Trying to lose fat?  You may need to understand what’s happening with your metabolism!

What the heck is my BMR?

The main reason people are overweight is because their basal metabolic rate (BMR) is lower than it should be.

BMR is the rate at which your body burns calories to perform its normal functions of digestion, circulation, breathing, and at rest.

A person with a low BMR burns fewer calories 24 hours a day, and over a period of months, this can lead to stored body fat.

Your body needs a minimum of 1500 to 2000 calories a day to perform its normal functions. When it doesn’t get its daily requirement it slows down the metabolic rate. The protective function of the human body is to survive.  So when the body “senses” that it’s not getting enough calories, it will start slowing down all its functions so that it does not burn up as many calories.

As a result, the rate of digestion, circulation, and breathing slows down. By doing this, the body is instinctively “saving” calories. Dieters often complain of a lack of energy, fatigue, exhaustion, headaches, difficulty concentrating, depression, and irritability–this is a direct result of the body not getting enough fuel (food) to function optimally.

By drastically reducing your caloric intake you are working against the natural rhythm of your body. 

This is also the reason you will see that you gain all plus more of the weight you lost as soon as you get off your diet. The body starts storing calories for a future self-induced famine.  This is also known as the “yo-yo syndrome”… losing and gaining the same weight over and over again.

How do I know what my BMR is?

To get a general idea of your BMR, multiply your weight by 10. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, your BMR is 1,500. The actual formula looks like:

BMR = 150 x 10 kcal/lb = 1,500 kcals

This formula allows 10 kcals (commonly referred to as calories) for every pound of body weight. This means that your metabolism can “use up” around 1,500 calories a day. If you take in more than that, you will gain weight.  But remember, this is a rough estimate and doesn’t take into account other contributing factors that may influence your metabolic rate like how much you exercise. (for more on exercise and metabolism click here)

WHAT YOU EAT: You really ARE what you eat!

Rule #1.  Although calories are not all the same, calories do count in the battle of the bulge.
If you eat more than you burn you will gain weight…PERIOD. And if you eat processed foods full of sugar and lacking nutrition you’ll not only be fat, but sick, too.

What most people have traditionally done is to starve them selves to lower their intake of calories in and spent countless hours on the treadmill (or elliptical or bike) to increase calories out. What’s tragic about this approach is that both work to lower BMR or total calories out, making it ultimately even more difficult to drop pounds.

Rule # 2:  You must preserve your muscle to maintain your metabolism.
Muscle is what burns calories at work and at rest. Fat doesn’t. Fat is just stored excess calories hanging on your body. Not sexy. Muscle looks good; muscle also helps stoke your metabolism. When you compare 5 lbs. of lean, long muscle to 5 lbs. of lumpy, bumpy body fat–you get the picture.

Remember, your body constantly burns calories, even when you’re doing nothing. This resting metabolic rate is much higher in people with more muscle. Every pound of muscle uses about 6 calories a day just to sustain it’s self, while each pound of fat burns only 2 calories daily. That small difference can add up over time. After a session of strength training, muscles are activated all over your body, raising your average daily metabolic rate.

Rule #3:  As it turns out, size really does matter.
How many of us have stepped on the scale in a good mood, taken a gander at the number and fallen into dispair? But in reality, the scale doesn’t always tell the truth.  In fact, it can be downright misleading. Total body weight is not nearly as important as body composition- or the percentage of total body weight that you have stored as fat and what is lean body mass.

So, do you want to weigh less or take up less space?

Nice question but consider that muscle burns fat and a lot of it.  So simply gaining one pound of muscle can help you lose as much as five pounds in a year. Nature knows this because in so many words muscle is expensive in time and energy to develop and maintain. Nature also knows how to maintain as little muscle as possible in order to survive. This means if we don’t move a lot we don’t need a lot of muscle. It also means if we don’t eat adequate calories to feed it, we won’t maintain muscle. Both are a recipe for storing and wearing a lot of fat in our modern society.

Muscle is dense and takes up less space than fat. That’s why the size you are matters more than that number on the scale. If you wear have great muscle tone and can wear that size 6, who cares how much you weigh? Focus on inches not pounds as you transform your body.

