Burn
fat 24 Hours a Day…Increase your Metabolic rate
by Ted Frazer
“Fast or Slow”
Metabolism is a word that most dieters are well
familiar with. People who battle with their weight are often thought of
as having a “slow metabolism”, where those fortunate individuals who
seemingly can eat anything they wish and not gain weight are believed
to have a “fast metabolism”.
The goal then for most dieters is the pursuit of
any strategy that will increase the metabolic rate (MR) and thereby
greatly assist with the losing and maintaining of weight.
Before examining ways of adjusting the MR, let’s
first define “metabolism”
Metabolism - Defined
Metabolism is defined in the Shorter Oxford
English Dictionary as “The sum of the chemical processes in a cell or
organism, by which complex substances are synthesised and broken down,
and growth and energy production sustained”.
A commonly referred to term is BMR – the Basal
Metabolic Rate – i.e. the minimum number of calories required to keep
us alive. There are also other terms, such as RMR – Resting Metabolic
Rate – which is basically the rate of our metabolism during the day
whilst performing standard daily tasks (i.e. standard daily activity);
SMR – Sleeping Metabolic Rate – the rate of our metabolism whilst we
are at sleep.
Several factors can affect our MR, but one
important aspect that can have significant bearing is the amount of
active lean muscle tissue we have on our bodies. When compared to fat,
active lean tissue (muscle) requires more calories to sustain itself at
rest, and therefore, our musculature or percentage of muscle tissue –
and how it is exercised - can be seen as an effective pathway to
adjusting the MR.
As we age, we usually tend to lose muscle mass,
and similarly, our metabolism gets slower. As a example comparison, a
70 year-old man would need to do a significant amount of daily activity
to “burn off” the same amount calories that a 26 year old man would
“burn” at rest. Hence, to prevent gaining fat weight as we age, we need
to either 1) Decrease our daily caloric intake, or 2) Increase our
daily physical activity - i.e.exercise 3) Maintain or even increase our
muscle mass (i.e. through resistance training exercise such as weight
training).
“How we eat…what we do”
The MR plays a major role in the maintaining and
losing of weight (bodyfat) with the objective being to adopt strategies
that elevate the MR – and more importantly – keep the MR elevated.
There are 2 main options to adjusting the MR
1) Through adjusting of eating patterns 2) Through
adjusting of activity levels
Let’s review both:
Adjusting of eating patterns
There are many classic analogies that are used to
explain how eating affects one’s metabolism. One analogy uses a
motorcar’s engine and fuel consumption:
Motorcar Analogy:
A motorcar uses 3 litres of petrol to travel a
distance of 25 KM. If the motorcar was allowed 1.5 Litres of petrol and
still needed to travel 25 KM, the engine of the vehicle would need to
be tuned in such a way so as to deliver the same driving performance on
half the fuel.
Our metabolisms are thought to work in the same
way.
When we suddenly reduce our daily caloric intake
in an attempt to lose weight, our bodies react by slowing down its MR
so that the caloric “fuel” required to perform the same daily tasks is
utilized or “burned” at a slower rate. Referring to our motorcar
analogy again, if the same motorcar was given 3 litres of fuel after
being retuned, the car would travel 25KM and still have 1.5 litres
remaining. Similarly, if someone who had been on a reduced calorie diet
resumed their previous high-calorie eating pattern, their bodies would
store the extra calories as fat, as their now slower metabolisms would
not be accustomed to the additional calories.
The eating and digesting of food actually requires
the body to utilize caloric energy. To increase ones metabolism, it is
recommended that we eat small meals every 3 hrs to keep the metabolism
elevated. Where this may help elevate metabolic levels, it is a
somewhat limited approach and is best used in conjunction with other
strategies. Also, one needs to differentiate between “total calories”
and “amount of food” consumed. At each time of eating, we are also
consuming calories, so we need to ensure that each meal is relatively
lower in calories. It would not be wise to eat frequent high-calorie
meals and hope that the incremental increase in metabolism would be
sufficient to “burn” the relatively higher number of calories that
would be consumed over the day.
