Understanding Metabolism

Thursday, July 2, 2009
What Is Metabolism? In popular terminology, metabolism is defined as the amount of energy a person's body burns. The process of metabolism involves all the chemical changes that nutrients undergo from the time they are absorbed until they become a part of the body or are excreted. Metabolism is affected by heredity, age, and maturation. Generally, your metabolism is much faster when you are young and becomes gradually slower as you age.

Metabolism in fact does vary from person to person. Your metabolism affects your ability to lose or gain weight. As you probably know, the faster your metabolism, the more calories and fat you burn each day. Your metabolic rate is not one of those things in life that is unchangeable. Your metabolism rate can be influenced by diet and lifestyle. Regular exercise can boost metabolism by allowing your muscles to do more work, and muscle burns more calories than fat because muscle tissue requires constant repair and replacement.