WHAT WE EAT: Translation: Eat processed foods, get processed thighs.

Protein – lean sources of protein not only help us maintain healthy hair, skin and nails, but are the foundation maintaining our lean body mass. Protein takes longer to digest which balances our blood sugar and we feel less hungry. It takes the body more energy to break down and digest protein so it raises our metabolism as well.

Fiber – Since we follow recommend eating Paleo for maximum fat loss and athletic performance, we’d love to see you eat more fruits and vegetables. These are high in fiber and nutrient dense foods which also give us a feeling of fullness and saiety. High fiber foods have also been shown to decrease heart disease and colon cancer.  While eating Paleo we avoid grains and legumes but you will never be fiber deprived eating your fruits and veggies. Eat foods in their simplist forms whenever possible. It’s hard to misread the label on an apple; an apple is an apple.  Thank goodness!

Fats – Our body needs fat to run optimally and we should not avoid it. Good fats like olive oil, canola oil, nuts, seeds and flaxseeds are essential for our health. The fats that are damaging to our health and our bottom lines are saturated fats and processed trans fats found in many fast foods. Limit your overall fat intake to 20-25% of your daily calories.

KEEP IT SIMPLE: Just say NO to food with more than 5 Ingredients
(or an ingredient list that only a scientist could pronounce)

Stop eating sugar!
The average American consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar each week, which is not surprising considering that highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar), and high-fructose corn syrup
are being processed into so many foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and a plethora of microwave meals.

One of sugar’s major drawbacks is that it raises the insulin level. An influx of sugar into the bloodstream upsets the body’s blood-sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin, which the body uses to keep blood sugar at a constant and safe level. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so that when you eat sweets high in sugar, you’re making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, both of which have been linked to cardiovascular disease.

Complex carbohydrates tend to be absorbed more slowly, lessening the impact on blood-sugar levels.  Sugar is an empty calorie that affects mood, insulin release, supresses the immune system and slows metabolism.  If you eat enough of it, you can count on wearing it proudly!

Avoid trans-fats.
 Trans-fatty acids are also formed during the process of hydrogenation, making margarine, shortening, cooking oils and the foods made from them a major source of TFA, or hydrogenated fats, in the American diet. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils provide about three-fourths of the TFA in the U.S. diet. In clinical studies, TFA tended to raise total blood cholesterol levels.

Some scientists believe they raise cholesterol levels more than saturated fats. TFA also tends to raise LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower HDL (good) cholesterol when used instead of fatty acids or natural oils. These changes may increase the risk of heart disease. Fast foods, doughnuts—junk food, in general–are all sources of trans fats.

WHAT WE DRINK also matters!  Dammit!

Water –  What would you say if someone said they could give you a magic elixir that would increase your ability to burn fat, increase energy, flatten your belly and improve the quality of your skin? And what if that elixir was calorie free and free of cost? If you believe it’s too good to be true, think again. We have it and so do you. Just fill that glass and drink it up. It’s water, agua–that miracle in a bottle.

Your body needs water to process calories. If you’re even mildly dehydrated, your metabolism may slow down. Dehydration leads to a sluggish metabolism, fatigue and hunger. Dehydration occurs when you lose more fluid than you take in and your body doesn’t have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions. If lost fluid remains un-replenished, you may suffer serious consequences. In one study, adults who drank eight or more glasses of water a day burned more calories than those who drank four.

Be aware that thirst is not by itself a good indication of dehydration; most of us are dehydrated already before we begin to experience thirst. We still recommend 64 ounces a day of un-caffeinated, unsweetened fluids each day.

To stay hydrated, drink a glass of water or other unsweetened beverage before every meal and snack. Also, snack on fresh fruits and vegetables, which naturally contain water, rather than pretzels or chips.

Alcohol –  When we drink alcohol, a small portion of the alcohol is converted into fat. Your liver then converts most of the alcohol into acetate. The acetate is then released into your bloodstream, and replaces fat as a source of fuel.

