With the start of every New Year, many of us resolve to lose weight. Whether we want to lose a few pounds or a few dozen, we look to January 1st as a day when we’ll commit to exercising more at the gym and eating less. After all, that’s the best way to lose weight, right? Eat less and exercise more?
It turns out, weight loss is a little more complicated than that. While exercising at our Thornton gym and eating fewer calories can lead to weight loss, there is one other factor in the equation – our metabolism.
What exactly is a metabolism, and how does it affect how much we weigh? Read this blog to learn more.
What is metabolism?
In the most basic sense, metabolism is a series of chemical processes in our cells that turn the calories we eat into fuel to keep us alive. Our “basal” metabolic rate is the number of calories we burn while we’re doing nothing. It’s the amount of calories our body’s tissues need to keep functioning.
Our body’s major organs — the heart, brain, liver, and kidneys — account for about half the calories we burn at rest. Our fat tissue, digestive system, and muscles account for the other half.
“Metabolism” is a word we throw around a lot in conversation, especially when we’re talking about weight loss. Some people might say they wish they had a “faster” metabolism so that weight loss would be easier, or they might believe that they can “speed up” their metabolism by taking a special pill or eating certain foods.
For example, you might have heard stories about how eating chili, peppers, and coffee will speed up your basal metabolic rate. It is true that these foods can boost your metabolism a little for a short period of time, but it’s not enough to help you lose weight.
Metabolism can vary between people
It probably comes as no surprise that two people who are the same size and body composition can have different basal metabolic rates. One person can consume huge meals every day with no weight gain, while the other must count every calorie to avoid gaining weight.
Why? Researchers still don’t understand the mechanisms that control a person’s metabolism, but they can predict how fast a person’s metabolism will be by knowing:
- The amount of fat tissue and lean muscle in their body — Muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat.
- Their genetic makeup — Metabolism appears to be inherited.
- Their age — Metabolism naturally slows down with age.
- Their sex — Women tend to burn fewer calories at rest than men of comparable age and body composition.
How do I measure my basal metabolic rate?
There’s no easy test that measures your resting metabolic rate precisely, but you can get a rough estimate by using an online calculator like this one. If you eat the number of calories that this calculator tells you and your weight remains the same after a couple months, then it’s likely correct.
Can I Speed Up My Metabolism by Exercising at the Gym?
The answer is yes, you can achieve a slightly higher resting metabolism by exercising regularly, but there are caveats.
For instance, doing strength training at the gym to build more muscle tissue can be helpful during your weight loss journey. That’s because one of the factors that affect your basal metabolic rate is the amount of lean muscle your body has. Muscle tissue uses a lot more energy at rest than fat tissue. Therefore, if you build up your muscle tissue and reduce your body fat, you’ll have a higher resting metabolism and burn calories more quickly, even when you’re inactive.
But here’s the catch. If you build more muscle, your body will burn fuel more rapidly, which means you’ll want to eat more. If weight loss is your goal, you’ll need to fight that natural tendency to eat more because of your higher metabolism. Also, some people find it challenging to sustain the gym workouts required to maintain the muscle mass they’ve gained.
Can I Burn Enough Calories at the Gym to Lose Weight?
Metabolism aside, maybe you’re thinking, if I go to the gym and exercise to burn more calories, I can lose all the weight I want to, right?
Not exactly. It is true that large amounts of cardiovascular exercise like spinning will burn calories, but it won’t allow you to eat whatever you desire and still lose weight.
Despite what you might hear, exercise alone is not especially helpful for weight loss. That’s because 100% of the energy we consume comes from food, but we can only burn about 10%-30% of it per day through physical activity (unless you’re a professional athlete).
To prove this point, researchers have followed many different types of people, from those in marathon training to sedentary individuals who increase their physical activity through personal training sessions, running, or cycling. In these studies, when diets remained consistent, most people only lost a few pounds at best.
Exercise Is Important!
While you can’t expect to achieve your weight loss goal by exercise alone, exercise is hugely important to your overall health.
People who exercise regularly enjoy a range of health benefits including reduced blood pressure and blood triglycerides. Exercise also reduces the risk of heart attack, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes.
In addition, many studies point to the mental health benefits of exercise including a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Exercise also helps people score higher on cognitive ability tests and fight the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and ADHD.
Exercise also tones your body and gives you the confidence that you look healthy and strong.
Exercise Helps to Maintain Weight Loss
After you’ve lost weight, exercise can help you maintain your weight loss when it’s used along with watching your calorie intake. In October 2017, the journal Obesity published a study where researchers followed what happened to 14 of the contestants who were on The Biggest Loser weight loss reality show, six years after they tried to slim down on TV.
They found that the people who lost the most weight on the show weren’t the ones who did the most exercise, but were the people who ate the least. They also found that the contestants who continued to exercise kept the most weight off after the show ended. Participants who maintained their weight loss after six years got 80 minutes of moderate exercise, or 35 minutes of vigorous exercise, per day.
