What Is Metabolism? It’s Not What You’ve Been Told

Have you wondered what is metabolism? Why can some people eat without gaining weight, while others also struggle with the smallest snack? Well, the answer lies in how your body converts food to energy. 

Your metabolism is a complex process that can affect or slow down weight, energy level, and general health. Studies show that about 60% of Indians struggle with low energy levels due to a dull metabolism, especially in urban areas where lifestyle and diet patterns have changed significantly over the years. 

In 2023, the average metabolic rate for an adult Indian is lower than the global average, and more people experience unexplained weight gain despite a normal diet. So if you have ever felt that your metabolism is not working for you, you are not alone. 

Understanding that this is the first step toward increasing your energy and making the weight loss more efficient!

What Exactly Is Metabolism?

Metabolism refers to the complex network of chemical reactions in your body that convert food into energy, maintain cell functions, and support vital processes like breathing, digestion, and circulation. It’s not just about burning calories but also regulating how your body uses and stores energy.

Metabolism means in Hindi “उपापचय”

Metabolism is your body’s internal power system
It converts the food you eat into energy, allowing your body to perform everything from breathing to cell repair. Every function, from blinking to running, depends on how effectively your metabolism processes nutrients. 

Metabolism is your body’s internal engine that turns food into energy. A faster metabolism burns calories quickly through catabolism, while a slower one stores more energy during anabolism, often leading to weight gain.

There are 2 different types of metabolism as given below.

• Anabolism and Catabolism
  Anabolism
  Anabolism is the process by which your body builds new cells, tissues, and stores energy. It helps in growth, repair, and maintaining healthy body functions.
  
  Catabolism
• Catabolism breaks down food and stored energy into smaller molecules to fuel your body. It releases energy needed for daily activities and internal processes.

Metabolism = Your Body’s Engine

• Think of it like a car engine running 24/7
  Just like an engine burns fuel, your body burns calories to keep going even while you sleep. Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) accounts for 60–75% of daily energy use, showing how vital this “engine” is.
  
• Activity and food are your fuel and speed control
  Exercise boosts metabolism short-term, while protein-rich foods can increase calorie burn due to the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). TEF means your body uses more energy digesting certain foods, protein burns up to 30% of its calories during digestion.

Moreover, according to NCBI, energy intake and regular exercise significantly influence resting metabolic rate by enhancing overall calorie expenditure.

Why Everyone’s Metabolism Works Differently

• Genetics and age play a big role
  Some people naturally have faster BMRs due to their genetic code. Age slows metabolism because muscle mass decreases over time. By age 30, most people begin losing 3–8% of muscle per decade, lowering calorie needs.
  
• Lifestyle choices can either boost or block it
  Poor sleep, skipping meals, and stress can reduce metabolic efficiency. Meanwhile, consistent movement and hydration help it function better. Even small tweaks like walking after meals or drinking green tea can create positive shifts over time.

What Are The Different Types Of Metabolism?

When we talk about metabolism, we’re usually referring to how quickly or slowly our body burns calories. While biologically, metabolism includes anabolism (building) and catabolism (breaking down), in everyday terms, we mostly focus on two common types:

• Slow Metabolism
• Fast Metabolism

What Is Slow Metabolism?

Slow metabolism means your body converts food into energy at a slower pace. This leads to fewer calories burned, especially at rest or during daily activities. The unburned calories are more likely to be stored as fat, making weight loss harder and weight gain more likely.

Common signs:

• Easy weight gain
• Fatigue or low energy
• Difficulty losing weight despite efforts

What Is Fast Metabolism?

Fast metabolism meaning you must understand that your body burns calories quickly, even while you’re doing nothing. People with a fast metabolism often need more calories to maintain their weight and may eat more without gaining fat easily.

Common signs:

• Trouble gaining weight
• Feeling hungry often
• High energy levels

What Is Metabolic Adaptation?

Metabolic adaptation, also known as adaptive thermogenesis, is your body’s clever way of adjusting how many calories it burns in response to changes in diet, weight, or activity levels.

In simple terms, when you eat less or lose weight, your body tries to save energy by slowing down your metabolism, like a survival mode. This makes further weight loss harder and can sometimes even lead to plateaus or weight regain, even if you’re sticking to your diet.

