The Role Metabolism Plays in Weight Loss

Everyone falls somewhere on the “metabolism spectrum,” and plenty of people exist closer to one end than the other: Someone with a high or fast metabolism can eat whatever they want without “putting on the pounds,” while someone with a slow metabolism may struggle to keep extra pounds at bay, despite watching what they eat.   

Clearly, metabolism plays a vital role in weight management. But what’s this unseen force, how does it work, and what influences its functionality? When you’re trying to lose weight, does your metabolism work with you — or against you? 

Here, weight loss specialist Tyneza Mitchell, FNP, and our team at Comprehensive Care Clinic offer further insight into the all-important metabolic process, including how you can put it to work for you. 

Your body’s complex “energy engine” 

Metabolism is the ongoing process of how your body produces, uses, and stores energy from the foods and drinks you consume. Essentially, it’s a series of chemical (metabolic) reactions that create and break down the energy required to sustain life and activity. 

Defined as the rate at which you burn calories, the metabolic process encompasses:

Basal metabolic rate

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) refers to the minimum number of calories your body requires to maintain its basic functions when you’re at rest. BMR varies from one person to the next, accounting for 60-70% of the energy your body uses.     

Your BMR is partly determined by genetics, and mostly determined by muscle mass and body size — people with more muscle burn more calories at rest compared to those with less lean tissue; likewise, people with larger frames have a higher BMR than those with smaller bodies. 

Fuel for processing 

It takes energy to process food — to transform calories into ready energy, and to unlock and absorb the nutrients within those calories. Digesting food as well as transporting, using, and storing its nutrients account for about 10% of your body’s metabolic needs. This part of your metabolism is relatively constant.

Energy for activity 

About 20-30% of your body’s calorie needs are reserved to fuel physical activity. If you use these calories, you maintain your weight; if you store some or most of them, you gain weight. When you routinely use more energy than you take in, your body frees extra calories from fat storage to help offset the energy imbalance — and you lose weight. 

Exercise gives your metabolism a boost

In its entirety, metabolism is the rate at which your body expends energy, or burns calories. Your physical movement, both in the form of routine activity and dedicated exercise, is the most manageable — and alterable — component of your metabolism.   

Move your body more, and put less food on your plate. As a key part of every weight loss plan, the “energy-balance” equation states that your weight will:    

• Stay steady when your caloric intake consistently matches your energy use 
• Increase when you typically consume more calories than you expend
• Decrease when you routinely consume fewer calories than your body burns

Simply put, 20-30% of your metabolic rate is directly determined by your level of physical activity, and getting more exercise is an easy way to sway the energy-balance equation in the direction of weight loss. Healthy eating patterns help you optimize this process.   

Strength training increases your BMR 

As you lose fat, it’s important to build muscle. Increasing lean tissue mass doesn’t just help you become fitter and stronger, it also increases your BMR, helping you burn more calories at rest than you would if you simply lost fat and maintained the same muscle tissue. 

Essentially, muscle building supercharges your metabolism, and in turn, your weight loss efforts. Strength training during weight loss is important from another standpoint, too — it helps guard against the possibility of losing both fat and muscle mass as you shed excess weight, which can tank your metabolism unexpectedly and stall the weight-loss process. 

Crash dieting crashes your metabolism

Like lost or declining muscle mass, aggressive calorie restriction and rapid weight loss can decrease your BMR, derailing your weight loss efforts at the metabolic level. Essentially, your body senses a significant food deficit as starvation and slows your BMR to help you reduce your calorie burn and stay alive.   

Setting a realistic weight goal and losing weight at a safe, steady, and sustainable pace — about 1-2 pounds per week — can help you avoid this common and counterproductive weight loss mistake. 

Harness your metabolism to lose weight 

If you’d like to lose weight, there are ways to make your metabolism work more effectively on your behalf — and reach your goals more efficiently.  

To find out how our Comprehensive Care Clinic team can help you reach your weight loss goals, call or click online today to schedule a consultation.