Green tea, caffeine, "metabolism." What I suspect about the 3rd, please explain

[UTUSN]

What set this off were commercials for "green tea extract" belly fat burner pills.

First of all, I just do not grok the meaning of "metabolism," so an explanation, on the level of explaning computer stuff to a total Low/NON-Tech-er, would be appreciated. Below are seven dictionary definitions and I still don't get it.

The premise is that "improving"(?) metabolism will burn fat.

So, to move this along, allow me not to mince words and say what I suspect: That it all comes down to taking a dump?!1 Enough crap doesn't get dumped so fat accumulates?!1 Is that it?!1

So I looked up those pills and compared them to Lipton's Diet Green Tea, and couldn't get the exact match of ingredients: The pills said they were "extract" of green tea, some acronym of ECG-something or other, but contained like 160 mg of caffeine, plus touches of ginseng and soy-something and who knows. One of the pill products said NOT to use them if you were on ANY prescription meds. The other one just said that the high caffeine would do the anti-sleep thing. The Lipton's said it was, what, 60 mg (will look it up) of caffeine per tumbler.

But back to "metabolism" - one of the 7 definitions, the others are inside the link:

*************QUOTE*************

http://dictionary.reference.com/

Science Dictionary
metabolism (mĭ-tāb'ə-lĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
The chemical processes by which cells produce the substances and energy needed to sustain life. As part of metabolism, organic compounds are broken down to provide heat and energy in the process called catabolism . Simpler molecules are also used to build more complex compounds like proteins for growth and repair of tissues as part of anabolism . Many metabolic processes are brought about by the action of enzymes. The overall speed at which an organism carries out its metabolic processes is termed its metabolic rate (or, when the organism is at rest, its basal metabolic rate). Birds, for example, have a high metabolic rate, since they are warm-blooded, and their usual method of locomotion, flight, requires large amounts of energy. Accordingly, birds usually need large amounts of high-quality, energy-rich foods such as seeds or meat, which they must eat frequently. See more at cellular respiration.

*************UNQUOTE*************

[flvegan]

1. Metabolism, in this case

is the rate at which your body will burn calories/use stored energy as fuel. The definition provided isn't incorrect, though.

First, no such thing as "belly fat" specific burners. However, certain ingredients/compounds can *manipulate* your metabolism. Ginseng, guarana, caffeine, etc all have proven track records to assist in that manipulation, IE causing the body to potentially burn more of the above without extra work.

That's the basics. Any questions?