There are many variables that influence your Resting Metabolic Rate such as your sex, age, lean body mass, and overall weight. Men tend to have a higher RMR than women due to the increased muscle mass. As you age, your RMR decreases. One fact I find interesting is that the more you weigh, the faster your metabolism. The excess weight makes your body work harder to support itself. I know there are probably some readers out there who have just lost their favorite excuse for being overweight, but don’t kill the messenger! You can use that information to your advantage. If you cut back on your calories and increase your activity level, it will help you lose weight even faster. That is one of the reasons people say the last 10 pounds are the hardest to lose. The metabolism will slow down with the decrease in weight so you have to work out harder and/ or further reduce calorie intake to continue progressing.

The factor that you have the most control over in regards to your RMR is your lean body mass. Your metabolism increases as you put on lean muscle. Studies have shown that for every one pound of muscle you gain, you burn an additional 10-50 calories per day. So if you add 10 pounds of muscle, you can expect to burn an additional 100-500 calories per day while you sit around and do nothing. That is why you must do resistance training if you want to keep the weight off. The biggest mistake I see people making in the gym is doing the same cardio routine for months on end to no avail. Don’t get me wrong, cardio is very important when you are trying to lose weight because of the calories you burn while doing it but it doesn’t have the residual effect of weight training. For optimal results, they should be used in combination. A good example to illustrate is looking at them like working income (cardio) and residual income (weight training). You get paid (burn calories) when you show up to work but not when you go home or call out. With residual income, you get an upfront reward (burning calories) and still reap those benefits year in and year out as long as you keep the investment (muscle).

To keep your RMR up, you also want to avoid restrictive/ crash diets. Have you heard of people who lost weight initially on a diet and then gained it right back plus some? That’s because most of the weight people lose initially is due to muscle atrophy which slows down the metabolism. The metabolism is also lowered by the body to adjust to the lower caloric intake and skipped meals. It is a process called “starvation mode”. Our bodies have evolved over thousands of years to protect us in times of famine so when you simulate those conditions by skipping meals, it starts to hold on to every calorie you eat. Guess what it will store those calories as? Muscle, you wish. It stores it as body fat because it doesn’t know when the next meal is coming and it wants to keep you alive. Our bodies care about us or they could just be saving their own tail but whatever the reason starvation mode is not good. The best way to avoid this is to eat small frequent meals, 4-6 over the course of the day. You want to graze not gorge.

I mentioned earlier that the RMR accounts for 65-75% of your daily caloric needs. The amount of physical activity you participate in and the thermic effect of food take care of the rest. Physical activity includes your normal daily activities along with a structured exercise routine. The thermic effect of food is the amount of calories it takes to process the nutrients you intake. Typically, 15-25% of calories of the calories you expend are burned by physical activity and the thermic effect of food is responsible for around 10%. I will go more in depth about the thermic effect of food later in the week.

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There are two things you have to do to take advantage of the thermic effect of food. Number one is eating 4-6 smaller meals and snacks throughout the day. Every time you eat, your metabolism goes up slightly for a few hours to process the meal. By eating more frequently you reduce the risk of overeating at a meal when you are hungry. Haven’t you noticed you tend to eat more food after going a long time without eating? It is hardwired into our primal instinct to do so. Our bodies took thousands of years to evolve into the modern day state. In early days food wasn’t always in abundant supply and there were no dollar menus. We also had to expend calories chasing prey down or foraging for nuts and berries. To protect us, our bodies became very efficient at storing body fat for times of famine. Fast-forward a few millenniums where you only have to take a few steps and open a refrigerator or drive up to a local fast food place to get a meal. We are the only animals (not in captivity) besides scavengers who spend so few calories to get a meal. Now you can see why there is an obesity epidemic going on in America.

The second part of the thermic effect of food has to deal with the macronutrients. The three macronutrients are protein, carbohydrate, and fat. Of the three, protein is the most relevant to this discussion. Your body spends more energy trying to break down proteins than it does for carbohydrates and fats. It is estimated that 25-30% of the calories consumed from protein sources are used in digestion compared to 15% for carbohydrates and 2-3% for fats. This goes to show that a calorie is not a calorie. If you were to eat equal calorie meals comprised of the different macronutrients, the protein meal would be more beneficial to your weight loss goals. Many people have seen great results by using the Atkins diet and other high protein diets due to this. In my opinion, some of those diets are too restrictive but you can up your protein intake in a balanced diet. My favorite is the 40/30/30 ratio -carbohydrates, protein, and fat respectively. That’s the percentage of calories you should get from each macronutrient in your diet. For example, if you were to eat 2000 calories daily this would be the breakdown: 800 calories (200 grams) from carbohydrates, 600 (150 grams) calories from protein, and 600 (66 grams) calories from fat.

If this post has helped you in anyway, please feel free to make a donation to our “Lose Weight, Save A Child” fitness challenge. We are raising money to help those who need it the most. Thank you.

How can you beat the odds? Outlined below are 8 things that you can do to ensure your success when beginning an exercise program. I have studied the habits of the people who have succeeded with their weight loss goals and noticed they performed many of the same activities. All of them didn’t do everything on this list but did most of them. That’s the beauty of diet and exercise. It’s not what you do all of the time, it’s what you do most of the time. Here’s the list:

1. Begin with the end in mind- Stephen Covey popularized this saying with his landmark bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Beginning with the end in mind means knowing where you want to go in life and progressively taking steps towards that goal. Having a clearly defined vision of where you want to go is the key to any success. Nobody wakes up and accomplishes anything significant by accident. If you want to get in shape, figure out where you want be then focus on what you have to do to get there. Begin to draw up a blueprint of what you will have to do, what you will have to sacrifice, and why it is significant to you. He who has a strong enough why can bare any how. Also, figure out what is standing in between you and your goal. Knowing what obstacles or challenges you will have to overcome can help you adjust your plans accordingly.

2. Be Committed – After you have set your goal, be 100% committed to reaching it. I don’t care what life throws in your way keep your eyes on the prize. Be prepared to go over, under, around, or through any obstacle. When obstacles get in the way, change your route to reach your goal but not your resolve to reach your goal.

3. Keep a journal - You can’t manage what you can’t measure. How do you know if you’re doing the right things? Contrary to popular belief, the best way to tell doesn’t have to do with scales or measurements. Of course the results are a measure of the strength of the effort, but you must make sure you are on the right path. The best way to to know if you are on the right track is to focus on your activity. When you keep a journal for exercise/ nutrition you hold yourself accountable. That way you can always look back to see what you did to get in shape or what you didn’t do to get in shape. It’s easy to lose track of what you ate or how many times you workout during the week unless you write it down. I recommend you write in your journal daily. If you don’t think it is something you can do long term, try it for 30 days. I guarantee that you will find you’re more productive in those 30 days keeping track of what you do.

4. Prioritize your workouts – This ties in with being committed. At the beginning of each week, schedule your workouts. During those times, let everyone (including family) know that you are off limits. Anyone who cares about you should not complain about your unavailability for one hour a day four times per week. If they do, drop them! No, seriously though, I was once told that love is wanting the greatest good for someone else. Your family will be understanding and supportive of you in your fitness quest.

5. Find a workout partner – Finding a workout partner can be very beneficial to you. There is someone else to hold you accountable for showing up to the gym. Some days you may not want to go but will show up because you don’t want to let someone else down. They can help spot you on difficult exercises and give a much needed push when you are ready to quit. Personally, I am always in my best shape and at my strongest when I have a workout partner. There is one point to keep in mind about workout partners. You are at the gym to exercise not socialize! Spend a few minutes talking about your day, family, work, etc. before you start working out or save it for the cool down. You should keep small talk to a minimum between sets especially since you will be alternating equipment. While your partner works you rest and when you work your partner rests.

6. Train with the proper intensity level – This has to be the biggest mistake most people make when they are at the gym. They either workout with weights that are too much to handle or to little to make a difference. The former is typically committed by the males in the gym. We pride ourselves on our strength and athleticism but check your ego at the door of the weight room. Lifting too much weight than you are ready for will probably not benefit you. You will probably start to recruit other muscles to help lift the weight which can turn an isolation exercise into a full body workout. You will work up a sweat but won’t see any results. Even worse, you can possibly set yourself up for injury. I’ll tell you like my old high school coach told me; “Focus on weight and you’ll impress some guys in the gym, focus on technique and you’ll impress the girls on the beach”. That was enough for me, I’ve been refining my technique ever since! The best thing about lifting with proper form is that you will eventually become stronger than someone who just throws up weights recklessly. After a while, their progress will halt due to injury, muscle imbalances, and/or lack of stabilizer strength.

The latter mistake is done by everyone. Lifting a weight for 15 reps when you could have done 25 is a waste. Not only is that weight to light to trigger any significant adaption besides endurance, you didn’t fully challenge the muscle. Muscle growth occurs as a response to a stimulus, an overload. Many women lift very light weights because of a fear of bulking up like a man. In 99.2% of the women out there, this is not a valid concern. Women lack the amounts of testosterone needed to pack on as much muscle as the fellas. Even still most of the guys who they picture are professional bodybuilders who are using many “substances” to get that size. In my years, I have yet to meet an overdeveloped natural bodybuilder. Also, it is more than just training and rep ranges. You have to factor in your diet as well. Don’t eat like a horse if you don’t want to look like a pig.

7. Periodization – Periodization is the division of a training program into smaller, progressive stages. It sounds like an oxymoron but changing your routine up every few months prevents you from falling into a routine. Your body will keep adapting as long as you keep providing fresh stimulus. Have you seen people who go to the gym religiously and run an hour on the treadmill but can’t lose the pounds? It’s because their body has adapted to the workout. To keep seeing results and to stay motivated, change things up every 8-10 weeks at the max. Focus on endurance one month, strength the next, and so on.

8. Look forward to your workout – This is the final piece of advice. Don’t dread going to the gym like it is some type of chore. It is an active investment in your health and well being. Think about it like this, for every hour you spend in the gym, you are adding an extra day to your lifespan. Look at it in monetary terms, for every dollar you put in the bank you get twenty four back. That’s an awesome return you won’t find anywhere else. Factor in the magic of compound interest a.k.a working out continuously over the years and it gets even better. Start investing in your health today!

If this post has helped you in anyway, please feel free to make a donation to our “Lose Weight, Save A Child” fitness challenge. We are raising money to help those who need it the most. Thank you.