Dispelling the Dietary Myths # 6: Your Metabolism is not Uncontrollable Part 1
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Usually, when I walk into a patient’s room to educate on weight loss, I hear the same thing, again and again, “I can’t lose weight. I have a slow metabolism.” I breathe deep, and exhale heavily, because I know this will take awhile. It is confusing, because the misinformation is so ingrained in our society that combating it is like using a butter knife to burrow a tunnel into a mountain. I need some dynamite!
Typically, these people, maybe even you, are so discouraged from trying every conceivable product/supplement, every diet out there, that hope for a healthy weight has been lost. But it’s probably following those crash diets that have caused your metabolism to slow down.
But what is this metabolism? Why is it akin to the Holy Grail? Why does it seem like an impasse in achieving your weight loss goals?
Biology defines metabolism as the sum of all the chemical reactions in your body. These reactions require energy.
Food provides the energy in the form of calories and nutrients. Energy, which comes from calories, is your body’s capacity to do work.
Your body has three routes to use the energy taken in from food: “Energy used in physical activity. The ‘thermal effect of food,’ food we eat requires energy to digest! And resting energy expenditure.”[i]
Resting energy expenditure is what you and I think of when we say, “My metabolism is too slow.”
Resting Energy Expenditure is the energy used to keep you alive; it’s comprised of many functions including your heart pumping and brain flowing; synthesis of glucose, ions and electrolytes moving in out of cells; the act of breathing; maintain body temperature ( through sweating); absorption of nutrients; building and breaking down muscles, etc.
Metabolism is your body doing what it needs to do to keep you the way you are, which is assumingly awesome. This maintenance of awesome requires energy, and all of it defines your metabolism.
Of course, people do these life processes at different rates. Some people are just lucky it is true. But understanding what affects your metabolism is very important. It is important to know and understand how metabolism works because we each have a direct influence on our own bodies; we can make the necessary changes to help us lose weight and control our metabolisms.
We must realize that all those “metabolism boosting, fat shredding” supplements on the market are bogus and do more harm than good. Diet and pills do not work; we must take control of our weight by doing something else!
The Components of Metabolism[ii]:
Age-> Resting energy expenditure (REE) is highest during periods of rapid growth. This is directly related to amount of Fat Free Mass (muscle). As we get older, we lose muscle which causes a decline in resting metabolic rate by 2-3% per decade after early adulthood.
However, age is the most common excuse as to why people’s metabolism slows. 2-3% decline every ten years is not that significant. Consider this: if you required 2000 calories /day at age 20, you will require 1960 kcals/day at age 30.
The age excuse for our weight gain is not valid. Also, consider most people will have a decline in hunger hormones as we age naturally causing a decrease in food intake. This is even true of our ability to sense our bodies are thirsty and require water. This is the reason the elderly are prone to being malnourished and dehydrated.
Sex-> Your sex will have a large influence on your metabolic rate. This is due to the differences in body composition between men and women. Men have more muscle so their metabolism is higher. (Health Tip: After marriage, there is a tendency for women to take on the eating patterns of her spouse. The portion sizes will generally be the same for man and woman at each meal. Because of the differences in body composition, women should be EXTRA CAREFUL of the amount they are eating.)
Hormones-> People with endocrine disorders, such as, hypothyroidism have decreased energy expenditure. Periods of stress where epinephrine is released causes an increase of cellular activity and promote gluconeogenesis. Also, women during certain times of their menstruation cycle will have, as much as, 359kcal/day decrease in their metabolism. Hormones control hunger hormones as well.
Temperature-> People living in tropical climates can have metabolic rates 5-20% higher than temperate zones. Exercise in >86 degree weather can increase metabolic rate by 5% due to the need for sweat glands to work harder.
Height-> Taller people generally have higher metabolic rates. Tall, thin people compared to short, wide people have higher metabolic rates. In the instance of two people who weigh the same, but are different heights, the taller person (with a greater surface area) will have a higher metabolic rate. Obese children will have higher resting metabolic rates as lean children of the same height, but when adjusted for body weight there is no difference in resting metabolic rate.
