Metabolism
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[quote][b]What is Metabolism?[/b]<br />
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From the viewpoint of diet and weight loss, metabolism is the process whereby the body converts food into energy (or uses it for bodily repairs) or stores it as fat for future use. In simple terms, if we have a faster metabolism we burn calories more efficiently and store less fat. If we have a slower metabolism we burn calories less efficiently and therefore store more calories as fat.<br />
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In very simple terms, our Metabolic Rate is the rate (and efficiency) with which our body performs these metabolic tasks.<br />
Metabolic Needs and Calorie Usage<br />
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Our Basal Metabolic Rate (or Resting Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories we need to burn in order to fuel essential bodily processes and keep our organs and tissues in working order. Typically, this accounts for 60 per cent of all calories consumed. The heavier the person, the more calories he/she needs to fuel these essential processes.<br />
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All other calories are used to meet our additional energy needs based on our level of physical activity.<br />
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[b]What Determines Our Metabolic Rate[/b]<br />
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Several things determine our metabolic rate, including:<br />
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  * Our Genes<br />
   Some people have a naturally faster metabolism<br />
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  * Our Age<br />
   As we age, our calorie needs decrease. On average it drops 2 per cent each decade.<br />
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  * Our Muscle-to-Fat Ratio<br />
   Muscle cells are about 8 times more metabolically demanding than fat cells. So the greater the our proportion of muscle to fat, the faster our metabolic rate.<br />
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  * Our Activity Level<br />
   Exercise burns calories. Even after we stop exercising, the effect continues. So we burn calories at a faster rate for several hours afterwards.<br />
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  [b][i]* How Often We Eat<br />
   Our metabolic rate increases during digestion of food, a process known as the Thermal Effect of food. In simple terms, if we go too long without food (5 hours for men; 3 hours for women), our body thinks there is a food shortage and our metabolism tends to slow down.[/i][/b]<br />
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  * Our Health & Nutrition<br />
   Metabolism is governed by thousands of separate chemical reactions. To perform this process efficiently, our body needs a constant supply of nutrients. Without these nutrients (like vitamins and minerals, esp. vitamins B2, B3, B5, B6 & vitamin C) metabolism can become inefficient and sluggish. The best way to ensure good dietary nutrition is to follow a balanced diet.<br />
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Fat-burners, Pills & Supplements<br />
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Do pills or supplements help to speed up metabolism and weight loss? The answer is No. There are many so-called 'fat-burning' pills and supplements on offer, which claim to speed up metabolism and weight loss. Be warned! This method of raising your metabolism is not considered safe. Nor has it been proved to assist long term weight loss.<br />
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How to Raise Metabolism - 4 Practical Conclusions<br />
<br />- Take regular exercise<br />
This should be aerobic exercise that makes you breathe more heavily. Exercises that build muscle are also useful.<br />
<br /> - Eat Breakfast and Eat Regularly<br />
To benefit from the Thermal Effect of food and ensure that your body burns calories willingly, eat breakfast and then eat regularly throughout the day.<br />
<br /> - Eat a Balanced Diet<br />
This helps to maintain a good supply of nutrients which in turn keeps your metabolism working smoothly. <br />
<br /> - Avoid Pills<br />
For the sake of your health and weight, avoid all supplements that claim to offer fat-burning and weight loss benefits.<br />
Metabolism - The Bottom Line<br />
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The only safe and effective way to raise your metabolism is to take more exercise. The harder you work, the faster your metabolic rate.[/quote]
- Take regular exercise<br />
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Yes? And? It's not like I've never read likewise before Kirwan, I'm a woman afterall! I can tell you now,if that above source is what you are living by then you wont lose weight.It's fine taking information at face value but consider the other aspects that will influence it.For example.You can eat little and often but by looking at other sources of information you will find that if you are eating the wrong sorts of foods little and often (as I'm sure many "little and often" dieters do) then you'll find that you will not be digesting food properly.The problem with "little and often" is that protien foods for example take a good 3-4hours to digest.Lets say you've had a nice tasty piece of fish and a bit of salad or something then two hours later you snack on crackers or something carbo-wise like that,you haven't even given your protien time to digest.Where is the sense in eating at all if the food isn't going to get digested properly?It's crying out "store me!" Even if you try to avoid it you end up with bad eating habits such as eating too much of one sort of food to avoid indigestion and malabsorption,body gets stuck in a rut.<br />
