Understanding
Metabolism |
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| With all of the confusion out there over low carb, low fat or high protein diets, we must be reminded that, regardless of the kind of weight loss plan you choose, the ONLY way to lose weight is to simply burn more calories than you eat. Although that is easily said, it is not always easily done. Especially if you have no idea how many calories your body burns in a day. | ||||
| We often hear people talk about “metabolism”, but what does metabolism really mean? Metabolism refers to your individual daily energy expenditure or your “calorie burn rate”. Understanding your individual metabolism is the key to weight loss and, more importantly, maintaining your desired weight, once it is achieved. The following three groups of calories determine your total metabolic rate: | ||||
| Resting Calories – Calories that are burned while the body is at rest, which are needed just to maintain life. The majority of all calories burned (about 70-80%) are burned at the resting level. | ||||
| Activity Calories – Calories that are burned while performing normal daily activities, such as, walking, eating (digesting food), typing, etc. | ||||
| Exercise Calories – These calories are burned through exercise. | ||||
| So now that you understand what metabolism is, there are several things you can do to increase it and ensure your success in maintaining a trim waistline: | ||||
| 1. Build muscle mass through strength training. Muscle burns calories even at rest, whereas, fat burns no calories. So the more muscle you have, the more calories your burn, even while you are sleeping! | ||||
| 2. Never skip meals or severely cut your daily intake of calories. If your body senses that food is in short supply, it will slow your metabolism to conserve energy. A good rule of thumb is to never reduce your calorie intake by more than 500 calories per day and certainly never consume less than 1200 calories per day. Once your know your individual calorie burn rate, simply divide that number by 6 and try to consume that number of calories in 6 small meals spread throughout the day. | ||||
| 3. Eat a balanced diet. Most researchers agree that a balance of protein and fat with a reasonable amount of carbohydrate, helps to stabilize the secretion of insulin into your blood stream, a process that can affect metabolism. | ||||
| 4. Perform an aerobic workout 3 days per week. The extra calories you burn could add up to an additional 1-2 pounds of weight loss per month. | ||||
| 5. Keep moving!!! The more you move, the more calories you burn! Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Instead of searching for the closest parking space, take the furthest one. Straighten up the house while talking on the phone. Making these types of changes for just 20 minutes of your day will cause you to burn an additional 100 calories per day or an additional pound per month. | ||||
| 6. Go for an evening walk. Although exercising any time is good for you, evening activity may be particularly beneficial. Many people’s metabolism slows down toward the end of the day. Thirty minutes of aerobic activity before dinner increases your metabolic rate and may keep it elevated for another two or three hours. What that means for you - those dinner calories have less of a chance to take up permanent residence on your hips! | ||||
| Testing your metabolic rate will determine exactly how many calories you need to eliminate through diet and exercise to lose or maintain your desired weight. In addition, retesting while dieting or after reaching your desired weight is critical to ensure that weight loss has not decreased your metabolism as a result of a loss of muscle mass. Ask your health club today about metabolic testing to make sure you’re on track to accomplishing your weight loss goals! | ||||
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