The problem is, when we drink and then eat, studies have shown we tend to eat more. When it comes time to use that fat as fuel, the body has stored moreof the unused kcal as fat because it was busy digesting the acetate first.

Moderate drinking is all right, but those two glasses of wine per night can pack up to 500 extra calories–and that’s a saboteur, any way you cut it.

Alcohol can also lead to dehydration—i.e., a hangover which we all know leads to less than stellar dietary choices the next day. Ask yourself what you found yourself craving after a night of drinking. I bet it wasn’t spinach.

WHEN WE EAT: Give Your Metabolism a Boost at the Right Moments for Maximal Fat Loss Results

Putting your body into burn mode depends on feeding it the right amount of food at specific times during the day.

YOU MUST EAT BREAKFAST!

It is the meal that kicks your metabolism into gear for the day. Want a muffin top?  Skip breakfast, eat a yogurt for lunch and overeat all night! This is a guarantee for weight gain, sluggishness and low energy. In the morning, be sure to eat longer-burning complex carbohydrates and protein like a spinach, bacon and egg omelet! This is a great choice to generate a full day of energy.

Your body burns many more calories digesting protein than it does eating fat or carbohydrates. As part of a balanced diet, replacing some carbs with lean, protein-rich foods can boost metabolism at mealtime. Good sources of protein include lean beef, turkey, fish, white meat chicken, nuts, eggs, and low-fat dairy products (if you choose to keep dairy in your diet).

Just as important is making sure you put something in your body at frequent intervals. You know those mid-afternoon cravings? By eating three meals plus 2-3 snacks a day—breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack and dinner—you’ll avoid the peaks and valleys. Studies show that people who eat more snacks tend to eat less at meal times and less total calories per day.

When you miss meals, you send a signal to your body to slow down metabolism so you can conserve energy. If you are eating the right mix of nutrients at consistent intervals throughout the day, your body gets the signal to burn.

You can even give yourself dessert or a pre-bedtime snack and still boost your metabolism. “Remember, however, that this last meal will set the “metabolic tone” for the rest of the night—10 to 12 hours where you can be burning or storing fat.

Be sure the snack is well balanced and supports optimal chemistry! That means staying away from sugar, which will slow metabolism and create a fat-storing machine. Instead, try eating complex carbohydrates in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and nuts and seeds, all of which will help you sleep better, burn better and wake up with more mental clarity.

It may take some time to identify which food choices put your unique mind and body chemistry into balance, but once you do, a new sense of vitality will be worth it.

Bottom line:  Eat 5 times a day:  3 meals and two snacks. T School will help you learn to eat this way to stoke your metabolism and shoot your energy through the roof!

NOT ALL EXERCISE IS THE SAME- You’ve got to H.I.I.T. it!

Although we want to start by saying that ALL movement is good, there is a definite difference in the results you will get from different activities. Aerobic exercise may not build big muscles, but it can rev up your metabolism in the hours after a workout. The key is to push your self.

High intensity exercise delivers a bigger, longer rise in resting metabolic rate than low-to-moderate intensity workouts. But Intervals for High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) will rev up your Metabolism fast! HIIT exercises will give you greater fat burning results that the less intense workout sessions. Getting out of your comfort zone really has benefits!

Remember, you can also accomplish more in a short amount of time when you workout at a higher intensity.  When you exercise in the range where your heart rate reaches beyond 75% of its maximum, you are more likely to create an “after burn” where your metabolism is enhanced after you stop exercising.

To get HIIT benefits, try a more intense class at the studio like cardio sculpt, kettlebells or tramp class, or include short bursts of jogging during your regular walk.

You may decide to wear a heart rate monitor to test your heart rate, or give yourself the talk test. If you can talk easily during your bursts, you need to work harder. If you can talk comfortably, you are not getting the maximum out of your workout investment time.

Want results?  Get out of your comfort zone!  Click here to access our Pilates 1901 class schedule.

The Skinny on the “fat burning” zone…

The Question: I’ve read that if I want to burn more fat and lose more weight while exercising, I need to exercise in the fat burning zone–is this true?

