There are several factors that influence your metabolism.
- Some people have a higher metabolic rate thanks to their genes.
- Muscles burn three times more calories than fat even when you’re sleeping, so the proportion of muscle to fat changes your metabolic rate.
- Age makes a difference because the body loses muscle mass with aging, which slows down metabolism.
- When you don’t consume enough calories to support your minimum energy needs, your metabolism slows down by up to 30 percent.
- When the thyroid gland doesn’t produce the right amount of hormones, metabolic rate may drop by 30 to 40 percent.
- Gender: Men generally burn more calories at rest than women
- Individuals with a lower body fat percentage have a higher metabolic rate.
- Individuals with more muscle mass have a higher metabolic rate.
- Diet: A restrictive, low-calorie diet can cause a person’s metabolic rate to decrease by as much as twenty-percent.
- Exercise: Exercise helps to raise a person’s metabolic rate through building muscle tissue, and influences their body weight by burning calories.