Fitness Tip | Metabolism and Calorie Consumption

• Posted: May 28, 2009
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• Author: Heather Binns
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• Filed under: Ask the Fitness Pro
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• Tags: No tags set for this entry.

Did you know that eating less may slow down your metabolism and cause you to actually gain weight? Post divorce is a stressful time, recovery comes in many forms, good heath is one area that should not be overlooked. Heather Binns brings us the third in a series of regular fitness tips.

The question always comes to mind of how to make one’s body more efficient at burning calories. Many people think eating less helps lose weight, and if done right, it can. But the way most people “eat less” actually makes people gain weight instead of losing it. In other words, calorie restriction slows down our metabolism making us less efficient at burning calories.

Let’s start by understanding metabolism. Metabolism is the rate at which one’s body burns calories. Then, the rate of one’s metabolism depends on the relationship of calorie consumption, calorie burn during food intake and exercise, and genetic calorie burn. We can’t do much about our genetics, but we can affect how our body burns calories during food intake and exercise.

By extending the time between meals, we make our bodies go into a “starvation mode.” This decreases our metabolism to conserve energy and prevent starvation. When our bodies go through long periods of time without receiving nutrition, it feels as though it’s getting starved and then holds-on to the calories consumed in the next meal. In essence, consuming only 1 to 3 meals a day causes one’s metabolism to slow down. To prevent this, we should eat every 3½ to 4 hours, which keeps our metabolism working at a higher rate throughout the day.

In addition, by eating more frequently our bodies stabilize our glucose and insulin levels causing us to control hunger more easily. Our bodies will burn calories at a higher rate and we will also feel more energetic as our body gets its energy from our food intake. In addition, we need to drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water each day. Not drinking enough water causes our bodies to “store” rather than to “burn.” So ultimately, the key is to consume enough calories and water evenly throughout the day to keep up the metabolism levels in our bodies to burn fat more efficiently.

Note: It’s always smart to consult a physician and/or registered dietitian or nutritionist to help direct our daily caloric needs.

For a full bio of Heather Binns, click here

© 2010 Heather Binns, CPT.  All Rights Reserved.

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