MY HEALTH AT FIRST

By now, most of us know we have a Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR, the number of calories we burn at rest). Your body, when resting needs to burn calories. Our heart must beat, our kidneys need to eliminate waste, your liver needs to remove toxins from the body and our brain burns calories coordinating all of the functions that our body performs at rest. All of this work is referred to as your metabolism.

I constantly get the question: How do I improve my resting metabolic rate? Usually this question accompanies a, “how do I lose weight conversation.” Here is my response: Think of your RMR as a flame. To improve your RMR, the size of the flame needs to increase. In turn, we need to feed that flame. If we do not feed the flame, it dies.
Flame_1.JPG.jpegYou can think of your metabolism as a flame.
For some questioners, I tell them to eat three meals a day. I have found that many people skip a meal because they think skipping it will help them lose weight. It sort of makes sense, right? If you skip a meal, you will not consume those calories leading you to a caloric deficit for the day. However, the truth of the matter is that if you skip meals frequently, your body adapts by slowing down your RMR (or making that flame smaller). When your RMR slows down, you burn less calories, feel tired, hungry and moody. Combined, this actually does the opposite of what one is trying to achieve; it prevents weight loss.

Research shows that eating small meals three to four times per day aids in weight loss. Remember, eat healthy colorful whole foods. Stay away from highly processed foods, soft drinks and sweets.