You Need to Be Active Throughout the Day
While your metabolism might slow down slightly with age, our daily activity levels slow down as we get older, too. Being sedentary all day significantly reduces fat metabolism. In addition to getting a daily workout at the gym, it’s necessary to keep active throughout the day (rather than all at once) in order to maintain effective fat metabolism. Ideally, researchers have found that five, 4-second bursts of exercise performed at full effort every hour throughout the day can dramatically increase fat metabolism. If you’re not able to perform 20 seconds of full-out sprints of exercise every hour (not many of us can!), then even getting up to take a walk for a few minutes hourly can help keep your metabolism up. Research has also shown that it’s necessary to take at least 8,500 steps throughout the day in order to maintain adequate fat metabolism.
Dieting to Lose Weight
Now that we’ve explored how metabolism and exercise impact our weight loss efforts, let’s discuss another factor we have control over when losing weight — our diets.
First, the good news: Weight loss is possible by restricting the number of calories we consume. But the not-so-good news is that drastic weight loss programs (also known as “crash diets”) have the biggest impact on our resting metabolism. And unfortunately, it’s not the impact we would hope for.
Crash Dieting Slows Down Your Metabolism
Research has found that, as people lose weight through crash dieting, their basal metabolic rate slows down to a greater degree than what would be expected from the weight loss.
When you lose weight, it makes sense that your metabolism would slow down some, since your body is smaller and doesn’t need as many calories to function. But the slowdown after drastic weight loss appears to be significantly greater than what would make sense for the person’s new, smaller body size.
To illustrate this point, we’ll return to the contestants of The Biggest Loser reality TV show. The participants in this show lost dozens of pounds in a short period of time, which made them the perfect study subjects to find out how fast weight loss affected their metabolism.
The researchers found that, six years after the show ended, 13 out of 14 participants had gained back a significant amount of the weight they lost, and four of them were even heavier than when they were on the show.
Researchers also discovered that the show participants’ metabolisms had vastly slowed down — their bodies were burning about 500 fewer calories per day than what would have been expected given their weight. And this effect persisted six years after the show ended, even after the participants had regained the weight they lost.
Scientists don’t know why this metabolic slowdown happens, but they suspect that it’s evolutionary. Our ancestors had to endure long periods of hunger, so it makes sense that our bodies adapted by slowing our metabolisms to ensure our survival.
So What Weight Loss Efforts Actually Work?
Thankfully, not every kind of weight loss results in a severe metabolic slowdown. For example, people who undergo weight loss surgery don’t seem to have the same negative experience as contestants on The Biggest Loser.
In addition, people who aim to lose about a pound per week don’t experience a dramatic slowing of the metabolism. With slow, gradual weight loss, the basal metabolic rate appears to hold steady.
The best research for what weight loss strategies work comes from the National Weight Control Registry. In their study of 10,000 participants, researchers found that people who have been successful in losing weight have these characteristics in common:
- They restrict their calorie intake to a manageable, sustainable level that leads to gradual weight loss.
- They count their calories.
- They weigh themselves once per week.
- They exercise regularly.
- They focus on eating healthy, nutritious foods and avoid empty calorie foods and beverages.
In general, diet and exercise work better than diet alone, but only if you don’t count the calories burned during exercise as an excuse to overeat.
The Takeaways
Losing weight through the “eat less, move more” mantra sounds easy, but there are more complicated factors at play besides calories in vs. calories out. Here are the main points we can take away after considering metabolism:
- We have very little control over our basal metabolic rate, which accounts for 60%-80% of our overall calorie expenditure.
- You can modestly increase your basal metabolic rate by building muscle tissue through strength training, since muscle burns more calories at rest than fat tissue.
- Exercise alone won’t help you lose a lot of weight, but daily exercise will help you maintain weight loss and provides a host of other health benefits.
- Dieting and calorie control can help you lose weight, but fast, drastic weight loss can permanently slow down your basal metabolic rate, making it extremely difficult to lose more weight or maintain your weight loss.
- If you’re dieting to lose weight, aim to lose about a pound per week to avoid a drastic metabolic slowdown.
Find the Support You Need for Your Fitness Goals at AFAC Gym
There’s no doubt that getting regular exercise at AFAC gym can help you achieve your fitness goals, including your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight. In addition to our wide range of exercise equipment and fitness classes, AFAC gym also has personal trainers on staff who can give you the support you need.
If you’re not a member of AFAC but would like to learn more about how to join the best gym in Thornton, Colorado, please stop by or give us a call. You can also contact our gym owner, Susan, at 720-849-0245 or susan@adventurefitness.club for assistance.
To read more articles from Adventure Fitness Athletic Club, check out our Adventure Corner blogs by clicking here.
