By: Liliya Vafina
I bet you have a friend who can eat anything she lays her eyes on, is always munching on something and NEVER gains weight 
Metabolism. This topic is so popular among the questions sent my way that I decided to make it into a blog post. Hopefully this article will help to dispel some common myths about metabolism and direct you in the right direction in quest for that ideal body weight, whether you need to loose or gain pounds. The common question is how to speed up metabolism and what supplements and foods can help with that. To answer this we need to look into what metabolism is, what factors affect our metabolism and what can help to increase the rate of metabolism. Let’s dive in
Energy Balance. The bare truth is you’ll gain weight if you consume more calories than your body needs. A body is said to be in energy balance when the energy intake equals to the energy output. Energy intake is the sum of the calories consumed in all of the food and beverages. Energy output is the total energy expenditure (explained below). Consistent imbalance of energy results in either a gain or loss of body weight.
Our total energy expenditure consists of four components:
· Basal metabolic rate or BMR is the rate at which the body spends energy to support basic life processes such as breathing, heartbeat, circulation, cell repair, etc. Every cell participates in metabolism and every cell expends energy in doing so. Lean body tissues are the most metabolically active, including muscle, organs and bone.
· Thermic effect of foods is the energy expended by the body to process food. Protein in food has the greatest thermic effect, increasing energy expenditure by 20-30%. Carbs raise energy expenditure by 5-10% and fats increase energy expenditure by only 0-5%.*
Negative calorie food: celery is said to have negative energy due to the fact that the body spends more energy to digest and absorb the nutrients than is supplied by the vegetable J Some other “negative calorie” vegetables include broccoli, leek, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, peppers, radish, spinach, cucumber.
· Physical activity. Nuff said.
· Thermoregulation. Energy expended to maintain body temperature. This change in metabolism occurs mostly as a reaction to environment temperatures going below comfort zone. This has a very negligible effect as we usually adjust our clothing when temperature becomes uncomfortable.
Looking at this you can easily see why any two women of the same age leading similar lifestyles may gain weight differently. Their “metabolism”, or BMR, is different.
What factors affect BMR?
· Body size and composition. If you’re larger or have more lean body mass, you will burn more calories, even at rest. On average, brain, liver, heart and kidney account for 5-6% of total body weight and for about 60% of metabolic activity. Muscle mass accounts for about 30-40% of body mass and responsible for 25% of metabolic activity. Bone, glands, intestine and skin account for 33% of body weight and contribute 15-20% of metabolic activity. In contrast, fat accounts for at least 20% of body weight and contributes only 5% of metabolic activity.*
· Sex. Men tend to have less body fat and more muscle mass than women of the same age, so they burn more calories.
· Age. As we get older, fat naturally increases at the expense of lean body mass and bone which slows down BMR.
So, what can you do to speed up your metabolism? Obviously there is not much we can do about our age and sex, but we can change our body composition by increasing muscle mass. That’s one sure way to increase metabolic rate. We do that by weight training. Cardio training helps to burn existing fat, but in addition to this, it may speed up metabolism for a few hours after physical activity. However, it will return to its normal rate eventually.
You won’t like me after this, but I have to say that pills and foods that claim to increase your metabolic rate are useless. Sorry. They may have a temporary effect (like chilies raising your body temperature), but negligible enough to be given credit for any real weight loss.
And finally, have you ever heard of hitting a weight loss plateau? What happens when the weight loss suddenly slows or stops even thought you continue following your diet and exercise plan? Remember how your BMR depends on your body size? Well, the larger your body size, the more calories you need to sustain your body functions. As you lose weight, your body shrinks and needs less energy, so at one point your energy output and your energy input equalize and that’s when you reach a plateau. In order to continue losing weight, you need to decrease the amount of energy you get from diet or increase the amount of energy you burn through exercise.
Interested in finding out your exact BMR? Send me a note at liliya@myhappyme.com and request your personalized formula. Happy burning
Liliya
*Gropper, Smith, Groff, 2009.
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