So many people, middle-aged obese people in particular, aspire for a higher metabolism. After all, when you have it, you can lose weight easily. Or at the very least, lose weight faster than you normally would on a slower metabolism. So many people, teenagers as skinny as beanpole and being brutally teased for it in particular, wish that they do not have such high metabolism operating in their bodies. After all, when you have it, you cannot gain weight easily. So, the question is this: Is a high metabolism a blessing or a curse? Let’s find out.
Definition
First, a definition must be made. Simply put, metabolism is the way that your body burns up the calories consumed through foods eaten. This is a complex process that involves all the chemical reactions taking place in your body to keep your internal and external organs working at top levels and, hence, keep you alive.
Each one of us possesses a unique metabolic rate due to our unique bodies. As we age, however, our metabolism slows down due to a variety of factors like sex, weight, height, body composition, and genetics. On average, our metabolism slows down at least 5 percent each decade such that your high metabolism last year may not be so this year. With that said, a high metabolism refers to the body’s ability to burn calories at a faster rate than the average rate. This may seem like a blessing to you now that you are trying to lose weight but as the following advantages and disadvantages will show you, a high metabolism may not be all that it is cracked up to be.
Disadvantages
If you have a high metabolic rate, you will soon find that gaining and keeping weight are indeed pressing issues. Even when you think that you are consuming plenty of foods and, hence, tons of calories, you still look skinny as a beanpole. For some people, skinny as a beanpole is not exactly the look they want to achieve, not with anorexia lurking around the corner.
There are complications from not gaining weight especially for young people entering their puberty. For one thing, insufficient body fat can lead to abnormal menstrual cycles, maybe even delay their onset. For another thing, dealing with health issues in the future can be harder. So, is high metabolism starting to look bad to you?
Advantages
On the other side of the high metabolism debate, you can lose weight easily even in your middle age years due to this condition. After all, your body burns calories at a faster rate than average.
Hence, you can eat bigger portions of health food than your contemporaries can and still look slimmer than they are. Of course, this presupposes that you engage in moderate exercise, get sufficient sleep, manage stress, avoid the consumption of alcohol, and stop smoking cigarettes to get the fullest benefits of high metabolism in your later years.
So, in answer to the question of whether high metabolism is a blessing or a curse: It all depends on your life goals at the moment as well as how the society you live in perceives the concept of fat. For example, if you live in Tonga, where fat means highly desirable, then you have a problem in your hands with your high metabolism.