Elevating your Metabolic Rate

This is a good article by Tom Venuto, professional body builder
Meal Frequency
We will keep your metabolic rate elevated firstly by meal frequency. I explain the importance of this in my last fat burning article. I strongly suggest that you review of it by clicking here.
Correct Way to Feed Your body
If you don't feed your body properly, " at the right times" it will rebel against you by lowering its thyroid hormone output, thereby slowing your metabolism to a crawl! Your mission in this diet will be to properly feed your body the correct amount of carbs at the times that it needs them most.
When I say It needs them most I am referring to the times in which your body will least likely store fat. As mentioned before there are two occasions in the day in which you will find yourself in this situation. Both are related to the same scenario. This is based on the time when your muscles are depleted the most and are primarily looking to replace these stores rather then store fat. During these periods you can take advantage of the anabolic effects of insulin. These two meals are of course breakfast and post workout.
If you feed yourself the proper amount of carbs at these times you will notice that your metabolic rate maintains itself for a much longer time throughout the duration of your diet.
Your sole purpose for the rest of the day will be to control your insulin levels by placing them in a state that is conducive to burning fat. You will again do this by only eating leafy green, fibrous vegetables and proteins. This way you get the best of both worlds. Increased recovery and optimal fat burning.
Maintaining Muscle Mass
The largest problem with mainstream starvation diets is that they burn an equally high amount of muscle as they do fat. The goal when dieting is to burn fat and maintain as much muscle as possible. As you may know the more muscle you have the higher your metabolic rate will be. And conversely the more muscle you lose the slower your metabolic rate will become. ( To further read about the importance of maintaining muscle click here )This is accomplished by
A. maintaining a proper saturation of amino acids in your body. I.E. six protein rich meals a day.
and
B. Promoting optimal recovery under an adverse situation. I mention the word adverse because when you are dieting you are low on macronutrients ( food ) so recovery is made difficult and cortisol levels ( muscle wasting hormone ) are allot higher then when maintaining or bulking. This is why I tout insulin control as a priority of this diet. I encourage you to use it when fat storage is unlikely and cortisol is at its highest and I discourage you from using it the rest of the day. Thereby you get the best of both worlds. Increased recovery and increased fat burning. And therefore maintain muscle at a much higher rate.
Caloric Deficit Very Important!
You need to understand that the only way to lose fat is to burn more calories in a day then you consume! If you do not then you cannot reach your goal. Therefore you must lower your calories or up your workload in order to tap into your fat stores. However you do not want to lower your calories too low too quickly! If you do, you will undoubtedly trigger your bodies alarm systems and your metabolism will immediately suffer. To avoid this travesty, start by slowly lowering them by 500 and when you hit a plateau lower them slightly again. Perhaps only by 200 to get your fat burning going again. ( or you could calorie cycle, see below )
My point is that I do not advice dropping your calories by 1500 in one day! You need to slowly lower them! For example, say someone was bulking up with 4,000 calories a day. They would start their cut by lowering them to 3,500. They burn fat for a while with this and then hit a plateau. The problem may only be that they need to change their workout up. But if that doesn't work then they should lower their calories down to 3,000 to give their fat burning another kick start. By the end of their cut they may be all the way down to 2, 500 calories a day. But they did not get their over night! Doing so would cause their body's to go into shock and slow their metabolic rate to a crawl! I urge you to take this into consideration when you come up with your caloric intake. Starvation is never an option! If you do starve yourself then you have defeated the purpose of this article which is to control your body. Not for your body to control you!
Calorie Cycling ( This is a more in depth method of raising and lowering your calories )
Since the goal is to keep your metabolic rate revved you may also incorporate calorie cycling. The concept is simple. Say my goal is to create a deficit of 500 calories a day for a week. If I maintain at 4,000 a day then I would then need to lower my calories to 3, 500 to accomplish this. Or the average of 3, 500 over a week. This is where cycling comes in. By changing the amount of calories I eat each day I will end up tricking my body into believing that it is not dieting and in turn it will keep its metabolic rate revved longer. An example of this would be:
Monday: 3, 700 caloriesTuesday: 3, 300 caloriesWednesday: 3, 600 caloriesThursday: 3, 400 caloriesFriday: 3, 800 caloriesSaturday: 3, 200 caloriesSunday: 3, 500 calories
On Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday you will have raised the calories in your diet rather then lowered them. By doing this you will trick your body into believing it is just fine and it will reward you by more readily releasing its fat stores. In edition you still created the same deficit that you would have if you simply had gone 3, 500 the entire week. I know several bodybuilders and clients that I have trained that literally never hit a plateau because they cycled their calories so well. And as a mental bonus it helps to be able to feed yourselfextra calories on certain days. This can do wonders for the dieters state of mind.
Another way to calorie cycle would be to average 3,500 for 3-5 weeks and then for 5 days re-up your calories to 4,000 to re-set your metabolism. There are many many different ways to cycle calories. Just as you keep your body on the edge with your workout you should do so with your diet. You can cycle up to re-set your calories or cycle down to re-create a deficit. The key is to keep your body on its toes throughout your diet.
Sample Diet Diagnosed
I will now explain my thinking behind each meal. The following diet is a sample 2, 400 calorie regimen. You will follow the same pattern. The difference will of course be your daily intake of calories. You may need a little more than 2, 400 but that is beside the point. What I want to do here is to breakdown the pattern for you.
Meal One:
As stated earlier in the article, breakfast is a key meal in your day! You need to replace your glycogen stores so that you promote recovery and keep your bodies metabolic rate high. I would recommend 300 calories of oatmeal and 200 calories of protein. This is an excellent way to get your day started and will accomplish exactly what you set out to do. Giving you well over 50 grams of protein and several complex carbs to promote recovery.
Meal Two:
Our goal here is just to maintain a steady flow of amino acids in your body. In this meal I recommend a spoonful of flax or Safflower oil and 200 calories worth of protein. This is approximately 300 calories and roughly 40-50 grams of protein. The main reason I include fat is because if you only consumed protein then your body would not have a source of energy. It would then have to convert the protein you consumed to glucose. In turn you would still end out releasing more insulin then you intended to and not create a sound environment for fat loss. Let me also add that flax seed and safflower oil have several essential fatty acids which will aid you in your goal of maintaining muscle mass and improving insulin sensitivity.
Meal Three:
You will again need a source of carbs in this meal. I would suggest a tossed salad. It should consist of lettuce, broiled chicken cut up in small pieces and a spoonful of safflower oil and vinegar. The ratios would be about 150 calories worth of chicken, 100 worth of safflower oil and 150 worth of lettuce or other greens. Which is actually allot of greens because they will go a long way. This will give you a slow burning source of carbohydrates that release a low and steady stream of insulin, rather than a quick burst which is completely counter productive to your fat burning goals.
workout: This is filled in by whatever your workout is
Meal 4 " post workout meal " :
Again, this is one of the few times in which your body will not store fat in the presence of a large burst of insulin. Rather its full concentration will be to store the carbs you eat as muscle energy reserves. In edition by feeding your body properly during this window you will not set off any alarms that would cause it to slow its metabolic rate.I recommend 300 calories of a quick burning carb source such as cool aid or a sugary sports drink. Mix this with 40 grams of whey protein for a total of 500 calories.
Meal 5 Dinner
This will be your last carbohydrate meal. I suggest 200 calories worth of greens and 200 worth of protein. A vegtable and meat stir fry would be an ideal dinner. Again, I choose greens because it is extremely slow burning and very conducive to burning fat!
Last Meal
One of the biggest myths taught to our society is telling people to stop eating at a certain time of the day. That is complete and utter nonsense! Think about it. After you go to sleep you will force your body to fast for the next 6-12 hours! To force it to go without food for any longer than that would be pure insanity! So right before you go to bed I want you to have another protein shake with a spoonful of flax or safflower oil for a total of 300 calories. This will actually increase your metabolism while you sleep!
Supplementation
For optimal muscle retention I recommend:
1. 10-15 grams a day of glutamine
2. Chromium: if you are deficient in this your fat burning goals may be sabotaged!
3. Multivitamin: If you are not taking one of these, then you need to be. There is no way that you can get enough vitamins from your diet alone, no matter what anyone says! Popping one or two multivitamins a day takes the guess work out of it!
4. Vitamin C: This is my all time favorite supplement. Its cheap and it is the ultimate antioxidant. You see, when we have calorie deficiencies our bodies will become susceptible to colds. Vitamin C will boost your immune system tremendously! Take at least 3 grams a day of this vitamin and more if you are feeling run down. You can read more about it by clicking here
5. Creatine is an excellent supplement and can assist you in maintaining muscle mass
6. Flax Seed Oil and Safflower Oil: These are an excellent source of essential fatty acids and will assist you in maintaining proper blood sugar levels while your carbs are lower.

