Boost Your Metabolism Into Orbit!

Losing weight is the product of a simple chemistry equation. Burn more calories than you consume. Sounds simple, right? But, as you may know, in the real world it can be much more complicated and frustrating. Every day we see new ways of burning calories quickly with less effort. Concoctions, pills, and special exercises designed to "boost" your metabolism offer the promise of easy weight loss at every turn.

Here's the real truth: Physical activity is the only real way to boost metabolism and increase calorie burn!

The first (and most obvious) benefit of physical activity is that you burn calories while you do it. Physical movement goes a long way toward achieving a negative caloric balance -- burning more than you eat. For instance, walking 3 miles a day, 3-5 days per week, totals approximately 1000-1500 calories per week -- enough to lose about 15-22 pounds per year!

While any movement burns extra calories, the quickest and most efficient way is through planned exercise. Think of your body as a car. Instead of the fuel efficient model, you want to be a calorie guzzler. The sports car with a bigger more powerful engine burns up fuel much faster than the economy model. Increase your fitness and you increase the size of your engine. Your heart and muscles do more work and require more fuel. For instance, at first you may walk for 40 minutes and cover 2 miles, burning 230 calories (a 170 pound person walking 3.0 mph). With a more powerful engine you may be able to jog for 40 minutes and burn 420 calories (a 170 pound person jogging at 11.5 minutes per mile)!

Take the car metaphor one step further. It's no secret that "stop and go" driving wreaks havoc with fuel efficiency. Constantly accelerate and decelerate and you will burn more fuel than if you hold a steady, conservative pace. Interval training is the fitness version of "stop and go" driving. Rev up your engine for a few minutes and then slow down to recover. The higher intensity will keep your metabolic rate higher -- even after your workout is over.

Exercise also affects calorie burn by increasing (or preserving) muscle mass. Without exercise your weight loss may actually harm your metabolic rate by losing 10-30 percent of your weight from valuable muscle mass! Each pound of muscle is worth about 35-50 calories, compared to fat, which is practically inert. Gaining 2-3 pounds of muscle during a 3-4 month resistance-training program is very realistic, even while losing weight. That muscle gain is worth 7-15 pounds of fat weight loss per year.