The short answer is–no, not really. Although it’s technically true that exercising in the so-called “fat burning zone” (at a lower intensity level of about 60% to 70% of maximum heart rate) does use a higher percentage of fat calories for fuel, the overall total calories burned is still fairly low.

The reason is simple. Fat is a slow-burning fuel that requires oxygen to convert it to a usable energy, so it’s great for long, steady, slow exercise, like backpacking, or cycling a long distance.

Most people have enough stored body fat to fuel low-level activity for days and days without running out of energy. If you want to go fast, work all-out, or burn the most calories per minute, you need to rely on the faster-burning carbohydrate (glycogen) for energy. Converting fat to fuel takes longer and requires lots of oxygen. In the strictest definition, this is called aerobic metabolism.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), on the other hand, tends to use anaerobic metabolism, or glycolysis, to quickly convert stored glycogen to energy for exercise. This process can happen with little to no oxygen. The downside of anaerobic metabolism is that it has a limited supply, and when you run out of stored glycogen, typically around the two hour mark, you’ll have to slow down and start using aerobic metabolism or refill your glycogen stores with some easy to digest carbohydrates.

To further complicate the fat-burning zone theory, you need to recognize that when we exercise we use a combination of energy systems throughout the workout. Athletes are rarely exclusively in the aerobic or anaerobic zone.  Now to the real question: if your goal is weight loss, and burning calories is the way you are trying to lose weight, are you better off exercising at a higher intensity 2-3 times per week, and burning more overall calories from both fat and stored glycogen?

While it is true that you burn a higher percentage of calories from fat in the low intensity “fat burning zone,” you still burn more total calories, and more calories from fat, at a higher intensity.

Pushing your pace, alternating bursts of high and low intensity (interval training), and adding some all-out efforts forces you to activate the anaerobic system (70-90% of your maximum heart rate), which results in a greater number of total calories burned during your workout, which is what ultimately determines fat loss from exercise.

Calories burned in the fat burning zone…

Still not convinced that the fat burning zone doesn’t really burn more fat? Let’s do the math. The chart below details the fat calories expended by a 130-pound woman during a typical exercise session. In this example, the woman burns more total calories and more fat calories at a higher intensity.

Calories Burned at Low and High Intensity

_{Source: The 24/5 Complete Personal Training Manual, 24 Hour Fitness, 2000}

So, Is Low Intensity Exercise Just a Waste of Time?

Before you start doing all your workouts in the high intensity zone, keep in mind that exercising at a high intensity all the time is just not smart. It can easily lead to overtraining, injury, and exercise burnout. Low intensity cardiovascular exercise has many benefits, and for some people, it is the best way to exercise.

One reason why some people are better off sticking with a lower intensity workout is that working at the high intensity is difficult. Yes, it’s hard work. You can’t go very long without running out of fuel, so it’s not going to be something you can do for hours on end. Unless you train at a high level, you probably have enough glycogen to last about two hours before you run out of glycogen and need to refuel, or slow down. This isn’t really true for most recreational exercisers who rarely work out for more than an hour. If your typical workout routine includes an hour at the gym, you don’t need to worry about running out of fuel if you work hard. So going for a high-intensity effort, at least a couple times a week, is a simple way to make the most of your workout time.

High intensity workouts aren’t for the timid. And they aren’t for a beginner. They require a lot of effort and you will need to gradually build up your body to handle those efforts. You can’t go from couch potato to HIIT queen overnight. You need to get your muscles, joints, cardiovascular system, and even your mind prepared to handle the stress–or you could easily overdo it and wind up injured or ill. So, while high intensity gets you fit faster, and burns more calories, low intensity exercise should still have a place in your workout schedule. In fact, longer, slow endurance exercise should be a regular part of a well-balanced, healthy lifestyle. Recovery is faster with low intensity movement. Going for a hike, taking a casual bike ride, or just stretching are excellent low intensity activities. Mix it up with shorter, higher intensity workouts and power training to add variety, burn calories and build endurance quickly.

Be smart, listen to your body, and mix up your workouts in the way that works best for your goals and comfort zone. 

What’s sleep got to do with it?

