You may ask how can I lose weight while resting? But the truth of the matter is that the average 45 year old, 165cm, 80kg woman burns approximately 1515 Calories per day at rest. This is called your basel metabolic rate - the minimum number of calories your body needs at rest to fuel its metabolic activity, for example to maintain functions such as heart beat, breathing and temperature. Considering an hour of walking equates to 250-300 calories you can see that our nutrition has a much larger effect on overall energy expenditure. So how do we alter our Basel Metabolic rate so that we can burn more calories throughout a 24 hour period.
The easiest way to look at weight loss is with the following statement:
Calories in against calories out
So what does this mean?
Your body will drop body fat when you are in a calorie deficit (less calories coming in than your expending daily). In order for this to occur you need to be burning more calories than what you consume. The main ways to do this are through diet changes and increased exercise but your metabolism can help speed up this process.
There are a few main ways to increase your metabolism (metabolic rate) throughout the day without even stepping foot in the gym. Having an increased metabolism will burn more energy throughout the day and therefore burn through more calories. Increased number of calories burnt = greater weight loss.
- Meal frequency
- Meal timing
- Ingredients used
1. Meal Frequency: Everybody eats breakfast, lunch and dinner but what happens during the 4-5 hour breaks in between meals? Your metabolism slows right down as your body knows it needs to conserve energy for your body to function over that time period. The way around this and the way to keep your metabolism functioning at a high rate is to include morning tea, afternoon tea and supper. This will mean your metabolism is constantly being spiked and will never 'flat line'. It will be kept higher for a greater percentage through the day resulting in a greater amount of calories burnt.
2. Meal Timing: What we mean by meal timing is planning your food choices depending on the time of day. The easiest way to structure this is to have higher amounts of carbohydrates at the start of your day (breakfast, morning tea and lunch) then to slowly lower your intake after lunch and towards dinner. Aim for 15-20g of carbohydrate for your meals after lunch. The reason for this is due to your body being at rest while you're sleeping there is no need for an injection of carbohydrates/energy. Excess carbohydrates in your body that cannot be stored in the muscles and liver during this time will be stored as body fat. See picture below outlining this process.
3. Ingredients: The ingredients used in your cooking can also have a surprisingly good effect on boosting your metabolism. Using ingredients such as cumin and chilli can speed up your metabolism and lead to a greater amount of calories burnt. Cinnamon and ginger will also have the same effect and help to boost your metabolic rate. Im sure everybody has told you that when you start a weight loss journey you have to cut the coffee. Well the facts about coffee are as follows. It can be a great natural source for fat loss. Green tea has a natural caffeine source which will aid in boosting your metabolic rate. So we now know that green tea is a helpful weight loss tool but what about that morning coffee that we all crave. We can tell you that it can have the same effect as the green tea as long as you go by a few simple rules. Reduce the amount of added calories you may use in your coffee or tea. So this means things like cutting out milk and sugars as much as possible or switching to better options if you need some flavour.
So now you have the facts and can see how easy it is to burn extra calories while at rest. These few simple tools could be the difference maker in your next weight loss journey. Use them to your advantage and get a great result.
James David 17/05/2016
*Disclaimer: Individual results vary based on agreed goals. Click here for details.