For Example:

Imagine you’re on a strict 1200-calorie diet and have lost 5 kg.

At first, your body burns calories efficiently. But after a while, it notices the calorie drop and thinks, “Uh-oh, we’re starving!” – so it starts burning fewer calories to conserve energy.

Even if you keep eating only 1200 calories, you will stop losing weight.

Common Signs of Metabolic Adaptation:

• Sudden weight loss plateau
• Constant fatigue or weakness
• Cold sensitivity
• Hunger or food cravings

Metabolic adaptation is one reason why crash diets often backfire. Sustainable, balanced weight loss plans (with proper nutrition, strength training, and rest) help minimize this effect.

Moreover, whether metabolism high or low is good! What matters most is how well it supports your energy, weight goals, and overall health. In addition, High metabolism meaning and low metabolism refer to how quickly or slowly your body burns calories for energy, affecting weight loss, energy levels, and overall health.

Fast vs Slow Metabolism: What’s the Difference?

Feature	Fast Metabolism	Slow Metabolism
Calorie Burn Rate	Burns more calories at rest and during activity	Burns fewer calories even during basic tasks
Hunger Levels	Often feels hungrier due to quicker digestion	Rarely feels hungry, and digestion is slower
Weight Gain Tendency	Harder to gain weight easily	Tends to gain weight easily

How Metabolism Affects Your Weight Loss?

Metabolism, in simple words, is just your body’s engine. It takes the food you eat and turns it into the fuel you need to stay alive, whether you’re running a marathon or just lying on the couch doing nothing.

Even when you’re asleep, your body is burning calories to keep your heart beating and your lungs working. That base number of calories you burn doing absolutely nothing? That’s called your BMR — Basal Metabolic Rate.

Now, say your BMR is 1400 calories. That means, without even stepping outside, your body needs 1400 calories a day just to keep everything running smoothly. If you eat more than that and don’t move much, your body stores the leftover as fat. If you eat a little less and stay active, you’ll probably lose weight.

But here’s where it gets tricky. If you suddenly drop to eating, let’s say, only 800 calories a day, your body freaks out. It doesn’t know you’re trying to lose weight, it thinks you’re starving. So, to protect itself, it slows everything down. That’s called metabolic adaptation.

Your body burns fewer calories to hold on to energy, which means you stop losing weight, even if you’re still eating less.

This is why crash diets usually backfire. Instead of cutting your food too much, it’s smarter to eat balanced meals, include some protein, move your body regularly, and let your body feel safe. When your body feels taken care of, your metabolism works better, and weight loss becomes more natural.

Metabolism Myths Indians Believe 

Myth 1: Drinking Hot Water Speeds Metabolism
While hot water aids digestion, it doesn’t significantly increase your metabolic rate. Only exercise and muscle mass influence it in the long term.

Myth 2: Thin People Always Have Fast Metabolism
Thinness doesn’t always mean fast metabolism; lifestyle, genetics, and diet play major roles. Some lean people still burn calories slowly.

Myth 3: Eating Spicy Food Boosts Metabolism Permanently
Spices may cause a short-term spike, but won’t lead to lasting calorie burn or weight loss.

Can A Poor Metabolism Make You Fat?

• Yes, if your body stores more than it burns
  A sluggish metabolism means fewer calories burned at rest, leading to fat accumulation even with average food intake.
• Hormonal conditions matter
  Conditions like hypothyroidism, common in Indians (affecting ~11% of adults), can dramatically slow metabolism, making fat loss difficult.
• A sedentary lifestyle worsens the impact
  Sitting all day, with low muscle mass, directly slows your basal metabolic rate, making weight loss feel impossible even on a diet.

What Factors Affect Metabolism?

If you are on your weight loss journey and your weight is stuck, it could be due to weak metabolism; hence, here are a few factors responsible for affect your metabolism.

1. Too Much Workout

• Your metabolism must be raised to lose weight permanently, however, people tend to overdo it.
• The majority of people believe that exercise and metabolic health boost metabolism; however, excessive activity might have the exact opposite impact.
• Too much workout causes physical stress to your body, which affects hormones, including estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol as well as how well your thyroid functions.

