Metabolism is the term to describe the chemical and physical changes that take place within the body that enable it to function.

Fat metabolism refers to the process of fat creation and fat breakdown.

Most of the fat in the body is there as an energy store. Fat is an extremely effective way of storing energy. Each pound of fat stores 3500 calories. Even relatively lean individuals will carry over 20lbs of fat. We need fat.

Fat is created when the intake of calories exceeds the body’s energy requirements. Fat is broken down when the reverse is true. In fact, this last statement is an over simplification; fat is constantly being broken down and created.

Fat cells are very metabolically active cells. What changes according to the body’s energy requirements is the balance between fat breakdown and fat creation.

Fat can be created from any kind of food. It is not true to say that eating fat makes us fat. What makes us fat is the excess of calorie intake to calorie requirement.

What Defines our Calorie requirement?

1. Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)

This is the amount of calories needed to run all essential functions and chemical reactions while in a rested and quiet state. RMR is the largest part of total metabolism and accounts for 65 - 75% of calories burned in a day.

If lean weight is lost from the body through increased protein metabolism the RMR decreases. This often happens when people go on a crash diet, the body is forced into what’s known as a “negative nitrogen balance” which means more protein is lost than is replaced due to less protein/energy intake. This imbalance causes a gradual loss in lean weight thus lowering the RMR.

2. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)

The body uses energy to digest and absorb the nutrients present in the food we eat. The rate of energy used for the TEF is about 10%, it can be increased depending on the composition of each meal.

The TEF causes much confusion when dieters calculate calories in and out. For example;

If we overeat the TEF actually increases due to more food to digest, the stomach and intestines have to work harder and longer.

3. Physical activity

The amount of energy the body burns during daily activities such as exercise, recreation, work, housework, etc. Daily physical activities account for 20 - 40% of calories burned each day. This part will vary depending on the individual and how active they are. A sedentary person will require fewer calories to maintain weight than somebody involved in manual labour.

It is here where we can have the greatest effect on metabolism. The intensity, frequency and duration of any activity all have an effect on metabolism.

How Can This Knowledge Help me Diet ?

•  Bearing in mind that loss of lean tissue mass slows down the resting metabolic rate, it is a good idea to try to ensure that the diet results in as little loss of lean tissue mass as possible.

Whey protein extracts and other supplements can help here by ensuring that any loss of weight is not at the cost of lean tissue mass.

•  Do not go on a crash diet, the weight that you lose will be mainly protein and water.
For example: if a person lost 5 pounds in a week, that cannot be fat loss as it would require that person to develop a deficit of 17500 calories per week (2500 calories daily) which is clearly impossible. So how could all this weight possibly be fat? In fact over a week only about 1 pound of the 5 pounds lost would be fat, the rest would be mostly water!

•  To lose fat weight effectively, prepare the body by increasing the metabolism before cutting any calories by increasing the amount you exercise. That way your body can establish its fat burning energy metabolism without losing protein and so slowing down RMR.

Key Points

•  Use Tonalin to help maintain Lean Tissue Mass and speed up fat loss.

•  Do not go on crash diets which will not give you sustainable weight loss.

•  Increase your RMR by increasing the amount of exercise preferably before (and also during) dieting.

•  Your diet should be sustainable over the long term. Aim for modest weight reductions, 1lb a week of fat loss would be a good achievement.