When it seems most people are trying to lose weight there are actually a significant number of people who want to gain weight. Whether it’s to bulk up for sports or just to look better in your clothes, for some people it can be surprisingly difficult to put on extra pounds.
One reason given for difficulty gaining weight is an overactive thyroid. This condition is known as hyperthyroidism and can be a serious medical condition. Fortunately, it’s quite rare and is almost always accompanied by a variety of other tell-tale symptoms such as a rapid heart rate and feelings of nervousness or anxiety. Check with your doctor if you feel that you may have this because it’s easily detected with a blood test.
If you stayed in bed all day and didn’t do anything else you would still burn 85% of your normal intake of calories just through heart beat, respiration and all the other bodily functions. This is known as your metabolism, or your basal metabolic rate. Oftentimes, the metabolism gets the blame for the inability to lose or gain weight but in reality metabolism doesn’t differ very much from one person to the next. A metabolism that was different enough to cause difficulty with weight control would be quite unusual.
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