What about metabolism?

Metabolism (also known as your Metabolic Rate or Basal Metabolic Rate-BMR) is the rate at which your energy is utilized. The largest component of your metabolism (approximately 70%), is the BMR which is how many calories you burn just living. In other words it is the energy used by your body to perform functional everyday activities such as breathing, keeping the heart beating and maintaining body temperature. The energy your body needs to operate during your waking hours is fueled by the food you take in during the day and the way we burn this food for fuel is by activities such as aerobics, strength training and other heart rate raising acts throughout the day. The process of creating heat and energy is known as Thermogenesis and the two ways you do this is through eating and moving. As you age your BMR decreases and there are many factors that affect this rate from person to person even beyond the age.

Some things which can affect your metabolic rate:

Genetics: A slow metabolism (you burn calories more slowly) or fast metabolism (you burn calories faster) can be inherited.
Amount of lean muscle: Muscle burns calories faster than fat. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even at rest.
Sex differences: Males generally have a 10 to 15% faster BMR than females because the male body has a larger percentage of lean muscle tissue.
Age: Younger people have faster metabolisms due to increased activity of cells.

Other components of your metabolism include physical activity, which accounts for about 20% of calories burned, and dietary thermogenesis, which is the number of calories required for digesting and processing the food you eat. This accounts for the remaining 10% of energy needs.

Calories needed to maintain your current body weight: (If you plan or desire to lose weight you will need to alter your caloric intake, as well as establish a proper exercise routine and protocol).

Age Calories per lb of body weight to maintain current weight

20’s 15 calories per pound of body weight
30’s 14 calories
40’s 13 calories
50’s 12 calories
60’s 11 calories

Example: 34 year old male weighing 165 lbs = 2310 calories per day to maintain this weight