Keeping the weight you lost in January off by understanding your Metabolism!

No one's ever achieved financial fitness with a January resolution that's abandoned by February.

Suze Orman

Around this time of the year, people have doe their dry January, finished their strict Keto diet and are now worrying that the weight is going back on! Something we hear very little about is our Metabolic Rate and really, a greater understanding of what it is and what it does will help you maintain a healthy weight.

Contrary to popular belief, the majority of your daily calorie burn doesn’t come from puddles of sweat after a tough workout. Calorie burn is driven by your metabolism. Metabolism is the entire process of converting calories into energy to power your bodily processes. It isn’t just about calorie burning. It’s also about calorie storing. Your metabolism determines the number of calories you need daily to maintain your weight.

There’s a lot to learn about metabolism however, most of us just want to know how to increase it! If you notice a weight-loss plateau, you could be overestimating your calorie burn. Here’s three ways to boost metabolism.

Include strength training in your exercise regime

Adding muscle mass increases your BMR, the biggest contributor to your overall metabolism. This will allow you to burn more calories even when you aren’t exercising.

Ramp up your workout intensity

During an aerobic exercise (running, swimming, biking, etc.), add intervals so you can benefit from “after burn,” a phenomenon where you burn extra calories after exercise.

Meet your daily protein goal

High-quality protein sources will give you all the amino acids needed post exercise to help muscles repair and grow.

There are several major factors that affect your metabolism and overall calorie burn. The most important one to understand is your Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR. BMR accounts for about 60–70% of the daily calories you burn. Understanding BMP will help you keep the weight off!

Basal metabolic rate is the number of calories your body needs at rest to support the vital functions that keep you alive (breathing, digesting, filtering excretion). Your BMR doesn’t include the calories you burn for normal daily activities or exercise.

Your BMR is determined by several key factors;

Body Size: A bigger individual requires more calories to sustain their body at rest and with any activity they do.

Body Composition: Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, meaning more calories must be burned to maintain a pound of muscle compared to a pound of fat. Two healthy individuals of the same age, height and weight can have very different BMR if they have significantly different percentages of lean versus fat mass. Since most women have more fat mass compared to men, they have correspondingly lower BMR compared to men of the same height and weight.

Age: Your BMR is higher when you are younger, especially since calories are needed to supply your growing body. The trend is that as you age, you slowly gain weight in the form of fat mass and lose weight in the form of muscle mass.

Genetics: Some people are born with higher (or lower) BMR than others, and this is completely normal. Your genes are not something you can fix, but if you suspect you have a genetic condition that slows your metabolism (such as familial hypothyroidism), you should consult a specialist.

Hormones: Hormones act like chemical dials allowing your body to turn your metabolism up or down depending on its needs. The two main hormones (thyroxine and triiodothyronine) directly responsible for turning up BMR come from your thyroid gland. Other hormones indirectly cause your thyroid gland to release more or less of these hormones, leading to a change in BMR.

Health: Generally, your BMR is higher when you are fighting off an infection or healing from a major wound. This is because your body requires more calories to accomplish both of these tasks.

Now I hear a lot of Mansplaining in the gym about Metabolism, most of which make my eyes role!

The “fat-burn zone” on your exercise machine is the best setting for weight loss

Rubbish! The “fat-burn” zone on your exercise machine usually operates at a slower pace to keep you at less than 70% of your maximal heart rate. This allows you to burn a larger percentage of the calories from fat, but the number of total calories you burn will be less than if you challenged yourself. Upping the intensity of your workout allows you to burn more calories overall, which is helpful for weight loss.

Eating six small meals daily boosts your metabolism

More Rubbish! If the quality and quantity of calories you eat stays constant, eating six small meals instead of three square meals won’t boost your metabolism. The pro of this strategy is that it may help you stave off hunger pangs if you’re cutting calories. The con is that it presents you with additional opportunities to overeat.

Thinner individuals have a higher metabolism

Garbage! Thinner individuals generally have a slower metabolism than heavier individuals because heavier individuals require more calories to maintain their larger organs.

Late-night eating will mess with your metabolism and cause weight gain

Cobblers! Your metabolism does ramp down at night, but your body will still handle the food you eat the same way. Again, focusing on calorie quality and quantity is most important.

Drinking green tea will make you burn more calories

Bonkers! Green tea contains catechins, which supposedly help with fat burning. Several small clinical trials suggest that drinking green tea may benefit weight loss, but the effect is small and the study results were inconsistent. If you like green tea go ahead and brew yourself a batch, but don’t count on it for any sizeable metabolic spur.

So, if you want to keep the January weight loss, pay attention to your BMR!

What’s on this week?