some people) can result in the body resorting to survival mode.
In survival mode the body will:
-conserve energy (store fat - creating belly fat)
-retain water
-slows the metabolism
-break down skeletal muscle to use as excess energy

One can easily see how survival mode would be counter-intuitive to a weight loss plan.  So, it is very important to feed the body properly and exercise in moderation.  In efficiency mode, which is what would be achieved by doing these things, the body reacts very differently.

In efficiency mode the body will:

-have natural energy
-speed up metabolism
-freely feed on fat reserves, lose belly fat
-maintain balanced hormone levels
-allow for development of lean muscle
-healthy weight loss