Observing the total calories consumed in a day, is
then still a critical factor in managing one’s weight, and although
dividing our individual daily caloric allowance into regular small
meals may perhaps be better to ensuring a higher metabolic rate, by
itself, this approach is limited in ensuring an optimum level of
sustained, elevated MR.
In addition to the frequency of our eating, there
are also other eating strategies thought to assist in increasing one’s
metabolism, such as the including of certain foods believed to have a
positive effect on the metabolic rate. Green Tea; Chilli (and other
“hot” foods) are 2 examples of foods that are believed to “stoke the
furnace” so to speak and assist in enhancing our metabolic rates.
However, although the structuring of our eating
patterns can have a positive effect on the MR, as mentioned, this
approach in itself can be limited and needs to be done in conjunction
with other strategies – such as adjusting of activity levels.
Adjusting Activity Levels
Most people believe that taking up some form of
exercise is all that is required to adjust their metabolisms and manage
their weight.
Endurance activities such as running or jogging,
walking or cycling being the generally preferred options. However,
these activities, performed in a steady-state, endurance-style fashion
do little to elevate the metabolic rate for an extended period.
Although these activities may be healthful and enjoyable, improve
circulation and burn calories, they do little to sustain an elevated
metabolic rate. In fact, it is now believed that endurance style
exercise activities may actually lead to a drop in elevated metabolic
rates!
This is a most crucial and controversial point
that needs to be clarified in more detail.
Although our MR is mostly genetically
pre-determined, when we look at increasing the MR, we should be looking
to do so for extended periods. A sustained MR will then assist in
“burning” more calories at rest for longer periods of time. This is
effectively achievable though a combination of 2 key factors – 1)
increasing our functional muscle mass 2) utilizing of muscle mass in
higher-intensity forms of exercise. If we have higher levels of muscle
on our bodies, our MR will increase. We will in effect be “burning”
more calories whilst at rest. Also, when engaging in exercise, the
contracting of additional muscle mass will “burn” relatively more
calories during that activity.
Example: Someone performs an exercise activity for
15 minutes and burns 150 calories. If that person adds 3 Kg of muscle
to their frame and performs the same activity for the same period of
time, they will burn more calories doing so.
”Doing less…burning more”
Higher-intensity forms of exercise places higher
demands on our metabolic systems, and keep our metabolisms elevated for
far longer periods.
When people talk about effective forms of
calorie-burning exercise, they usually only think of how many calories
are utilized whilst actually performing the activity.
Typically, running is seen as an ideal calorie
burning activity because running is seen to burn a relatively high
number of calories.
But where endurance running may burn significant
calories during the activity, it has 2 negatives:
1) Your metabolic rate drops relatively quickly
once you stop an endurance activity, with your metabolism returning to
normal almost an hour after stopping.
2) Endurance activities are generally “catabolic”
– i.e. it creates a reduction in lean muscle mass. As we have
discussed, RMR is affected by the amount of muscle mass – hence a drop
in muscle mass, will lead to a corresponding drop in MR.
Hence, if you examine most marathon runners,
although they usually have lower levels of bodyfat, they are also
usually relatively thin, with relatively low levels of lean muscle
mass.
”Muscle…and intensity”
However, this does not mean that the objective is
to suddenly aspire to becoming a bodybuilder – although, bodybuilding
or specifically, musclebuiliding - certainly does increase the MR and
RMR. However, if we are looking to elevate and sustain our MR, then
wherever possible we should look to intensity when exercising:
Intensity Vs Endurance Intensity is a key factor
to increasing our MR through exercise. To exercise with intensity,
usually means working “harder” – to constantly “push” or overload one’s
muscular and cardiovascular system.
Now naturally this approach needs to be done VERY
CAREFULLY, with intensity levels being increased GRADUALLY - especially
if one is not used to harder forms of exercise. Also, if you are
presently significantly overweight, it may be easier on your body to
first lose some of the weight through corrective eating before
attempting to overload your body with a higher-intensity exercise
program (It is therefore perhaps a better route to use a corrective
eating to lose gained weight and higher intensity exercise to assist in
preventing gaining weight).