2. Crash Diets

• According to studies, losing weight quickly through crash diets can lower your metabolism more than losing weight properly.
• Your body adjusts to try to hold on to everything it can when you go on a crash diet, and there is considerably less food available, which means your metabolism will slow down to match a decrease in the quantity of energy you consume (in the form of calories).
• Moreover, according to NCBI, weight reduction can lead to adaptive thermogenesis, lowering resting metabolic rate, and hindering long-term weight maintenance.
• When you start a crash diet, you could lose weight fast for the first few weeks, but once your body adjusts to “less food,” over time, you will stop losing any weight.

3. Medical Conditions

• Hypertension, low HDL or good cholesterol levels, high glucose levels, and weight gain, are referred to as metabolic syndrome.
• Metabolic disorders may have an impact on the availability of enzymes needed to break down food or the effectiveness with which cells can create energy.
• The body’s ability to break down huge molecules for energy, and the ability with which cells can create energy, might all be impacted by metabolic disorders.

4. Sleep Disorders

• Sleep and metabolism are closely linked. Poor sleep can slow down your metabolism, making it harder to burn calories efficiently. This may lead to weight gain and increase the risk of diabetes.
• When you don’t get enough sleep or have sleep apnea, your chance of developing dementia, Parkinson’s disease, anxiety, and other illnesses rises. 
• Poor sleep not only affects your energy levels but also has a significant negative impact on your brain.

How To Increase Your Metabolism?

Discover expert tips from renowned dietitian Mac Singh on how to revive a sluggish metabolism. In this insightful video, he shares 5 simple yet powerful lifestyle hacks that can help you naturally reset and boost your metabolic health. 

Whether you’re struggling with weight loss or low energy, these practical strategies are designed to fit easily into your daily routine and deliver real, lasting results.

1. Meal Planning 

• Diet plays a vital role in metabolism enhancement. For metabolism to function properly, it requires food, which it converts into energy.
• Break the pattern of your diet, take 2 mid-meals: 1st meal between breakfast and lunch; 2nd meal between lunch and dinner, followed by 4 mini-meals like having a stimulus, i.e., green tea, green coffee.
• Make sure to stay hydrated and increase your water intake in your daily routine.

2. Work It Out

• It is important to work out daily, but it’s more important not to overdo it. Excessive cardio or any form of exercise can lead to metabolic syndrome.
• To stop weight fluctuation, you need to reduce your fat percentage and increase your body muscle mass, which can only be done with the help of a good workout 

3. Proper Sleep

• Recent studies on sleep have revealed that insufficient sleep may reduce the body’s capacity to turn fat into energy. 
• Sleep has an impact on each person’s metabolism. Getting enough good-quality sleep can aid in maintaining your body’s ideal metabolic rate for your age.
• Proper 6-8 hours of sleep facilitate weight loss (and prevent weight gain) and lower your chance of developing disorders linked to weight increase.

4. Physical Activity 

• An important factor in determining an individual’s energy consumption is physical activity. Our bodies must burn more calories when we are physically engaged to avoid storing those calories as fat.
• Be active throughout the day. Immediately after main meals, walk 1000 steps at least.
• Any form of physical activity, such as running, walking, swimming, and even dancing, can increase your metabolic rate and help you burn more calories.

5. Food To Eat

• Certain foods increase metabolism, which you can add to your daily diet, and will help you increase your metabolic rate.
• Consuming fiber-rich foods and healthy carbs can also help in building metabolic rates.
• Adding a good amount of protein-rich foods can lead to high metabolism. Eggs, salmon, milk, yogurt, etc, are rich in protein, so avoid red meat; instead, focus on seafood.
• Intake of spicy food can also boost metabolism, as spicy food contains a component called capsaicin, which helps in burning the body fat faster.

Can You Boost Your Metabolism?

Yes, boosting metabolism is possible through simple dietary, exercise, and lifestyle changes. It’s not about crash diets or extreme workouts; small, consistent changes can make a big difference.

Indian Foods That Naturally Support Metabolism

• Turmeric (Haldi)
  Curcumin, the active compound in turmeric, reduces inflammation and improves insulin sensitivity. Studies suggest it can increase fat burning when combined with a healthy diet.
  
