Just Move!
Exercise!
By Fitness and Freebies
You exercise more control over your metabolic rate through physical activity than by any other means. When you increase your physical activity, you raise your metabolic rate significantly. According to the Compendium of Physical Activities Tracking Guide (a listing of more than 600 activities and their expected calorie burn), an individual weighing approximately 140 pounds blasts through 570 calories during an hour of vigorous cross-country skiing, 320 calories per hour of low-impact aerobic dancing and 210 calories for 60 minutes of walking at three miles per hour.
Planned exercise isn't the only way to boost metabolic rate. Additional energy is used for just about any non-exercise activity, such as wiggling your foot, unloading the dishwasher, or washing your face.
When researchers examined 10 obese and 10 lean sedentary individuals, they found that the lean participants were in an upright position doing daily activities for about 152 minutes longer each day than the obese individuals. They reported in an issue of Science that such non-exercise movement equaled about 350 calories - about the same amount of calories burned in an hour of low-impact aerobic dancing or consumed in one glazed, cream filled donut.
Your muscle mass also drives your metabolic engine.
As we age, we lose muscle mass, giving us a slower metabolism. Lifting weights slows this loss and even builds more muscle. Is weight training more important than aerobic exercise?
Fit people do both.