Diet-> Your diet can influence your metabolism. Periods of starvation will cause a drop in your metabolism. As you use stored glucose in your cells, your body will turn to fat for gluconeogenesis. The process to turn fat into sugar takes a long time, and your body is not very efficient at it. As your body does this it will slow down in other metabolic processes.
I personally define period of starvation as going without eating for more than 4 hours. Even if you lose weight by starvation methods, the long term impact on your metabolism is a GREAT CONCERN. Your body will be more effective at storing fat, and keeping it on you when you do eat. Your body is smarter than you. Dieting by eating 1000kcals/day does more harm than good.
Exercise-> Exercise will acutely raise your metabolism by increasing the rate of many physiological functions, such as, increasing heart rate, increases the work of sweat glands, movement of ions and electrolytes, increasing respiratory rate, utilizing glucose, initiating gluconeogenesis.
Cardio is more effective than weight resistance training at raising your metabolic rate for that moment in time. However, weight lifting is crucial at increasing your metabolism over a longer period of time!
Body Composition-> The best way to influence your resting energy expenditure is to increase your Fat Free Mass! Simply put, there is no way around this.
Fat Free Mass is your muscle mass. Those with greater muscle mass will have higher metabolic rates.
What is in your control?
There are 8 factors which control your metabolism. And not one of them can be influenced by supplements that “burn fat.” PLEASE DON’T BUY THOSE PRODUCTS!
Obviously and unfortunately, you cannot control your age, it will always be a linear downhill life process; we might as well embrace it. Excluding far out procedures, you can’t control your sex. Unless you have divine powers you cannot control the weather. Your height is based on your genes so it’s your parents fault, but uncontrollable nonetheless.
Hormones fall into a category of their own. Hormones typically control you, your thoughts and actions. Hormones send signals to your brain which induce cravings or when you feel tired, mad, excited, etc. They control many aspects of your life. However, diet and exercise are the tools needed to fight hormones controlling nature! Hormones and diet are a very confusing topic and need its’ own blog. (“Your Metabolism is not Uncontrollable: Part 2” will cover your diet and hormones)
Based on the above, that means you can only control three things; that’s it! But these three things are more influential than temperature. As stated above, your diet and exercise controls very important hormones, like Ghrelin and Leptin, the hunger and satiety hormones.
You CANNOT go on a diet by avoiding food and hope you will lose weight in regards to long term benefit. Especially when the act of eating increases your metabolism, again this is because digestion requires energy. However, “If you miss a meal your metabolism will slow down immensely this is to conserve energy.” [iii] Your diet needs exercise; both are essential to achieving your weight loss goals.
Also, consider the fact that exercise without eating right will limit the effectiveness of your workout. But one thing is for certain, if you want to boost your metabolism you will have to do resistance training; this goes for women too! Did you notice how many times I reference Fat Free Mass in the Components of Metabolism section?
How could increasing muscle and boosting metabolism not apply to women as well? Read my friend’s blog for more information on women and weight lifting at http://mrworkout.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/the-truth-about-women-and-weights/
The paradigm where women shouldn’t lift weights is being shifted, and this is great news. Resistance training for both men and women is not only beneficial for your metabolism, but also helps to prevent and treat osteoporosis. “Physical activity such as regular walking and swimming do not have skeletal benefits for older persons, but weight bearing exercises have positive effects on Bone Mass Density.”[iv]
*The fuse has been lit*
*ka-boom*
[i] Krause’s Food, Nutrition and Diet Therapy, 11th Edition page 22.
[ii] Krause’s Food, Nutrition and Diet Therapy, 11th Edition page 23-24
[iii] http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2010-07-27-fitness-metabolism_N.htm
[iv] Karlsson et al 2001
Great article! Another myth busted. It is good to know that resistance training is good for increasing/maintaining your metabolsim.
Hey dude you are going to have a lot of marketing executives very angry with you! Keep up the good work.
Very nice article. Loved the funny art work. I’ll pass this along to other friends of “certain” age.
[...] are sitting at their desk at work. For more on metabolism, check out my friend’s blog: (www.dietarymythbuster.com) Dietary Myth [...]
[...] are sitting at their desk at work. For more on metabolism, check out my friend’s blog: (www.dietarymythbuster.com) Dietary Myth [...]