• Ginger (Adrak)
  Gingerol helps activate thermogenesis, the process of heat production in the body that burns calories. Drinking ginger tea post-meals improves digestion and metabolism.
  
• Curry Leaves (Kadi Patta)
  These detoxify the liver and aid in breaking down fats efficiently. Regular consumption supports better lipid metabolism, especially in carb-heavy Indian diets.
  
• Buttermilk (Chaas)
  Packed with probiotics and calcium, it boosts gut health, which plays a direct role in nutrient absorption and metabolic efficiency.

Best Exercises for Metabolism Boost 

• Surya Namaskar
  This full-body yoga sequence improves circulation and muscle tone, increasing resting metabolic rate. Just 12 rounds burn up to 156 calories.
  
• Brisk Walking
  Walking at a fast pace for 30 minutes daily improves insulin sensitivity and burns calories. It’s perfect for all age groups and requires no equipment.
  
• High Knees at Home
  This simple cardio movement increases your heart rate and triggers post-exercise calorie burn, known as EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption).

Daily Habits to Improve Your Body’s Metabolism

• Hydrate First Thing in the Morning
  Drinking water after waking up kickstarts your digestion and metabolic processes. Studies show cold water can slightly increase calorie burn.
  
• Eat a Protein-Rich Breakfast
  A high-protein breakfast (like eggs or paneer) reduces cravings and stabilizes blood sugar. Protein requires more energy to digest, aiding metabolism.
  
• Sleep 7-8 Hours Daily
  Poor sleep affects hunger hormones and slows metabolism. Consistent sleep improves fat-burning hormones like leptin and growth hormone.

Bottomline:

• Metabolism: Metabolism is your body’s power system, converting food into energy to fuel every function, from breathing to healing. By making smarter lifestyle choices and staying active, you can naturally support a healthier, more efficient metabolism.
  
• Types Of Metabolism: Slow metabolism leads to fewer calories being burned, making weight loss more challenging, while fast metabolism results in burning more calories even at rest, making it easier to maintain or lose weight. Understanding your metabolism type can help you tailor your diet and exercise routine for better results.
  
• Metabolic Adaptation: Metabolic adaptation is your body’s way of adjusting to lower calorie intake by slowing down your metabolism to conserve energy. This protective mechanism helps maintain balance, making weight loss harder over time.
  
• How Metabolism Affects Your Weight? Metabolism plays a crucial role in weight management by determining how many calories your body burns at rest and during activity. Factors like genetics, lifestyle, and muscle mass influence metabolic rate, making it essential to focus on exercise and healthy habits for optimal weight control.
  
• Factors Affecting Metabolism: To optimize metabolism and support weight loss, it’s important to avoid overtraining, crash diets, and sleep disorders. Maintaining balanced habits, along with addressing medical conditions, is crucial for sustaining a healthy metabolism and achieving long-term results.
  
• How To Increase Metabolism? To boost your metabolism, focus on meal planning, staying active, and getting quality sleep. Incorporating protein-rich foods, fiber, and spices can further revitalize your metabolic health and support weight loss efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is The Simple Definition Of Metabolism?

Metabolism is the process by which your body converts food into energy to support essential functions like breathing, digestion, and movement, even when you’re resting.

How Can I Increase My Metabolism?

You can boost metabolism by building muscle, staying active, eating enough protein, drinking water, sleeping well, and avoiding long-term calorie restriction that can slow your body’s energy burn.

Is High Metabolism Good?

Yes, a high metabolism helps burn more calories and maintain energy levels. However, it can also mean needing more food to meet your body’s fuel and nutrient needs.

What Is Body Metabolism?

Body metabolism refers to all the chemical processes that occur in your body to maintain life, including breaking down food, building cells, and producing energy for daily activities.

Contact Us Today

We understand it is a bit tricky to decide which diet plan will work for you and which will not; it can be complicated and confusing, so you need to consult a professional. So, contact us today if you are looking for a customized diet plan or any diet plans, and we will help you fulfill your New Year’s resolution.

Disclaimer

This blog post was written to help you make healthy and better food choices. So, be aware and take care. The important thing to consider is your own health before starting a diet that is restrictive. Always seek advice from a doctor or dietitian before starting if you have any concerns.

Eat healthily, live healthy, and enjoy a long, happy life!