A common question that most fitness watchers have is why they struggle to maintain or lose weight. And how do some people effortlessly maintain their weight even after heaping calories?
The answer is simple - metabolic age is a crucial factor in optimizing your fitness and well-being.
Metabolic age goes beyond chronological age to shed beneficial inputs into metabolism, the body’s ability to burn calories and carry out bodily functions. Thus, knowing about metabolic age can help you fight age-related challenges, take your fitness goals to the next level and improve longevity.
Whether the fitness target is to shed those extra kilos, build muscle mass or maintain a healthy lifestyle, understanding your metabolic age can be a trendsetter.
To Stay Fit And Healthy, Buy From Our Rich Array of Health Supplements
How Metabolic Age is Determined?
Metabolic age is determined using specialized body composition scales that measure several factors such as:
Body Fat Percentage: It is the percentage of fat in your body relative to your total weight.
Muscle Mass: It is the amount of muscle tissue in the body.
Visceral Fat: Fat stored around vital organs.
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): The number of calories the body needs at rest.
Resting blood pressure
These anthropometric measurements are compared to averages for different age groups, resulting in your metabolic age.
The measurement for relative metabolic age was to minus chronological age from metabolic age.
Understanding Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
BMR is the minimum number of calories for the body to function at rest. This includes calories burned without so much as lifting a finger. Even for a person who’s a total couch potato, you’re burning calories through activities like breathing, digestion, and blood circulation.
BMR is not a factor in physical activity. This is vital as about 60-70% of the calories a person burns each day happen while you’re doing nothing.
To estimate BMR, you have to factor in your sex, height (in cm), weight (in kg), and age. Harris-Benedict Equation calculator is used to assess or use the below formula:
Male: 66.5 + (13.75 x kg) + (5.003 x cm) – (6.775 x age)
Female: 655.1 + (9.563 x kg) + (1.850 x cm) – (4.676 x age)
BMR is, at times, called resting metabolic rate (RMR).
Where resting energy expenditure (REE) suggests the actual number of calories spent at rest. However, BMR and REE are measured differently; the difference is less than 10 per cent, so these two terms may be used interchangeably.
How Can I Improve My Metabolic Age?
A higher BMR suggests that one needs to burn more calories to maintain one's health throughout the day, while a lower BMR means one's metabolism is slower. It is very essential to lead an active and healthy lifestyle and eat a balanced diet.
Ways To Improve Your Metabolic Age Include:
- Choosing whole and complex carbs over refined carbs
- Add lean protein
- Replace sugary drinks with water or fresh fruits
- Cut down on portion size
- Seek help from a dietitian
- Stay physically active
Also Read: 6 Ways To Boost Your Metabolism
If you restrict calories, even if you don’t increase physical activity, you may start losing weight. However, when you reduce your calories, your system starts to prepare for starvation mode by slowing metabolism, and weight loss will find its way back.
Restricting calories and increasing exercise can avert metabolic slowdown, which keeps people from losing weight. Regular exercise improves your BMR and helps you burn more calories while you’re not exercising.
Trying high-intensity interval training (HIIT) may help improve your metabolic rate even after a workout, but with a shorter training period. If you haven’t exercised in a while or have a medical condition, you may want to check with your doctor first.
Sound sleep is one of the vital factors in energy metabolism, as insufficient sleep can lead to weight gain.
Conclusion
Metabolic age is more of a fitness quotient than a medical one. It’s a way to assess your basal metabolic rate (BMR) relative to other people of your age. This lets a person get a general view of their metabolism and helps them take necessary steps to manage weight and augment overall health. Cutting calories while improving physical activity is the best possible way to lose fat and gain lean muscle mass.
References:
Younger Relative Metabolic Age Is Associated with a More Favorable Body Composition and Plant-based Dietary Pattern (P21-038-19)
Catherine Andersen, Allison Sloan, Lydia Dupree, and Brian Walker
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6575031/
Metabolic changes in aging humans: current evidence and therapeutic strategies
Allyson K. Palmer1 and Michael D. Jensencorresponding author2
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9374375/
