Your basal metabolic rate - the number of calories your body burns each day just to stay alive - tends to drop as you age.

According to conventional wisdom, this is because you lose a small amount of muscle each year.

However, many people don’t realize that muscle mass is not the only thing that affects your basal metabolic rate.

In fact, studies show that your metabolic rate declines with age independently of muscle loss. In other words, young physically active men tend to have a higher metabolic rate than their older counterparts, even if they have the same amount of muscle.

Why?

The age-related decline in metabolic rate - even when muscle mass is taken into account - is because of two reasons.

• Firstly, there’s a strong link between exercise volume and your metabolic rate. In other words, the more exercise you do, the higher your metabolic rate. The fact that people tend to exercise less as they age is partly responsible for the drop in metabolic rate.

• Second, metabolic rate is also linked to total calorie intake. This means that the more you eat, the higher your metabolic rate. A reduced metabolic rate in older physically active men could be due to the fact they eat less than their younger counterparts.

Some evidence for this comes from a research group based at the University of Colorado [1]. They compared a group of young and older inactive men with physically active men of a similar age.

Even when differences in muscle mass between young and old subjects were taken into account, basal metabolic rate was lower with age in both the inactive and physically active subjects. The older men burned around 64-68 calories per hour, compared to 72-77 calories per hour in the younger subjects.

However, when researchers compared older and younger subjects doing the same amount of exercise and/or eating the same number of calories, there was no difference in basal metabolic rate.

The same holds true in women as well as men. Research comparing premenopausal and postmenopausal women shows that basal metabolic rate, again adjusted for age-related muscle loss, was roughly 10% lower in postmenopausal women who do no exercise [2].

But there was no difference in metabolic rate between premenopausal and postmenopausal women who exercise regularly.

Energy flux

The link between adjusted basal metabolic rate, exercise volume, and energy intake involves a concept known as energy flux, which refers to the flow of calories (or energy) through your body.

A high energy flux means that you’re eating a large number of calories, but balancing that with an equally high volume of exercise. A good example of someone with a high energy flux would be a cyclist taking part in the Tour de France.

Despite the fact these athletes eat thousands of calories each day, they’re so lean simply because they do so much exercise.

Someone following an extremely low-calorie diet while doing little or no exercise is a perfect example of low energy flux.

A lot of people use this approach to lose weight. And it does work, if only for a short time. If you cut your calorie intake too much for long, several things will happen.

• You’ll end up losing muscle as well as fat. Half of the weight lost on a very low-calorie diet comes from muscle.

• You won’t have the energy to exercise. The result is that your metabolic rate will slow down, and weight loss will get harder.

The bottom line

The bottom line is that a drop in your metabolic rate is not an inevitable consequence of aging, and has a lot more to do with the way you live your life.

You can minimize the age-related drop in metabolic rate by maintaining a high energy flux - balancing a nutrient-dense diet with regular exercise.

Not only will this help you stay lean, it’s a great way to provide your body with more of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients it needs to stay healthy

(Note: If you’ve been putting off starting an exercise program because you think you’re too old or just too far gone, grab a copy of Fit Over 40: Role Models For Excellence At Any Age. You’ll find more than 50 inspiring real life success stories which prove that you can boost your metabolism, gain muscle and lose all the weight you want regardless of how old or out of shape you are!)

You cut calories and you exercise. You do exactly what the articles say - Your calories out are greater than your calories in. You should be losing fat. But if you aren’t, perhaps you’re still not paying attention to an often forgotten factor of fat loss - your metabolism.

Your metabolism is a measure of how many calories you are burning each day. But did you know that the food, exercise, and lifestyle choices you make every day have a significant impact on your metabolism? For example, if you starve yourself (instead of following a sensible fat-loss eating plan) your metabolism will slow down. If your metabolism slows down, it means your calories out will be less. And that means no more fat loss, and possibly even continued fat gain.

So for every day that you continue to slow your metabolism with unhealthy lifestyle choices, you get further and further away from fat loss. To help, I’ve put together a list of the top 10 ways to maximize your metabolism, so that you’ll burn as many calories as possible each day so that you can finally lose the fat. For the exact workouts and nutrition plan to help you lose the maximum amount of fat in as little time as possible, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

1. Don’t starve yourself! Cutting calories too much is one of the worst things you can do to your body. Starving yourself actually causes you to lose much more water weight and muscle than fat. Use fitday.com to find out your daily calorie intake.

2. Eat 6-8 small meals per day with an emphasis on lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables. You have to have a nutrition plan, so spend a couple hours on a day off preparing as much food as you can for the upcoming week.

3. Eat breakfast. You have to make this meal part of your daily metabolism-boosting plan. At the very least, eat a lean protein, drink some Green Tea, and consume a fiber-rich fruit to get your fat loss day started right.

4. Eat healthy fats. Sources of healthy fats included nuts, fish, olive oil, and flax oil. I consume 10 grams of fish oil per day. Replace all processed carbohydrates in your diet with almonds. For example, if you currently eat a small bag of pretzels as a mid-afternoon snack, eat almonds instead (eating the same number of total calories).

5. Eat high quality foods that will help you control your blood sugar levels, insulin levels, and energy levels. Insulin management will help you lose fat and prevent you form gaining fat. Controlling your hormone levels is the #1 neglected factor in fat loss programs.

6. Eat 1.14g of protein per pound of lean body mass. If you don’t know your lean body mass, then simply eat 1g of protein per pound of body weight. But if possible, stick to the lean body mass recommendation, as that eliminates excess fat mass when calculating protein needs.

7. Don’t drink alcohol. Alcohol intake can quickly add hundreds of calories and alcohol prevents fat burning. Alcohol intake can also reduce testosterone levels, a big no-no for men looking to get lean.

8. Drink Green Tea and water. While I don’t believe that either of these will increase your metabolism, I do believe that they help prevent decreases in metabolism. Not too mention, these are your 2 healthiest beverage options.

9. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule. Don’t stay up all night, and if possible, avoid working afternoon and overnight shifts. If you must work shiftwork, stick to the rest of these principles as strongly as possible.

10. Use the strength training with moderately heavy weights (that allow you to complete 8 perfect reps per set) and interval training for the most efficient and effective metabolism boosting workout.

If your metabolism has slowed down due to improper dieting or lifestyle, then follow these tips to help you get back on track to lose fat and gain muscle. Once you correct your metabolism, you will be on the road to losing the fat for good. Just in time for summer.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines and all over the Internet, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training