Do you envy your friend who eats thrice the quantity of food you eat and yet remains slim or have you ever wondered why your weight is mounting though you are consuming fewer calories than a decade ago?

The answer is your BMR has become slow. What is BMR?

Basal Metabolic Rate is the measure of the number of calories used by the body at complete rest to maintain basic life processes such as breathing or circulation, which is directly controlled by Thyroid gland (that is the reason why a person becomes too thin or too fat when the Thyroid gland becomes hyper or hypo active).

The distribution of Brown fat (rich in mitochondria)and muscle mass determine a person's ability to convert the food consumed into energy. There are many reasons why a person's Metabolic Rate falls when he grows older.

It is primarily because the muscle mass gets decreased at a rate of 5% every decade after the age of 25. If you do not do strengthen training exercises, this usually translates in to a slow Metabolic Rate thus reducing your calorie requirement, making you susceptible to gain weight easily .

We can optimize our BMR by Exercise. A moderate Cardio Vascular activity on a regular basis for 20-30 minutes will keep the metabolic rate higher for nearly 12 hours after exercise.

Regular Strength (Weight) Training activity will result in increase in muscle tissue. A kilogram of muscle tissue approximately requires 156 calories more in comparison to your other body tissues. That is why exercise is highly recommended to control and shed excess weight.

Eating small frequent meals as well as food rich in fiber is a sure way of keeping the metabolic rate high.

Certain foods like garlic, pepper and ginger as well as (Ginseng, Ephedra, caffeine- to be taken in controlled quantities), green tea (Camellia Sinensis) and Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids (EFA) are high in thermogenic activity, or produce more heat or energy thus helping in burning more calories or can be termed as "Natural fat Burners". Including them in our diet also increases our metabolic rate.