Training with higher levels of intensity usually
requires a higher level of muscular recruitment (i.e. the muscles
working at a higher capacity as well as more muscles working together)
and energy, and similarly requires the cardio system (heart &
lungs) to work harder. Not only does higher intensity training burn
relatively more calories than endurance or lower-intensity exercise,
but of greater importance, it causes the MR to remain elevated for
relatively longer periods after exercising.
An effective form of intensity training is
“Interval Training” – alternating brief periods of intensity, with
periods of recuperation.
Example: Running Intervals (Beginner)
Walk for 2 minutes Jog for 10-20 secs Walk for 2
minutes Jog for 10-20 secs
Repeat until 15 minutes is reached
Example: Running Intervals (Advanced)
Walk for approx 30 Secs Jog for approx 45 secs - 1
minute Sprint or run fast for 30-45 secs
Repeat 10-12 times (or until 20 minutes is
reached)
This approach can naturally be applied to any form
of endurance activity, and can be varied based on current level of
fitness.
The key aspect is to gradually increase the
intensity, by shortening the rest periods &/increasing the periods
of intensity. One can also increase intensity through increasing the
load placed on the muscles – i.e. Hills; Weighted belts.
For very advanced training, one can combine the 2
– i.e. interval training with added resistance - however, this places
significant demands on the body and should only be considered once a
high level of fitness has been attained.
Now naturally, higher intensity training needs to
be briefer in duration, and, due to the fact that it places a higher
demand on the body, also requires relatively longer rest periods
between sessions. This not only allows for a sufficient recovery
period, but also allows the muscles involved to repair and grow
stronger so as to be able to handle the higher intensity loads.
Resistance or weight training should also form a
part of ones exercise program –although, again, this need not
necessarily mean heavy weight training and can include a wide range of
activities. Bodyweight exercises, as well as a variety of different
resistance exercises can be done with higher levels of intensity so as
to place higher demands on the body that will result in a sustained
elevated MR. Higher intensity strategies such as “Supersetting” (doing
2 exercises in succession with minimal rest in between); “Giant
setting” (doing more than 2 exercises in succession with minimal rest
in between) and “Progressive resistance loads” (adding more resistance)
are 3 approaches that can be used to increase intensity.
The key to remember is more intense levels of
activity done for briefer periods is a far better approach to
increasing and sustaining one’s metabolic rate, than easier exercise
done for extended periods.
“Injuries…Overuse….Enjoyment”
Just because higher intensity exercise is believed
to increase MR more efficiently, it does not necessarily mean that we
should abandon all other forms of exercise activity.
Many people engage in activities such as cycling,
walking, sports, yoga, pilates etc for recreational reasons; for
enjoyment, not just to lose weight, and this should always be an
important consideration. However, many people unfortunately pursue
endurance-type exercises with the sole objective of losing or managing
their weight. As mentioned earlier, endurance-type exercise is perhaps
not the ideal exercise strategy to managing weight. Also, many
endurance exercisers fall into the trap of increasing their exercise
durations/distances as a means to compensating for increased eating –
e.g. “I’ll run an extra 5 Km’s tomorrow to “burn” off that extra piece
of cake”. This sometimes becomes a habit, and, in addition to the
negative psychological aspects of such an approach, it can also lead to
various forms of overuse injuries as well as related postural
weaknesses.
So, if exercise is to be used effectively as a
means to sustaining an elevated MR, a preferred route would be to use
higher-intensity exercise strategies, and to also ensure that adequate
(ideally optimum) levels of lean muscle mass is maintained.
Visit http://www.total-diet.com and read more
about Ted Frazer’s fast-selling e-book on weight-loss entitled “The
Total Diet Solution”. You can also download the 1st Chapter absolutely
Free.
Ted Frazer has been dedicated to health &
fitness and the "Wellness Revolution" for 20 years. His fast selling
e-book "The Total Diet Solution" is available on his website
http://www.total-diet.com - download 1st Chapter free. The book
outlines an easy approach to losing weight without dieting.
Ted Frazer may be contacted at http://www.total-diet.com
or info@total-diet.com
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