Your Metabolism (and what you thought you knew)

You shouldn’t be struggling, pushing so hard all time,

expecting to see and feel results that just aren’t happening.

The Basics Part 1

Okay, are you ready for this?

The actual amount of energy (or kilocalories) your body burns (metabolism) only increases temporarily when you initially increase the demand.

After a short while, your metabolic rate recovers and returns to baseline, even with the increase in energy output.

When the body increases energy output, it diverts energy away from other metabolic processes (costly stress response, immune response, etc.) to cover the deficit.

What does this have to do with my previous post about the fall season, and watching our waistlines expand? Let's back up.

The longer days of summer hit and we began moving more, and in response we may have felt more hungry and increased our energy input to “match” our output.

But many of us badly overestimate how much more energy we actually need to compensate for the increase in output (movement). This, plus once our metabolisms returned to baseline (even with the increased movement staying the same), our input did not. It remained elevated.

Basically, we keep eating like we are constantly increasing our output. Add to that our activity levels beginning to decrease now that the days are shorter and we are not moving as much.

Now we are eating in a surplus.

Before we move, make sure you are starting with the basics. All of the information in the world won’t make a difference if you don’t first have your foundation set.