Metabolism

Diet and nutrition plays a huge part of my life. Cliches such as "you can't out exercise a poor diet" and "abs are made in the kitchen" haven't been developed without reason! They are true! Food is fuel for your body; if you put in bad fuel you are going to perform poorly, not only in the gym physically, but you will find you are also mentally drained and tired.
Some girls try to 'not eat' in a bid to lose weight. What happens when you stop eating is your body will go into starvation mode and slow down your metabolism. Your body will then naturally burn through lean muscle before fat stores as the muscle provides better fuel than the fat.
Personally I eat 5-6 even meals a day. A typical day (including a desk job) will look something like this:

6am: 1 scoop of Define8 with acetyl L-carnitine. Define8 kick starts my metabolism and also wakes me up for my morning jog. Acetyl L-carnitine is a supplement used to assist the body to metabolise fats as energy.

7am: Breakfast: 40g rolled oats, 1/4 granny smith apple with water cooked in the microwave. Once cooked into a porridge I add a scoop of chocolate whey protein.

10am: 150g soleil brand yoghurt  (no fat, low sugar) with 8 almonds. 1 hard boiled egg. I also have a green tea about this time. Green tea is great for increasing your metabolism rate, you can also purchase green tea extract in tablet form from your health food store.

1pm: Lunch: 100g protien- chicken/kangaroo, 1/4 avocado, large serve of vegetables or salad.

4pm: 95g tin of tuna with 2 vita wheat wholemeal crackers.

6pm: This is when I train weights. I will have a pre-workout supplement beforehand and a Whey Protein Isolate shake after.

7-8pm Dinner: 120g protein chicken/kangaroo with a large salad or cooked vegetables. Once to twice a week I'll switch this up with an Atlantic salmon steak.

Key tips to speeding up your metabolism:

1: Eat smaller meals and eat frequently. Every 2-3 hours is ideal.
2: Weight training!! Muscle tissue is metabolically active. Even when resting muscles use energy.
3: Drink Green Tea. It speeds up the metabolism and is full of anti-oxidants.
4: Do NOT skip breakfast. This is the most important meal, it kick starts the metabolism for the day after fasting while sleeping. You don't want to become catobolic.
Note: There are two categories of metabolism:
Catabolism: breaks down organic matter/food components - ie your body eats your own muscle
Anabolism: uses energy to construct components of cells - ie uses the food you eat
5: Chilli and pepper will also speed up the metabolism. Add spices to your chicken
6: Eat good fats! Good fats not only boost metabolism, but also immune function. They also assist in the absorption of minerals. Good fats include avocado, almonds, nuts/seeds, olive oil, and tuna/salmon.

Above: My dinner tonight. Salmon with lemon juice, cherry tomatoes & mushroom sauteed. Mesculin lettuce mix and cucumber, 91g lentil & chickpea salad.

Below: Keeping lean with a good diet! I will continue to post progress photos, watch me sculpt and change!

Factors that affect your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

• Body size - larger adult bodies have more metabolising tissue and a larger BMR.
• Age - metabolism slows with age, due to a loss in muscle tissue but also due to hormonal and neurological changes.
• Growth - infants and children have higher energy demand per unit of body weight due to the energy demands of growth and the energy needed to maintain their body temperature.
• Gender - generally, men have faster metabolisms than women because they tend to be larger and have less body fat.
• Genetic predisposition - your metabolic rate may be partly decided by your genes.
• Amount of lean muscle tissue - muscle burns kilojoules voraciously.
• Amount of body fat - fat cells are sluggish and burn far fewer kilojoules than most other tissues and organs of the body.
• Hormonal and nervous controls - BMR is controlled by the nervous and hormonal systems; hormonal imbalances can influence how quickly or slowly the body burns kilojoules.
• Dietary deficiencies - for example, a diet low in iodine reduces thyroid function, which slows the metabolism.
• Environmental temperature - if temperature is very low or very high, the body has to work harder to maintain its normal body temperature; this increases the BMR.
• Infection or illness - BMR increases because the body has to work harder to build new tissues and to create an immune response.
• Crash dieting, starving or fasting - eating too few kilojoules encourages the body to slow the metabolism to conserve energy; BMR can drop by up to 15 per cent. There is also loss of lean muscle tissue, which further contributes to the drop in BMR.
• Amount of physical activity - hard-working muscles need plenty of energy to burn. Regular exercise increases muscle mass and ‘teaches’ the body to burn kilojoules at a faster rate, even when at rest.
• Drugs - some drugs, like caffeine or nicotine, can increase the BMR.
  http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Metabolism_explained