How The Metabolic Process Works

A good 75 percent of your body's energy is used for general maintenance. So a person with a higher metabolism will burn food faster and grow fingernails faster whether they're hiking up Mount Everest or playing tiddlywinks. This is your goal: to be an... Full Answer

Metabolism is the process the body uses to convert food into energy. Your body either uses this fuel right away or stores it in body tissues, like your liver, muscles or as body fat. Many factors influence metabolism including sex, age, thyroid levels,... Full Answer

It's well known that exercise burns calories. In addition, regular exercise stimulates the activity of fat-burning enzymes. The exciting news is that the hormone leptin also stimulates these enzymes, which can increase your metabolic rate even... Full Answer

Yes to a degree. There are many factors that affect metabolism, some under your control and some not, but the factors that you have control of can make a huge difference. Exercise affects metabolism. Simply adding a consistent exercise program to your... Full Answer

I know you remember (perhaps vaguely) mitochondria from 10th-grade biology, but we don't expect that you remember all that much about what mitochondria do and why they're important. Mitochondria (you have hundreds of those per cell) convert nutrients... Full Answer

While there are differences in base metabolism from person to person and a portion of those differences are impacted by genetics the bulk of our metabolic needs we have some control over. When you ask the question what happens to people with a slower... Full Answer

That depends on how you define "pre-determined". If the habits of your family (parents, grandparents etc.) are that of eating poorly and not exercising and you follow those same habits, than yes. If the habits of your family were that of eating well,... Full Answer

Factors that influence basal metabolic rate are: Body size: Metabolic rate increases as weight, height, and surface area increase. Body composition: Fat tissue has a lower metabolic activity than muscle tissue. As lean muscle mass increases, metabolic... Full Answer

As we age, we lose muscle mass that is important for burning calories. Learn how to boost your metabolism after 40 in this video with Dr. Oz and Dr. Heidi Skolnik. Full Answer

There is controversy about this but I tell my clients that muscle is equal to metabolism. Essentially most people when they talk about metabolism they are referring to the amount of calories that your body burns at rest or your basic metabolic rate... Full Answer