Are you using the right method to lose weight? 4 key points to increase basal metabolism

People who have tried to lose weight, especially those who use dieting methods, often encounter a frustrating and discouraging "plateau period". At the beginning of weight loss, the weight usually drops quickly, but gradually the weight loss number begins to change from an integer to a decimal point. What's worse is that the weight does not decrease but increases.

In theory, we would say that this is caused by a decrease in basal metabolism and a decrease in muscle mass, but it seems that there has been no real experiment to prove this. Recently, the US NIH published an experiment in Diabetes, which looked at the results of the same diet plan for obese people with different metabolic types.

Basal metabolic rate affects weight loss effectiveness

The researchers recruited 12 obese men and women and initially measured their energy expenditure when they were hungry and when they ate too much (200% of their daily calorie needs). This was followed by a six-week calorie restriction weight loss trial, with the daily diet designed to maintain 50% of the calories needed to maintain each person's original weight.

The purpose of the first day's measurements was to understand the basic metabolic characteristics of the participants and to divide them into two types: "savers" and "spenders". The former would consume less energy than the latter during hunger; and when overeating, the energy consumption of savers would also be lower than that of spenders. Simply put, thrifty people save energy no matter what they do.

Although we cannot really measure basal metabolism in the laboratory, we can judge which type of person we may be by observing the details in daily life. For example, if you feel that you gain weight easily, do not exercise much, have an irregular lifestyle, have used dieting to lose weight several times in the past, etc., these may be factors that contribute to this type.

The results showed that people whose energy expenditure decreased the least during hunger and increased the most when overfed had the best weight loss results. In other words, we can judge the effectiveness of a weight loss plan based on a person's metabolic condition. The researchers said they plan to next examine the effects of increased energy intake on energy expenditure in lean individuals.

How to increase your basal metabolic rate

Start by changing your life! Here are a few points that make you consume more energy:

1. Regular exercise: In addition to increasing energy consumption, one of the purposes of exercise is to increase muscle mass. Compared to fat tissue, which is very energy-saving, muscle is a tissue that consumes more energy. Humans are physiologically born to be "thrifty" creatures. If they don't exercise much, they will cut off some unused muscles and then save the excess energy (money) as fat (gold).

2. Don’t stay up late and keep a good mood: These two things will bring some pressure, and when people are under pressure, they will instinctively want to store fat.

3. Don’t lose weight randomly: If you are not mentally prepared to change your current lifestyle, don’t go on a diet to lose weight casually. Otherwise, it will become more and more difficult to lose weight, and you will get fatter and fatter, and then you won’t be able to go back! (It is very difficult to increase the basal metabolic rate that has dropped for several years)

4. Balanced diet: Remember the Mediterranean diet pyramid? Stop believing in those weird diet tricks, like not touching starch, only eating protein, only eating bananas and apples, etc. That is not a normal diet. Is it possible for us to eat like this for the rest of our lives? When life returns to normal, the fat will slowly come back like a ghost.

About this article

Source: (2015). A Human Thrifty Phenotype Associated With Less Weight Retrieved May 15, 2015

This article is from Nutrition

※For more information, please see "Nutrition Notes"