Simply put your metabolism is how much energy your body spends each day.
Imagine a 4 cylinder car (your body) that is left idling all day. Over a 24 hour period how much fuel will be burnt (your metabolism)? Leave it idling and a few litres will be used, take it for a country drive (steady state cardio) on a highway and more fuel will be burnt, while a city drive with traffic will require even more fuel due to acceleration and braking (high intensity exercise). Now an 8 cylinder car will use even more fuel as it has more power output. Your body is a car engine and the amount of fuel (calories) it burns depends on how you drive it (activity level).
Some of us are tiny 4 cylinder cars while others are big V8’s and burn a heap of energy due to a greater amount of lean muscle mass (which is why on average men will consume more food per day than females). Just sitting at home working (resting metabolic rate) will burn the majority of your calories (80-85% for non athletes), but going for a walk or lifting weights will generate an increase in your metabolism (energy expenditure). Through consistent training at an appropriate intensity we can increase the resting level of energy our bodies burn. Wouldn’t it be great to burn more fat sitting on the couch!?
Consistently exercising each week is a great way to increase your resting metabolic rate (increase the amount of gas being burnt while idling). It is also possible to increase your metabolism through nutrition. Increasing the amount of protein you consume will increase the bodies thermic effect of food (TEF) as more energy is required to break down protein in the intestines! Also chewing slower will help digestion and the efficiency of your gut.
Increasing lean muscle mass will increase overall energy expenditure per day as there is a greater amount of tissue that needs to be regenerated and repaired. There will be a limit to how much you can gain depending on what age you start. Most people who do not weight train will start to lose lean muscle tissue naturally from 35-40 years of age. Now don’t freak out, as this can be slowed but eventually nature will get the best of us which is why it is so important to keep our muscles and joints active well into retirement. Bone mineral density will also decline as your age, more so in women, and weight training counteracts these declines so get into the gym!
Boosting your metabolism via weights training, cardiovascular exercise and increasing the amount of protein in your diet is a great way to burn more fats while resting. Even a 1-2% increase in your metabolism each day will yield amazing results over a year or longer. Stop thinking short term! An average weights session will only burn 150-300 cals in the novice trainer, which may not seem like a lot, but constantly training for a number of years a couple of times per week for only 30-40mins will help maintain your lean muscle mass well into your mid and later life. And this will have a massive positive impact on the amount of body fat you hold, and will reduce many risks of injury and disease.
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