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Call or Text (561) 775-9111We all know that the body’s metabolism has “something” to do with breaking down food and weight loss or gain. But have you ever wanted to learn more about the metabolism and its processes? If so, sit back, relax and enjoy this blog!
How Does Your Metabolism Work?
To begin, your metabolism is made up of three categories, including:
- 70% resting metabolic rate
- 20% activity of daily living
- 10% thermic effect of food
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is comprised of the energy it takes for your body to remain at homeostasis. Basically, it’s the calories you burn while your heart pumps, your kidneys and liver filter blood, and so forth. The more lean body mass you have, muscle and organ, the faster this rate is.
Activity of Daily Living (ADL) is the activity you voluntarily perform everyday. If your job consists of sitting at a desk all day, the calorie consumption is way less than say, a waiter or construction worker.
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) is comprised of the energy your body needs to process and digest the food you eat. The amount of energy it takes to break down a steak or chicken is far greater than that of a jelly donut.
Most people who try to lose weight go about it the wrong way, thinking, “To lose weight, I need to exercise more and eat less.” This plan leads them to start to run or do steady cardio, but in the end makes them tired and instead eat more salads. This puts the body into a calorie deficit, but the fat doesn’t start falling off. Go to any gym and you will see that the fat people are on the cardio equipment, the moderately fit people are on the machines, and the aesthetic, fit, strong people are using the free weights.
When you start to exercise, you are only impacting 20% of your metabolism. I don’t know about you, but I would rather impact 100% of my metabolism to shed fat!
Impacting Your Metabolism
Impacting 100% of your metabolism requires a few things, including:
- Packing on lean muscle tissue by way of weight training and all out conditioning to increase your RMR, which equals 70% of your metabolism.
- Eating a high protein diet to increase the calories needed for the TEF, which equates to 10%of your metabolism. This will also help you increase muscle mass and heighten your RMR. Eating 4-6 small meals a day that consists of protein and veggies, ensures you are fed and constantly in a state of anabolism which increases your metabolism by impacting your RMR.
As you can see, you can’t run the fat off because you’re only increasing your calorie burn for that short duration. Think of it this way, every mile you run is only burning about 100 calories. A pound of fat consists of 3,500 calories. You would have to run 35 miles to burn a pound of fat, which would cause you to lose valuable muscle and organ tissue. This loss of lean tissue will decrease your RMR and you will get fatter when you stop running. However, over the course of the year, if you put on 2 pounds of muscle all over your body you will burn those 100 calories by simply being alive.
In conclusion, the best way to increase all aspects of your metabolism is to start lifting weights, eating a high protein diet and making sure you eat enough food.
Schedule an Appointment
If you are serious about shedding the unwanted belly fat that you put on this holiday season, feel free to contact me for a nutrition and exercise plan. I look forward to helping you reach your goals!