Your Metabolism and Fat Loss

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Your Metabolism and Fat Loss

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People all over the world still believe that eating breakfast,

or even three meals a day will cause them to gain weight.

In truth, as long as....

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1165 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Distribution Date and Time: Wed Apr 6 23:12:28 EDT 2005

Written By: Ellis

Copyright: 2005

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Your Metabolism and Fat Loss

Copyright © 2005 Ellis

Fat Loss Tips

http://www.fatlosstips.com

If you know someone that has been trying to lose weight and get

into shape, you have probably heard words such as, " I just eat

one meal a day to lose weight " or " I'm afraid if I eat, I'll gain

weight " but sadly, this misnomer is why so many people are in the

" battle of the bulge " . People all over the world still believe

that eating breakfast, or even three meals a day will cause them

to gain weight. In truth, as long as they are eating the right

types of foods and exercising, then three normal meals or six

small meals a day will actually work better with their metabolism

than eating the wrong quantities or not eating often enough.

With more than half of Americans over the age of 20 now being

considered " overweight " , now more than ever, we need to

understand how metabolism works in relation to losing weight.

Why risk having a heart attack, a stroke, developing cancer,

or diabetes when all you have to do is make a few minor changes

and live a healthy life? First, a person's metabolic rate is

determined by the number and size of respiring cells that

compromise the body's tissue, and the intensity of the metabolism

in these cells. These two factors combined are what makeup the

physiological foundation of the amount of energy (calories) in

which a body uses.

Keep in mind that energy cannot be created or destroyed, just

changed. As we know, potential energy comes from the foods we

eat. When talking about weight loss, there are three components

of balanced energy, which include calorie intake, calories

stored, and calories expended. The way it works is that if the

amount of calories taken in equals the amount of calories being

expended (burned), then there is balance and the body's weight

is stable.

On the other hand, if the balance becomes positive, caused by

more food being eaten than is burned, energy is destroyed or in

better terms, stored as body fat. It is important to remember

that you can be eating a diet considered low-fat and still gain

weight. The reason is that most dietary fat is stored while the

body is burning carbohydrates and proteins for energy. The

problem is the when a person gains weight, the increased level of

fat becomes stored energy until the calorie balance is negative.

For that to happen, the amount of calories burned needs to exceed

the number of calories being consumed, no matter what the

macronutrient content.

Metabolism is the rate at which the body uses energy to support

the basic functions essential to sustain life. This metabolism is

comprised of three parts, which include physical activity (20%),

Thermic Effect of Food, also called TEF (10%), and Resting

Metabolism Rate or REM (70%). Physical activity is the amount of

energy your body burns up during normal, daily activities to

include housework, recreation, work, exercise, and so on.

Obviously, someone that is physically active will burn more

energy than a sedentary person will. TEF accounts for the energy

used in digesting and absorbing nutrients, which would vary

depending on the meal's composition. When a person overeats, TEF

is increased because more food must be digested. Here is where

metabolism becomes very interesting and what causes so much

confusion.

One pound is equal to 3,500 calories, so let us say a person

consumes 3,500 more calories than normal. That individual would

not gain one pound because the TED is accounted for but if 3,500

calories were cut trying to lose weight, then TEF decreases since

there would be fewer nutrients to process. The result is that

with energy expenditure would decrease, meaning that the

individual would lose less than one pound in weight. In other

words, by cutting out too much food, TEF cannot work as it was

designed to do. Now keep in mind that you cannot go around eating

a bunch of junk food. After all, the calories you do consume need

to be healthy foods but what this does mean is that when you do

not eat, you are actually working against your body in fighting

weight gain, not the other way around.

Finally, the RMR refers to the number of calories the body needs

to run its essential functions, as well as chemical reactions

while in a rested state. This aspect of metabolism accounts for

the greatest number of calories burned every day. What happens is

that if lean weight should be lost because of increased protein

metabolism, then RMR decreases. Typically, you would see this

happen when a person goes on a very strict diet. In this

situation, the body is forced into a negative nitrogen balance,

which means a greater amount of protein is lost than what is

replaced because of less protein/energy intake. When this

imbalance occurs, there is a gradual loss of lean weight, which

then lowers RMR.

What happens many times is that dieters will limit the amount of

lean weight loss with intense exercise for the muscles to develop

a need to maintain more protein. When this happens, the body is

forced to use more energy from stored fats. If you want to put

your metabolism to work for you, some simple steps can be taken:

* By adding a few extra pounds of lean muscle, the metabolic

rate can be increased by up to 200% each day

* Remember that lean weight can burn as much as 20 times more

calories than fat weight

* Regular exercise is one of the best ways to boost metabolism

* By eating smaller meals and more often, you can boost your

metabolism rate

While you need to eat healthy foods, studies prove that what

matters most is how much of a person's body weight is attributed

to fat. Remember, excess fat is what links to major health

problems. Therefore, it is important that you maintain a healthy

weight but more crucial that you monitor the fat-to-muscle ratio.

For example, a woman standing 5'5 " might weigh only 125 pounds

but have a 27% body fat ratio, which is not good. This individual

worked hard to diet, while staying involved with aerobics.

However, much of what she lost was not fat, but muscle. Even

though this weight would be considered ideal for her height,

her body fat to muscle ratio is too high.

An excellent way to optimize your fat-to-muscle ratio is by

getting involved with weight training in addition to the

nutrition and cardio. As you will see with the tools provided at

http://www.comptracker.com, you can analyze the thickness of the

subcutaneous fat at various areas of the body. The benefit is

that you know exactly what your ratios are so you can achieve

a healthy fat-to-muscle ratio as well as body weight.

Remember, you are in control and need to make the decision to do

something good for yourself. Therefore, now is the time to take

that control and fight to live a lean and healthy lifestyle.

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Fitness Consultant Ellis has helped thousands of

individuals lose fat and build more muscle. To read more about

his fat loss recommendations please check out his site at:

http://www.fatlosstips.com