No disrespect intended,but to other ferners, on the metabolism issue just read the bottom line of Kirwan's quote because in my humble opinion it's the only useful piece of info - basic thruth- there. -
I do OK RL, the last time I followed this "source" I lost 10kgs in four weeks.<br />
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So you only think the exercise hard bit is good information in that post? So you reccommend taking pills to speed up your metabolism? Don't subscribe to a healthy, balanced diet? Don't think having breakfast is a good idea? Maybe you should read a little closer.<br />
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And it was so obvious a point to eat the right foods often, I didn't think I had to mention it. -
[quote name='Kirwan']<br />
I do OK RL, the last time I followed this "source" I lost 10kgs in four weeks.<br />
So you only think the exercise hard bit is good information in that post? So you reccommend taking pills to speed up your metabolism? Don't subscribe to a healthy, balanced diet? Don't think having breakfast is a good idea? Maybe you should read a little closer.<br />
And it was so obvious a point to eat the right foods often, I didn't think I had to mention it.<br />
[/quote]<br />
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No, the point we are debating,which was never intended to be a debate,was your "little and often" as the best way for everyone to lose weight just because it works for you.I am not the one recommending anything to anyone,if anything I suggested that ferners ignore all of that and stick to good old exercise to increase metabolism as a basic and a surefire way of losing weight.The food debate is up to them. It's almost funny that you highlighted a point in that document to support your view, because if anythign it reinforces mine about effective digestion's relation to weight loss.See in bold.<br />
[quote]How Often We Eat<br />
[b]Our metabolic rate increases during digestion of food[/b], a process known as the Thermal Effect of food. In simple terms, if we go too long without food (5 hours for men; 3 hours for women), our body thinks there is a food shortage and our metabolism tends to slow down.<br />
[/quote]<br />
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You take for granted that its is "obvious" that people know what types of food work well together in digestion thus making little and often eating seem like the miracle weightloss cure for all.However,the basic fact is that people don't know,and therefore it won't work for everyone as you think it will.[b]Our metabolic rate increases during digestion of food[/b] If the food isn't getting digested properly,as i strongly do not believe is possible to digest effectively in little and often dieting,it's not converting food into energy meaning little increase in metabolism..you know the rest. -
Oh, and Kirwan,you know very well that I've got the same stamina as you for debating so this could go on all night.I'm happy and confident in my opinion as it's reasoning is sound enough considering my own wealth of experience of dieting and working in MDTs including dieticians,I've stated basic "science" if you like,you can play around with it as much as you want.I'd just advice ferners to be a bit more broad minded about diet and nutrition.
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[quote]* How Often We Eat<br />
   Our metabolic rate increases during digestion of food, a process known as the Thermal Effect of food. In simple terms, if we go too long without food (5 hours for men; 3 hours for women), our body thinks there is a food shortage and our metabolism tends to slow down.[/quote]<br />
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Cretinous pseudo-scientific babble.... Yes it does increase when we eat, but the explicit corollary in this statement (that it slows down if we don't), is unproven in realistic daily terms (I accept it's true if you don't eat for, say, 2 weeks). The only logical deduction is that your metabolic rate rises whenever you eat - at 2 minute or 2 hour intervals. This is true- but it's not about weight loss, it's about the increased energy demands of digesting as opposed to lying there doing nothing. The effect of the time interval is irrelevant compared to the metabolic effect of 'exercise' - shock horror. Your body will take far more notice of an hour on the treadmill than it will the difference between having eaten half an hour or 3 hours ago... <br />
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Basic principle remains - whatever your body wants to do, if you shovel less energy in than it's burning, weight will come off. -
Losing weight is easy. Eat less, exercise more - you will lose weight guaranteed. It's the exercising more and eating less that's the hard part. For about a decade I seem to have got confused and eaten more, exercised less.<br />
