I’ve got some pretty cool (and weird) human facts for you today. They have to do with your metabolism and I hope at least one of them leaves you feeling empowered!
As I mentioned before, it’s tempting to think of your metabolism as something you can “turn up” or “turn down” … but the fact is, metabolism is a complicated process that happens in your cells – and the more cells you have, the faster your metabolism.
(Random fact: the average person has 30 trillion cells! That’s a lot of cells … and a lot of metabolism.)
The biggest chunk of your calorie burn (aka your metabolism) happens just to keep you alive – it’s known as your BMR, your basal metabolic rate. BMR can vary a LOT between people.
Some things that impact your BMR are things you can’t control – genetics, gender, and more (we’ll get into some of this later).
But there’s actually a lot you CAN do to turn up your metabolism, and it has to do with your body composition.
I like to think of these ‘metabolic boosters’ like compound interest … it’s not going to make you rich overnight, but over time, it adds up in a big way!
Here it is …
Add more muscle to your body through your workouts. And I’m not talking about giant Hulk muscles, btw. I simply mean strong, flexible, and supple muscle!
Scientists estimate that every pound of muscle you have burns about 6 calories a day while you’re resting. That’s triple the amount of a pound of fat, which comes in at about 2 calories a day.
So, 10 pounds of fat would burn 20 calories a day, while 10 pounds of muscle would burn 60. Not that impressive.
But over a year, 10 pounds of muscle burns 21,900 calories (a little over 6 pounds), while 10 pounds of fat burns 7,300 calories in a year (around 2 pounds).
That means workouts that build your muscles – whether it’s old-school bodybuilding workouts, or fitness workouts that include weights – have a double-whammy effect!
Not only are you burning calories WHILE you’re doing them, but you get a BONUS burn in the future as you build muscle! Pretty cool, right?
Beyond your workouts, it’s important to get enough protein (between 10% and 35% of your daily calories) to help build, repair, and maintain your muscle.
Want to get even MORE tactical?
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that if you want to build muscle, on top of adding resistance training to your workouts, you should eat 1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein per kg of body weight per day – which equals 0.5 to 0.8 grams per pound of body weight.
If you need help figuring those numbers for you, I can help!
REFERENCES:
https://www.vox.com/2016/5/18/11685254/metabolism-definition-booster-weight-loss
https://www.healthline.com/health/number-of-cells-in-body
https://www.self.com/story/how-much-does-strength-training-really-increase-metabolism
https://www.acsm.org/docs/default-source/files-for-resource-library/protein-intake-for-optimal-muscle-maintenance.pdf
12 Days of Fitmas Workout Inside!
It’s one of the most anticipated emails of the year … because it’s got all of the details for this year’s 12 Days of Fitmas Workout! This is a special holiday workout that will fire up your metabolism and help keep you on track with your goals.
Your holiday survival checklist is inside
It’s not just you — a study by Healthline found that when it comes to health and finances, not only do 44% of people think the holidays are “somewhat stressful” and 18% of them classified them as “very stressful”!
Meal Prep Superfood Bowl Recipe
Your new favorite meal prep recipe is here! This Superfood Bowl comes together fast using
Your top secret saboteur
Lately I’ve been talking about next-level steps you can take to boost your results … and today’s post might just be about the most important step. It affects almost every action you take and every decision you make.
