Muscle & weight loss!
Approximately 1.9 billion people worldwide are overweight & 650 million are obese. Globally this equates to 39% of all adults being overweight & 13% being obese.
This is why education , physical fitness & good healthy habits are especially important to avoid being one these statistics.
Calories
If you have read our previous blog posts you will already be aware of the calories in calories out equation, our metabolic rate. If not, go check it out.
Although energy in vs energy out applies, the quality of food you eat is very important as it controls at least to some extent how physically active you are. If you are nourishing yourself daily with nutrient dense foods opposed to empty calories void of any nutrients such as processed foods, you hormonally will be healthier leading to better moods and signals to want to work out.
Our metabolic rate
Your basal metabolic rate refers to how many calories your body is burning at rest. It accounts for 60-70% of your total daily energy expenditure.
Having a healthy metabolic rate is key to maintaining a fit & healthy body.
Unfortunately many of us have poor metabolic rates due to the factors below:
- Chronic stress
- Low thyroid function
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Low muscle mass
- Age after 60 years old
- Chronic low calorie intake
- Overconsuming highly processed foods (seed oils, sugar, refined carbohydrates)
How we can increase our metabolic rate:
- Increase muscle mass
- Physical activity & exercise
- High protein diet
- Daily movement
- Eating more nutrient dense foods
- Eating more calories
A 2021 study discovered that a person's metabolic rate stays relatively stable between the ages of 20 & 60, after which it starts to decline 0.7% per year.
The role muscle & training plays with our metabolic rate for weight loss
Essentially the more calories you can burn at rest the leaner you will be.
If we can maintain a healthy metabolism by incorporating the things above we will be setting ourselves up for a healthier, stronger & fitter version.
Having a substantial amount of lean muscle mass will allow for a normal metabolism and more calories being burned at rest.
So if we look at weight loss and by weight loss let's refer to decreased body fat, increasing & maintaining our lean muscle mass will yield greater fat loss.
When trying to increase lean muscle mass a diet high in quality protein is key along with regular resistance based exercise.
Resistance based exercise is even more important for muscle preservation while trying to lose weight because it signals the body to keep the muscle while compensating for the calorie deficit by burning fat instead.
Doing solely cardio without any resistance training would tell the body that it doesn't need to have muscle because you are only doing aerobic exercise.
Re look at a sprinter opposed to a marathon runner.
Marathon runner, very minimal muscle, usually skinny fat, would hardly do any resistance based training whereas a sprinter is usually very lean and muscular, in the gym multiple times a week.
Here are the things that make you lose more muscle than fat:
- sleep deprivation
- low protein intake (under 0.8g/kg of BW a day)
- lack of resistance training
- excessive cardio in the absence of resistance training
-prolonged very low calorie intake
-extended fasting
Now here are the commonalities between successful fat loss diets:
- High satiety foods
- Moderate calorie intake
- Higher in protein & fiber
- Mostly wholefoods 80/20 rule
- Reduced cravings
- High energy level's
- Consistency
to sum things up …
Here is how to make weight loss easier for yourself:
- Eat high satiety foods that you like
- Aim for a higher % of calories from protein (25-35% )
- Ensure adequate protein intake per meal (25-50g)
- Adjust food intake based on your physical activity
- Use zero calorie suppressants like coffee, tea or mineral waters when having cravings
- Focus on resistance training
- Increase exercise output when hit a plateau
- Try to eat as many calories while still losing weight and reduce them when hit a plateau
- Avoid foods that trigger overeating
- Stop snacking or choose healthy snacks if get hungry
- Don't fall into chronic low calorie dieting
Hopefully you can take something away from this.
Having the right plan or guidance from a coach can make things a lot easier when have very precise goals, but by just starting to implement some of these tips along with tips from previous nutrition blogs you will no doubt be on the right path !!
Ref: WIN by Dr James Dinicolantonio, SIim Land, Tristin Kennedy
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