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The one interesting thing about metabolic rates for me personally is my history. I used to eat shit all day, hit the piss every night and could not put on weight if I tried. Then I got a severe bout of glandular fever. Don't know if its medically possible for this to change yr metabolic rate, but I do know that is when I pounded on the weight despite exercising more and eating better. Still drank every night though. -
[quote name='Death']<br />
[quote]* How Often We Eat<br />
   Our metabolic rate increases during digestion of food, a process known as the Thermal Effect of food. In simple terms, if we go too long without food (5 hours for men; 3 hours for women), our body thinks there is a food shortage and our metabolism tends to slow down.[/quote]<br />
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Cretinous pseudo-scientific babble.... Yes it does increase when we eat, but the explicit corollary in this statement (that it slows down if we don't), is unproven in realistic daily terms (I accept it's true if you don't eat for, say, 2 weeks). The only logical deduction is that your metabolic rate rises whenever you eat - at 2 minute or 2 hour intervals. This is true- but it's not about weight loss, it's about the increased energy demands of digesting as opposed to lying there doing nothing. The effect of the time interval is irrelevant compared to the metabolic effect of 'exercise' - shock horror. Your body will take far more notice of an hour on the treadmill than it will the difference between having eaten half an hour or 3 hours ago... <br />
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Basic principle remains - whatever your body wants to do, if you shovel less energy in than it's burning, weight will come off.<br />
[/quote]<br />
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A lot of bodybuilders disagree with you, and it's hard to argue with their results. -
Their results are due to phenomenal effort: at that level, whatever dietary regime they follow will be subordinate to the calorific, training, and mental effects of their dedication. Any athlete has 'lucky rabbit's feet', whether magic diets, visualisation, special clothes, or a great trainer... I don't deny the value of healthy diet, but for the average ferner trying to lose some weight, agonising over '3 squares' or '15 mini-snacks' is farkin irrelevant. Just get yer arse outside, get yer heart rate up, and eat/drink less calories. Within a month, you'll lose flab, regain muscle and feel better... Conversely, expecting a change to a magical '15 snacks a day routine' without other lifestyle changes to transform you into adonis is bollocky poo poo... But hey, whatever motivates! When I was at my most insanely fit, I was stuffing anything I could find down my neck, because I was burning over 8000 calories a day - we all felt more or less constantly nauseous, because of the distended gut. I'm just saying, focus on the big issues - energy in, energy out, and a bearable, enjoyable, long term exercise regime. All else is tweaking the edges..
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[quote]And it's only six meals, three normal and three snacks in between - not the end of the world.[/quote]<br />
I've got to admit, that sounds like my sort of weight loss program!! <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />Â Double my intake... <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> -
If I don't exercise I tend to lose weight. Over one 8-month period where I became a lazy bugger, never ate the healhiest and just bummed around (I tried to play rugby but received a knee injury in my 1st game for Waverley!), I went from 89kg and was 80kg when I arrived back in NZ.<br />
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Hi I'm spanner, how's your works? -
[quote name='Bones']<br />
If I don't exercise I tend to lose weight. Over one 8-month period where I became a lazy bugger, never ate the healhiest and just bummed around (I tried to play rugby but received a knee injury in my 1st game for Waverley!), I went from 89kg and was 80kg when I arrived back in NZ.<br />
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Hi I'm spanner, how's your works?<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Muscle weighs more than fat, you lost your muscle and became flabby - so weighed less. -
[quote name='Kirwan']<br />
[quote name='Bones']<br />
If I don't exercise I tend to lose weight. Over one 8-month period where I became a lazy bugger, never ate the healhiest and just bummed around (I tried to play rugby but received a knee injury in my 1st game for Waverley!), I went from 89kg and was 80kg when I arrived back in NZ.<br />
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Hi I'm spanner, how's your works?<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Muscle weighs more than fat, you lost your muscle and became flabby - so weighed less.<br />
[/quote]Actually, more likely lost both, seems odd, but nah, wasn't flabby. -
Kirwan's correct in principle though: if you lost weight over time, it's because you were either losing muscle mass, and/or eating less calories than you were burning. Unless, of course, you are a genetically modified superhuman who can deny the laws of physics... <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />
