If you’re interested in losing weight, you’ve probably read about metabolic acceleration. Ideally, optimizing your metabolism breaks down nutrients faster. However, there’s still considerable debate about this approach’s legitimacy.
For losing weight, most experts recommend reducing calories while increasing physical activity. However, increasing activity burns calories because it revs up your metabolism.
In the end, optimizing your metabolism is a weight-loss method. That’s why we’ll go through common myths and why they’re (technically) not entirely wrong.
Most common weight-loss myths
MedlinePlus has a great article detailing whether boosting our metabolism is possible. It breaks down several metabolic optimization myths. Clarifying these doubts can help you save lots of time and effort.
Your metabolism remains active after exercising
Exercise burns more calories because it boosts your heart rate and consumes energy. However, that metabolic boost ends almost immediately after you’re done exercising.
Gaining muscle helps you lose weight
Muscle also increases your metabolism, but it’s mostly during resistance training. Resting muscles burn few calories. Your heart, liver lungs, and other organs make up the majority of your metabolism.
You can boost your metabolism with food
Caffeine, chili peppers, and other recommendations can increase your metabolism. However, it’s often negligible. Try to add these to your daily routine and have them add up, but focus more on eating healthy.
Smaller daily meals activate your metabolism
Spreading meals during the day can keep cravings and overeating at bay. There’s little evidence suggesting that it can boost your metabolism, though.
Sleep aids your metabolism
Sleep doesn’t boost your metabolism, but it can prevent weight gains. People who sleep less often consume more calories to deal with tiredness. Therefore, it’s still a good idea to sleep well.
Older people gain weight because of their metabolism
Our metabolism slows down with age, but it’s rarely why we gain weight. People usually become less active with age. Make sure you remain healthy as you grow older.
Our takeaway
Despite what you might believe about metabolic acceleration, it’s not a bad approach. Most of the tips to boost your metabolism are still beneficial. Increasing physical activity and eating healthy inevitably help you lose weight.
Before doing anything, make sure you research legitimate approaches, though. Ask your doctor about what can work for you. Additionally, make sure to start with baby steps before jumping to more substantial challenges.
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