Being less active, losing muscle mass and the aging of your internal components all contribute to a sluggish metabolism. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to fight aging from slowing down your metabolism.
Hormones
A shift in your hormones can put the brakes on your body's energy use. That can make you tired. Some conditions, like an underactive or overactive thyroid and diabetes, are hormonal diseases that affect your metabolism. Stress also releases hormones that can trigger a slow-down.
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 and if lean muscle tissue is also lost, this further reduces BMR.
Metabolic rate remains stable all through adult life, from age 20 to 60 years old.
But another 120-pound person may have a lot less lean mass and more body fat and therefore a “slow” metabolism. In fact, it is possible to have “normal-weight obesity” – a term used when referring to a person who appears thin but who is not very active and therefore has very little muscle mass, Majumdar explained.
Cardiovascular exercise (running, swimming, aerobics, walking) stimulates your metabolism, helps you burn calories and can even temporarily suppress your appetite post-workout.
Two common signs that you may be experiencing metabolic damage are dieting and exercising but not seeing any change in weight. Or, you may have been making progress with a diet or an exercise program but suddenly this progress stops.
Calculate Basal Metabolic Rate
Your basal metabolism rate is produced through the following basal metablic rate formula: Men: BMR = 88.362 + (13.397 x weight in kg) + (4.799 x height in cm) – (5.677 x age in years) Women: BMR = 447.593 + (9.247 x weight in kg) + (3.098 x height in cm) – (4.330 x age in years)
Behaviour and obesity hormones
Various studies have shown that a person's blood leptin level drops after a low-kilojoule diet. Lower leptin levels may increase a person's appetite and slow down their metabolism. This may help to explain why crash dieters usually regain their lost weight.
You've gained muscle.
And here's an often overlooked fact: Muscle tissue is more dense than fat tissue. So as you gain more muscle and lose fat, you change your overall body composition, which can result in a higher weight, but a smaller figure and better health.
Water is the key to life, and it turns out it's also one of the easiest ways to help your metabolism. Drinking water increases your metabolism by up to 25% for nearly an hour after drinking it. That means if you drink a few cups of water every hour, you'll keep your metabolism at peak performance all day.
Your Metabolism Will Slow Down to Store Fat
The more you work out or manage your calorie intake to lose weight, the more your metabolism wants to compensate by slowing down to maintain your current weight, this is called metabolic compensation. It kicks in to preserve and store fat for future energy.
Be patient
It may take you some time to increase your metabolism — three months is a reasonable timeframe to expect to see changes. If you are having a hard time losing weight, you might consider having your metabolism tested by a professional nutritionist.
Several research studies have proved that morning habits like waking up early and exercising early in the morning can help lose weight faster.
They discovered that metabolic rate was lowest late during their biological “night,” and highest around 12 hours later, in the biological “afternoon and evening.”
Over time, studies have shown that metabolic rate (how fast we burn calories) starts to slow down by 2 to 3 percent each decade, beginning in our 20s. It becomes more noticeable between ages 40 and 60.
Endomorph Metabolism
Endomorphs have a slow metabolism, so it's easy for them to gain weight (most of which is fat, not muscle). When it comes to fitness and training, a blend of cardio and strength training can help prevent fat gains.
There is such a thing as a slow metabolism. But slow metabolism is rare, and it's usually not what's behind being overweight or obese—that's ultimately a result of interactions among genetics, diet, physical activity, and other factors.