The human body was designed to move, it’s just that simple. The more activities and movement, the more our engines rev up and SuperCharge our metabolism.
Do you even know what your metabolism is?
Your metabolism is this “thing” that enables you to burn extra calories doing ordinary things. The key is that your metabolism only turns on for TWO reasons… food and exercise. In a nutshell, when you exercise your internal body heats up, so once you are done with exercise a cooling mechanism kicks on and stays on until you are back to your normal temperature. What does this mean? If it takes you 2 calories to walk to your door normally, but now you have been exercising for a while, your body is heated. Now it takes you 4 calories to walk to the door because, as you are walking, your cooling mechanism is working at the same time. Voila! The longer and harder you exercise, the longer this mechanism will work after you have already worked out and the more “extra” calories you will burn.
Let’s take this a step further… What is exercise or activity? Well, it’s anything that elevates your heart rate and makes you sweat, this according to the American College of Sports Medicine. I don’t know about you, but if I turn on good music and clean my house, I am like a tornado, and YES my heart rate is elevated and I am SWEATING. This also happens during bulk pick up day, when I go out to the yard and clean up my garden like nobodies business. Not to mention, that nowadays, I have no desire to be in crowds in a store, so on those odd days that I have to do a Costco run, I am literally doing a Costco run…
“Move out of my way people, this is my cardio!!”
On the flip side, food can have an effect on your metabolism as well. Why, you ask? Well, you eat something, and there’s a mechanism that has to break down and digest it. Once again, like the scenario above, if it takes you two calories to walk to the door, you eat an apple and now it may take you 4. Depending on how much you eat, your metabolism may be on for a bit.
WAIT, don’t get crazy.
When we offer our body the right combination of QUALITY carbohydrates, proteins, and fats our mechanism works at OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE. When we snack on junk, skip meals, and binge eat, this is a NO GO. With this said, the idea is to eat small healthy meals throughout the day, turning on the metabolism for performance and not fat stores.
Combine this with exercise, and your metabolism will be supercharged throughout the day.
Here is a pop quiz… Do these count as exercise?
–Playing with your kids at the park, running around, kicking a ball, etc.
-Family bike ride to the store, even if it’s only 5 minutes.
-Reorganizing the house, moving furniture, lifting boxes, and pushing things out of your way.
-Using the stairs because the elevator is too full
Well, what do you think? Yup, all of these count!
There’s one more thing here for you. When the American College of Sports Medicine defined activity, they stated that we needed 150 to 300 minutes of activity per week. 150 for the novice and 300 for the more advanced exerciser. The great thing about what they said is that the minutes DID NOT need to be consecutive. Meaning that every 5 minutes counts, so put some pep in your step for everyday activities and burn those calories without a thought!
With Love and Light,
Adita
