Understanding Metabolism and Caloric Expenditure

So this week I though I’d focus on education. There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to fat loss, and what exactly the body is doing when it’s burning fat. I think it’s really important to understand how the body works regarding fat loss, and what is the best way to accomplish it in terms of training methods.


METABOLISM

The body’s metabolism (or metabolic rate) is what controls how many calories an individual can burn each day. The body’s thyroid affects and controls metabolism, and is a huge factor in your muscle mass.

Let’s do some math:

For every pound of muscle you put on, it takes approximately 50 calories per day to maintain. Quite literally, these 50 calories is the amount needed by the muscle to just sit there. It does not take into consideration the amount of calories expended in training to develop and maintain that muscle.

Therefore, 1 lbs of muscle needs 50 calories per day = 18 250 calories per year (which is the approximately 5lbs of fat).

What does this mean? Well, if you’re able to gain 5 lbs of lean muscle, it will help you burn off close to over 26 lbs of fat over the coming year.

So ultimately, the trick to fat loss is not dependent on how many calories you can burn during a period of exercise; it is how many calories you can get your body to burn all the time. The bottom line: if you increase your lean muscle, you increase your metabolism, thus burning off more fat, even when you are not exercising. This is the KEY to long- term fat loss.

CALORIC EXPENDITURE

Fat loss is essentially simple math: you must burn off more calories than you consume. It’s that simple for the body, regardless of what all the different fad diets out there advocate – high protein, low carbohydrate, low fat, etc., the rule remains the same. As I discussed in the metabolism section, the key to long-term fat loss is to teach the body how to burn calories, even when it is not exercising.

I cannot even remember how many times people have approached me saying: “I barely eat, and I still continue to gain weight!” It is classic, people starving themselves in a futile attempt to lose weight fast. STARVING YOURSELF DOES NOT WORK!!! Was that clear enough? It is only a temporary solution, but most of the time, people gain the weight right back, sometimes heavier than they were before they started some form of a low-calorie diet.

I will say it again and again until it sticks in your head: you must burn more calories than you consume, NOT consume less calories.

What form of training burns the most calories? Aerobic or Anaerobic exercise?

Answer: ANAEROBIC EXERCISE (i.e. resistance and weight training). Why? Because your body’s lean muscle tissue is the most active tissue in the body and requires the most energy to function. Where does the body get energy? CALORIES! Getting my drift?

AEROBIC EXERCISE does NOT produce the best fat loss results. What do I mean by aerobic exercise? For example, steady state cardio such as running on a treadmill/outside, elliptical machines, jogging or walking for an hour. Anyone that tells you that steady state cardio is good for fat loss has not been doing his or her research. If you want to learn more about why cardio does not work, feel free to read my previous blog posts. I want to focus today’s post on Anaerobic training.

Anaerobic training is based upon an EPOC principle: Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (which used to be referred to as oxygen debt). Anaerobic training consumes a lot of calories during exercise, but, your metabolism also stays at a high rate after you exercise. The recovery period of the body to return to pre-exercise levels can take several minutes for light exercise (i.e. aerobic training such as jogging), several hours for very intense exercise (i.e. anaerobic cardiovascular training) and up to 12-24 hours and longer for prolonged exhaustive exercise (interval and/or circuit training with resistance).

In summary: if you want to burn fat and keep it off for good, you need to exercise with resistance. This can come in the form of weights or your own body weight. You also are better off doing full-body programs, because the more muscles you use, the more calories you burn. If you train like this, you definitely will put on enough lean muscle to elevate your metabolism, thus burning off more calories than you consume, for a longer period of time. Intensity equals results – if you work hard, you WILL get results!