We have all seen evidence of crash diets working in the short term. Deprive yourself of food for a period of time and those excess pounds will fall off. However this kind of weight loss is unsustainable and even worse can still lead to even greater weight gain in the future. Why? It all has to do with your metabolism.

What is metabolism?

Metabolism is essentially the number of calories your body needs to burn to produce the energy it needs to function every day. This energy is used for everything from walking, talking to breathing and digesting food. Weight gain generally occurs when you consume more calories than the body needs for these processes.

Why do people have a different metabolism?

Physical activity can boost your metabolism, but it is how your body metabolizes energy when you are not being physically active that affects weight gain the most. For most people 75% of our calories burning is done while we are resting. Known as your resting metabolic rate. However two people sitting on a couch could be burning calories at significantly different rates.

Age and genetics play a part in this, but a lot has to do with your build. One of the biggest factors driving at rest metabolism is lean body mass. Commonly known as ‘muscle mass’. “The more muscle you have the more calories you will burn.”

Whether the muscles are being used in our legs as we walk or in our heart as it pumps blood around our body. They are always converting oxygen to energy to do their job. Muscles burn calories to fuel this process. Fat, on the other hand is relatively inert so it uses very little energy.

How does metabolism affect weight loss?

Unfortunately our bodies are programmed to store fat. Therefore the worst thing you can do is crash diet. When it is staved of food your body will begin breaking down muscle as well as fat to get the energy it needs. So in the end you lose weight by losing muscle mass and your metabolism slows down. Then when you return to your normal eating patterns your body needs even less calories to function than it did before, so weight gain is likely.

The only way to reliably control weight is to eat smaller portions of healthy foods and to exercise regularly to burn calories and build muscle mass, resulting in an increased at rest metabolism. Recommended exercise five times a week for at least 30 minutes per session.

Fact: In general men are larger and have more muscle and less body fat than woman. Therefore they do tend to have a faster metabolism.

Fact: Due to the loss in muscle tissue that takes place when we age, older people are prone to putting on more weight. However research has shown that strength and resistance training in later life can reduce and prevent this muscle loss.