Take Control of Your Metabolism: Quick Tips for Increased Muscle Tone, Faster Fat Burning, and Energy Levels Like a 9 Year Old!

So many people are talking about how slow their metabolism is and why they need to start taking latest diet supplement scam yet they don’t even understand how human metabolism works. So before I even go into how to speed yours up, I want to first go over some of basics. What is metabolism? Although there are many scientific ways for me explain it, and I could make it seem really confusing like most of so-called experts do, but I won’t. I’m going to give you my extremely simple and easy to understand definition...

metabolism is rate at which your body burns calories to sustain life I should also note that your body, yes yours, burns calories 24 hours a day, everyday – regardless of whether or not you workout. Remember that your body needs energy all time, even while you’re asleep and that is why skipping meals is absolute worst thing you can do if your goal is to lose weight (body fat). Before we go any further let’s talk about what affects metabolism... What affects metabolism? What do you think has biggest impact on your metabolism? Activity levels? Your Thyroid? Age? WRONG! WRONG! and WRONG! Activity levels, Thyroid function, and age do affect metabolism but not nearly as much as... any idea? It’s muscle tissue! The more muscle you have more calories you burn regardless of how active you are, how old you are, etc. It’s live tissue and it’s there working for you and burning calories 24 hours a day – each and every day! Here’s a list of some of factors affecting metabolism in order of greatest impact to least: muscle tissue (you already know why this is on top of list) meal frequency (the longer you go between meals more your metabolism slows down to conserve energy) activity level (important but doesn’t make any difference if you don’t match your eating to your expenditure) food choices (ex. low-fat diets tend to result in poor hormone production which leads to a slower metabolism) hydration (over 70% of bodily functions take place in water – not enough water causes all your systems to slow down and unnecessary stress) genetics (some people have higher metabolisms than others – you can’t change genetics but you can still win battle!) hormone production and function (think you have a slow thyroid? it’s not likely – before you go blame it on thyroid first stabilize your blood sugar and throw in some progressive exercise 2-3 times each week) stress (stress also can slow metabolism by placing extra stress and strain on numerous systems. plus, many people tend to overeat when “stressed out”) Why does it slow down? How many times have you heard someone say, “as soon as you hit 30 your metabolism slows down”? Maybe you’ve said it. I know I hear it all time and I got tired of hearing it so I did a little research and found that metabolism does NOT slow down significantly due to aging but DOES due to a lack of muscle. And, you don’t lose muscle quickly due to aging either but due to a decrease or lack of physical stress. So, major cause of a slowing metabolism is three fold... 1. you lose muscle due to lack of physical stress 2. your body cannibalizes muscle when it needs energy but you won’t supply any because you are “dieting” and skipping meals 3. your activity levels tend to decrease as you get older So now that we know problem... what’s solution? Address those 3 issues! I’ve found through years of experience helping hundreds of people, that increasing your metabolism and getting rid of that excess body fat can often times be quite easy! Yet you’ll hear of all these experts telling you how hard it is and why you need to buy their new diet program, supplement, or fitness contraption. It’s not that hard, it doesn’t have to be confusing, and you don’t need any of that crap! All you need is an understanding of how your body works and willingness to make some small changes.

What is a Herniated Disc, how is it different from a Bulging Disc, and what you can do about it?

So what in world is a Herniated Disc??? Well, rather than confuse you more, I am going to give you my simple, easy to understand definition… a herniated disc is simply a protrusion, or sticking out of disc. Think of a disc as a balloon being held in place between your hands… if you push your hands together unevenly balloon will bulge out on opposite side. This is what happens to disc between vertebrae. A Bulging Disc is same thing as a herniated disc… just a different name. Herniated discs are probably one of most common diagnosis’s for back pain out there and is often used when a doctor can’t find an explanation for person’s pain… similar to a doctor explaining away various aches and pains as arthritis. The problem is, many people who are diagnosed with a herniated disc don’t have pain because of it… and, for years, research has shown that in many cases, people live with herniated discs yet never have any back pain or symptoms. The point is, if you’ve been diagnosed with a herniated or bulging disc, it may not be what’s really causing your back pain! Even if you’ve had x-rays and MRI’s done that show a herniated disc, chances are still very good that it’s not problem… so read on to learn more and find out what’s causing your back pain… So what causes a disc to herniate? Well, many people want you to believe it’s old age, excess weight, stress, poor genetics, or how you lift a heavy object… while these are all potential factors, biggest factor or cause is uneven pressure placed on disc. Yes, you read that right… uneven pressure on discs is biggest cause of herniated discs. Remember we talked earlier about uneven pressure? Well, months and years of this uneven pressure causes discs to breakdown. Do you have any idea what causes this uneven pressure? It’s something so simple that it amazes me how many people, including experts (orthopedic specialists, chiropractors, physical therapists, etc) fail to recognize it. So what is it??? Muscle Imbalances. You see, muscle imbalances pull your bones and joints, especially pelvis and spine, out of place and this places excess and uneven wear and tear on body. This is where Chiropractors come in… The whole concept of chiropractic care is to manually move bones and joints back into proper position. Makes sense right? WRONG! Why? Because same muscles that pulled those bones and joints out of place to begin with, will do so again, usually within days. The ONLY way to address muscle imbalances is to first identify them, then work on correcting them with right combination of corrective exercises and stretches… and any treatment that fails to include this formula, is doomed to fail! To learn more about muscle imbalances, be sure to read my article titled “Aches, Pains, and Injuries” here: http://www.losethebackpain.com/achesandpainsarticle.html So when does a Herniated Disc actually cause pain? Typically, a herniated disc will cause pain when it is putting pressure on a nerve or nerves and this pain is usually felt down backside of leg. However, occasionally individuals experience pain in disc itself or area around it.