Metabolic age: what it is and how to improve it

What does your metabolic age say about you?

Your chronological age tells you how many years you’ve been alive, while your metabolic age gives an insight into how fit and healthy your body is. A ‘good’ metabolic age should be fairly close to your real age, so if you’re 40, then you want it to be around the same, if not lower.

A metabolic age dramatically higher than your actual age can be a sign that you have health problems or may need to change your eating and exercise habits. The good news is, you can improve (lower) your metabolic age with a combination of good nutrition and regular workouts.  

What is metabolic age?

Metabolic age is all about the calories your body is capable of burning while at rest (known as your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR), and how this compares with your real age. The rate at which we burn calories slows down as we get older, this can be why people sometimes find they put on weight in midlife, or find it harder to shift despite not changing our diet.

Put simply, your metabolic age calculation gives you an idea of how old you are on the inside. About 70 percent of the calories you use each day are used by your basal metabolism, to enable your body to do everything it needs to do - you even burn calories when you are asleep. The more physical activity you do, the more muscle you have to exercise, the more your basal metabolism will increase and the more calories you will burn. This should result in a lower metabolic age. 

Why does my metabolic age matter?

Metabolic age is a helpful indicator because it shows us how healthy we are in ways that are not visible when you look in a mirror. It also reveals how hardworking your metabolism (a series of chemical reactions in the body that turn food into energy) is. Look at it as your ‘fitness age’ and something you can improve over time with good nutrition and exercise. Your metabolic age shifts the focus away from weight and focuses more on your body’s composition.

The fitter, healthier and stronger you are, the lower your metabolic age will be. This is where strength training can be key, as it builds muscle over time. Muscle burns more than fat, so the more muscles you have the more calories you burn.

If your metabolic age is younger than your actual age, congratulations - this shows you’re in good shape. But if your metabolic age is higher, this is a sign that you might need to improve your metabolic rate by changing your diet and increasing your fitness habits, along with getting any possible health problems checked out by your doctor.

When I get a new client we do a body composition analysis and one of the metrics is their metabolic age. If you’d like to find out more about your metabolic age, and how to improve it, get in touch today at hello@maddypt.co.uk.