It’s much more complicated than just accelerated metabolism.
Many times you will have wondered that life is quite unfair. Some people must be particularly careful and careful of what they eat to maintain their ideal weight, while others can simply eat what they want and get the same result. What’s the secret of these people?
There is probably not such a simple answer to these questions, since many factors intervene in this process, such as genetic, nutritional, or even the behavior of each individual, and the extent to which each individual affects each person will vary.
Factors Involved in the Process
One of the most important factors that comes into play has nothing to do with body type, metabolism, or some spell with a magic wand: it is perception. A lot of people who seem to eat what they like without gaining weight, they’re not eating more than any of us. For example, if someone eats an ice cream every day, they may naturally compensate for those extra calories by eating less at another meal or eating less for the rest of the day. Or maybe, when eating at a slower pace, the stomach fills up and after a small portion, the stomach feels satiated.
Physical activity is so important that it helps make a difference, and we don’t necessarily mean exercise routines in the gym.
If these people’s calories were measured, surely the result would show that they don’t eat as much as we think. They’re eating calorie-rich foods, which other people can find hard not to overeat.
Physical activity is so important that it helps make a difference, and we don’t necessarily mean exercise routines in the gym. Some people depending on the pace of life they carry simply move more, even without being athletes. For example, being uneasy or walking a lot; having an active job, or spending all day chasing your children when playing. There is even evidence that some people are genetically programmed to want to move their bodies constantly.
That additional movement can also accelerate the body’s metabolism, or how much energy your body spends throughout the day, not including exercise. The greater the movement, mitochondria within the muscle cells will increase in number and activity. And those are the energy sources that are creating and using energy for movement. More mitochondria means more calories burned.
There is not much scientific evidence to suggest that, without exercising, some people are born burning significantly more calories than others. However, there may be physiological differences that allow some people to moderate the amount of calories they consume without it being such a complicated task. Some signals from our nervous system and certain hormones circulating in the blood interact to tell us when we are hungry or when we are satisfied. This is called the appetite regulatory system and may be more sensitive in some people than in others.
Genetics can influence a person’s tendency to gain or lose weight.
One important hormone involved in this system is leptin. This hormone helps regulate the amount of food we want to eat for longer periods, not just for our next meal. That is, the metabolism of these people can simply automatically recalibrate their energy balance because their appetite signaling system can say, okay, we have enough energy.
Genetics can influence a person’s tendency to gain or lose weight. Researchers have identified more than 250 different regions of DNA that are associated with obesity, according to a 2019 study published in PLOS Genetics.
This study was compared to 1,622 healthy people with low body mass index (BMI) 1,985 people with severe obesity and 10,433 people with normal weight control. The result showed that thinner participants had fewer genes associated with obesity. However, according to Dr. Inés Barroso, a researcher at Cambridge University in England and co-author of the study, genes alone do not determine their weight. We didn’t find genes that protect exclusively from obesity or predispose someone to obesity. It seemed like a continuum,” Barroso said, “There are also people who have the genetic determinants of obesity but who are not obese.”
It’s much more complicated than just an accelerated metabolism.
In the end, the answer seems more complex: our tendency to gain weight or maintain our weight is not predetermined, but it is not completely under our control either. There is no genetic switch on and off that allows some people to eat everything they want without gaining weight; at the same time, the tendency to gain weight is not necessarily due to a lack of self-control. Not all people are the same.