Weightlifting and Senior Citizens

Now that you're older, you may not spend much time flexing in front of the mirror or trying to add inches to your vertical leap. So why bother lifting weights? The truth is that building your muscles is more important than ever at this stage of life. Muscles tend to weaken with age, and this decline can eventually rob seniors of their active, independent lifestyles. Fortunately, you can reverse that trend with a few simple exercises. It's safe, it's effective, and it's never too late to start. You may even enjoy it!

Should seniors lift weights?
The American College of Sports Medicine now recommends weight training for all people over 50, and even people well into their 90s can benefit. A group of nursing home residents ranging in age from 87 to 96 recently improved their muscle strength by almost 180 percent after just eight weeks of weightlifting, also known as strength training. Adding that much strength is almost like rolling back the clock. Even frail elderly people find their balance improves, their walking pace quickens, and stairs become less of a challenge.
Among these elders is Sara, 91, who had a lot of trouble walking after healing from a serious hip fracture. But after starting a weight-lifting program in which she practiced either leg presses or leg curls three times a week, she was able to walk a quarter of a mile without assistance and pedal a stationary bike.
"I feel better physically and mentally; I feel wonderful inside and out," Sara told the authors of the book Successful Aging (Dell, 1999). "I must go for that exercise three times a week, I must. You have to push yourself."

What are the benefits of weightlifting for seniors?
•Improved walking ability. A University of Vermont study of healthy seniors ages 65 to 79 found that subjects could walk almost 40 percent farther without a rest after 12 weeks of weight training. Such endurance can come in handy for your next shopping trip, but there's an even better reason to pep up your gait. Among seniors, insufficient leg strength is a powerful predictor of future disabilities, including the inability to walk. An 89-year-old senior interviewed in Successful Aging said that after two years of weightlifting, "I walk straight instead of shuffling. It gives me lots of energy. My family can't believe it."
•Ease in performing day-to-day tasks. By giving you the strength to handle your daily routines, weightlifting can help you maintain your independence. Researchers at the University of Alabama found that healthy women ages 60 to 77 who lifted weights three hours each week for 16 weeks could carry groceries and get up from a chair with much less effort than before.
•Prevention of broken bones. Weightlifting can protect you from devastating fractures in several ways. For one, the exercises boost your strength, balance, and agility, making it less likely that you'll suffer a nasty fall. A study at Tufts University found that older women who lifted weights for a year improved their balance by 14 percent. (A control group composed of women who didn't lift weights suffered a 9 percent decline in balance in the same year.) Weight training can also build bone mass in the spine and the hip, so it's especially important for people with the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.
•Relief from arthritis pain. By strengthening the muscles, tendons, and ligaments around your joints, weightlifting can dramatically improve your range of motion. It can also cut down on pain by increasing the capability of muscles surrounding the afflicted joint, which eases stress on the joint itself. Arthritis sufferers should begin by using light weights and work up to heavier ones very gradually.
•Weight loss. Lifting weights doesn't burn many calories, but it does rev up your metabolism. Overweight seniors who combine strength training with a healthy diet are almost certain to shed a few pounds.
•Improved glucose control. If you are among the millions of Americans with Type 2 diabetes, strength training can help you keep it under control. In one study of Hispanic men and women with diabetes, 16 weeks of strength training provided dramatic improvements, comparable to taking medication. The study also showed that volunteers increased muscle strength, lost body fat, and gained more self-confidence.
•Other benefits. Studies suggest weight training can help people sleep better and even ease mild to moderate depression.
How can I get started?
You should always check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program -- and when you do, expect your doctor to be thrilled with your decision. If you have hypertension, your doctor may want to run a few tests to make sure lifting weights won't cause a dangerous rise in your blood pressure. Fortunately, almost all people with high blood pressure can safely enjoy the benefits of strength training.
Once you get your doctor's go-ahead, you will choose your setting and your equipment. You can join a gym or a university exercise program that offers exercise machines, professional guidance, and lots of socializing, but you can also get an excellent workout at home using barbells, cans of food, or even plastic milk jugs filled with water or gravel. And get advice from a physical trainer before you begin: Instruction on proper technique is very important to help you enjoy the exercise without risking injury