Recent studies on exercise and fat mobilization indicate that more fat is actually mobilized after a light meal rather than exercising on an empty stomach. This is in contrast to previous thought that we could burn more fat by fasting before exercise.

Given the previous statement that total calories used during your exercise session is what ultimately matters in your losing fat and keeping it off, it really is a personal preference if you want to eat something light before your workouts or choose to eat after. I like to workout on an empty stomach but need to eat soon after to avoid a blood sugar crash. It’s up to you and how you feel during your workouts with or without food.

Sleep + exercise + a healthy diet = weight loss

Researchers from several separate studies have found a link between sleep and the hormones that influence our eating behavior. Two specific hormones are involve–ghrelin is responsible for feelings of hunger and leptin tells the brain when it’s time to stop.

When you’re sleep deprived, your ghrelin levels increase at the same time that your leptin levels decrease. The result is an increased craving for food and not feeling full. Add the fact that sleep deprived people tend to chose different foods to snack on—mainly high calorie sweets and salty and starchy foods—and it’s easy to see how these small changes can lead to long-term weight gain

In a study of 1,024 people aged 30-60, Body Mass Index (BMI) levels were recorded. Those who slept only three hours a night had a 5% increase in body weight over 15 years. Researchers say that the number may well be an underestimate of the real life impact.

Don’t think snoozing a few hours longer each night will solve a weight problem. It won’t. Exercising and eating healthfully is still the way to go. But, lack of shut-eye may soon be considered another risk factor for obesity. Especially since 65 percent of Americans are overweight and 63 percent of people don’t get eight hours of sleep a night. Interestingly, many of those who are overweight also don’t sleep enough.

Stress, cortisol and body fat

Cortisol is an important hormone in the body, secreted by the adrenal glands and involved in the following functions and more:

• Proper glucose metabolism
• Regulation of blood pressure
• Insulin release for blood sugar maintenence
• Immune function
• Inflammatory response

Normally, cortisol is present in the body at higher levels in the morning, and at its lowest at night. Although stress isn’t the only reason that cortisol is secreted into the bloodstream, it has been termed “the stress hormone” because it’s also secreted in higher levels during the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response to stress, and is responsible for several stress-related changes in the body. Small increases of cortisol have some positive effects:

• A quick burst of energy for survival reasons
• Heightened memory functions
• A burst of increased immunity
• Lower sensitivity to pain
• Helps maintain homeostasis in the body

While cortisol is an important and helpful part of the body’s response to stress, it’s important that the body’s relaxation response is activated so the body’s functions can return to normal following a stressful event. Unfortunately, in our current high-stress culture, the body’s stress response is activated so often that the body doesn’t always have a chance to return to normal, resulting in a state of chronic stress.

Higher and more prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream (like those associated with chronic stress) have been shown to have negative effects, such as:

• Impaired cognitive performance
• Suppressed thyroid function
• Blood sugar imbalances such as hyperglycemia
• Decreased bone density
• Decrease in muscle tissue
• Higher blood pressure
• Lowered immunity and inflammatory responses in the body, slowed wound healing, and other health consequences
• Increased abdominal fat, which is associated with a greater amount of health problems than fat deposited in other areas of the body. Some of the health problems associated with increased stomach fat are heart attacks, strokes, the development of higher levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and lower levels of “good” cholesterol (HDL), which can lead to other health problems!

In a study at the University of California in San Francisco, researchers found that greater life stress and stress re-activity contribute to more belly fat in women. The consistency of findings was striking: vulnerability to stress was noted across both psychological and physiological measures among women with a high Waist to Hip ratio.  Their study found that the women with greater stress and release of cortisol were at higher risk of metabolic diseases.

To keep cortisol levels healthy and under control, the body’s relaxation response should be activated after the fight or flight response occurs.

You can learn to relax your body with various stress management techniques, and you can make lifestyle changes in order to keep your body from reacting to stress in the first place.

Exercise, eating right and getting enough sleep are a good places to start! And this is what your three trimester T School program is all about: addressing all three components of your lifestyle changes: nutrition, exercise and developing a personal practice for managing stress and making consistently good choices.

If you have questions about any part of your T School program, please ask your T School coach or email Tina today!