What is metabolism?!

Green Tea is also known to
boost your metabolism ;)

What even is metabolism? I always pictured it as a physical "thing" somewhere near my heart. But that's not it at all! "Metabolism" is not one "thing" at all, it is made up of several different factors. So what makes up your metabolism? I'm so glad you asked ;)

• Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
• Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)
• Physical Activity (PA)
• Thermic Affect of Eating (TEE)

All of these combined makes up your metabolism, aka your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). 

Now that you know what makes up your metabolism, what do all these fancy things mean? Well, as complicated as they may sound, it's pretty simple!

Your BMR is basically all the calories you would burn if all you did one day was lay in bed- and not move or eat at all. These are just the basic chemical reactions happening in your body to keep you alive each day, and this can make up over 50% of your TDEE! One way to increase your BMR is to increase your muscle mass. Strength, Hypertrophy, and even Bodyweight training can all achieve this goal!

NEAT is all of the "movements" per se that you do each day, outside of exercise. This includes walking from place to place, sitting down, folding laundry, etc etc. This is very dependent on what your lifestyle is! Increase the calories you burn from NEAT by including more active pastimes into your daily or weekly routine, such as walking the dog, getting involved in a low impact sport (like disc golf), or riding your bike instead of driving your car around town.

PA is pretty obvious, this is all the calories you burn during exercise. The more cardio-intense workouts, like HIIT, that get your heart rate soaring will burn more calories (in the same amount of time) than a Pilates class. However, classes such as Pilates can offer different benefits than HIIT training can, so make sure to include variety in your workouts to gain the most benefit :) And keep in mind that muscle burns more calories at rest, so doing muscular-intense workouts will end up burning more calories in the long run. 

And lastly, TEE is the amount of energy (aka calories) used in breaking down your food and sending the nutrients to where they need to go. Instead of eating simple sugars and carbs, like white bread, desserts, and even fruit (yes fruit has simple sugars in it, but also nutrients, so don't eliminate fruits completely from your diet), eat more complex carbs such as whole grain bread, oatmeal, and quinoa. Protein is the least easily digestible macro, so eating more protein will also increase the calories you burn during digestion.

Those four components, BMR, NEAT, PA, and TEE all make up your TDEE, your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is all the calories you burn in a single day, which will vary each day. This is what makes up your metabolism. 

I hope this information was helpful and insightful to you all! Try out those four tips to increase your metabolism, and burn more calories each day! Here is a video that goes a little more in depth into metabolism, and how to increase it. This is one place that I learned about metabolism! I highly recommend you check out her other videos:)