Best Way to Lose Weight

What’s the Best Way to Lose Weight?

The best way to lose weight is to increase your metabolism. Weight loss is challenging because too much emphasis is on dietary or caloric intake.  The main cause of weight gain is overlooked – declining metabolism as we age.  We burn fewer and fewer calories with each passing year after age 30. Increasing metabolism is the best way to lose weight for men and women.

Einstein defined inanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.   That pretty much sums up the conventional thought on weight loss.

Take action and follow the 3 steps below to increase metabolism –  the best way to lose weight.

The Hidden Secret to Increased Metabolism

What happens around age 30 that leads our metabolism to slow down?  After age 30 many of our hormone levels decline.  Hormones enable our body to function optimally. The main hormones that effect metabolism are thyroid, DHEA, growth hormone, and testosterone in both men and women, and estrogen and progesterone in women.   Hormones regulate metabolism, build muscle, which burns more calories, and facilitate use of fat.

The reference ranges that laboratories use to determine whether one’s levels are low are obsolete.  These ranges are statistical ranges and have nothing to do with what is optimal or ideal for health.  What this means is your hormone levels can be “normal” but not optimal for good health and weigh management.  Several studies on many hormones have shown that individuals whose hormones are in the upper third of normal enjoy better quality of life, and suffer less from chronic disease including obesity.

Kick Start Metabolism with Exercise

Two types of exercise programs can improve metabolism. Strength training builds muscle.  Muscle burns more calories.  If performed at moderate to strenuous levels strength training provides an added benefit of stimulating production of growth hormone and testosterone, which build muscle.  Growth hormone has been shown to consistently improve body composition and promote loss of fat.

The second program is high intensity interval training.  This involves performing short bursts of activities at near maximal exertion for 20 seconds to a minute followed by a rest period and repeated several times.

The Tabata Protocol is a great example of high intensity interval training.  The Tabata Protocol involves performing virtually any exercise you can think of for 20 seconds followed by a 10 second rest and repeated for a total of 8 cycles.  This amounts to a 4- minute workout.  After a 2-minute rest another exercise is performed for 4 minutes, and so on.  Usually a total workout of 20 minutes is sufficient to obtain significant metabolic benefit.

High intensity interval training will burn far more calories in the same amount of time as the typical aerobic exercise and will keep metabolism elevated sometimes up to 16 hours in women and 48 hours in men after exercise.  Metabolism usually returns to normal after an hour following the typical bout of aerobic exercise.

Preserving Mitochondrial Function

Many of you probably never heard of mitochondria, but they are the power producing organelles in the cell.  Mitochondria produce ATP, which the body uses to carry out all of its functions.  Mitochondria decline in function as we age. This contributes to declining metabolism.  This decline can at be limited.

Mitochondria are unique in that they are the only organelles that have their own DNA.  This features means the mitochondria have the ability to divide and multiply.  High intensity exercise is one way the body actually makes more mitochondria.  That means better metabolism – the best way to lose weight.

Nutritional supplements can protect mitochondrial function.   These supplements include coenzyme Q10 (frequently depleted by statin drugs used to lower cholesterol), D-ribose, acetyl-L-carnitine, and alpha-lipoic acid.

But, perhaps the most exciting supplement is pyrroloquinolone quinone, which has been shown to cause mitochondrial biogenesis, or the making of new mitochondria.

Related articles include “Natural Metabolism Boosters“, “7 Easy Ways to Lose Weight”, and “Healthy Weight Loss“