What Affects My Metabolic Rate ?
The next most significant component of metabolic rate is the calories burned through activity. This might be walking to the bus stop, hoovering or swimming. There are two aspects to the calculation – how much energy is expended on the activity (where larger muscle groups consume greater levels of calorie intake) and the duration of the activity. Usually this aspect of metabolism accounts for about 15-25% of total metabolic rate. Again, if you could increase the amount of muscle tissue in your body, then you will use more calories during exercise and indeed during normal routine activities. About 5-10% of your total metabolism is expended in actually metabolising food – this includes the digestion, absorption and metabolism. This is one of the reasons why many diet programmes eating more frequently. The very act of eating causes calories to be burned. The last component of metabolism are those used to regulate body temperature. This aspect of metabolism is known as adaptive thermogenesis. On average, about 7% of your total metabolic rate is expended producing body heat to regulate your temperature. Theoretically, you could cause your body to burn marginally more calories by being underdressed and therefore causing your body to work harder to keep you warm.