Understanding Metabolism

Hey Everyone! Hope your weekend was great. So some huge changes have happened for us at Soaring Eagle, we moved locations and we now officially have our own little gym! So im super pumped about that. We were blessed enough to have the help of a lot of our Soaring Eagle Family, we could not have done it without them. Logan is getting big, he now has 2 turtles, one of them is named Turtle and the other is More Turtle (original, I know). Kristy finally hit her goal weight, the Dodgers are doing well and the Dallas Cowboys are undefeated! Well except for that last part life is good. Update me on whats going on with you, send me an email or message I'd love to catch up :).

This week starts our revamped Nutrition side of Soaring Eagle, so I thought it proper to blog about a subject that many people don't properly understand or maybe just want to know more about; Metabolism- mainly what it is and how to properly feed it. 

Logan trying to mutate Turtle and More Turtle. Obviously he has watched Ninja Turtles one too many times.

​We have all heard this term “metabolism” but do we really understand what it is?
Metabolism broken down is this; it is how quickly your body processes and breaks down food, also known as how quickly your body burns through the calories (food). The slower your metabolism, the easier it is to gain weight. The faster your metabolism, the easier it is to burn through the calories you consume.
Growing up I always had buddies who were lean and muscular, I was envious (I was the chunky boy). I always told myself they had a better metabolism than I did. As I grew older and began studying weight loss, I learned something that changed my outlook on metabolism. Metabolism is not something you are just born with and have no control over, rather metabolism is something that can be changed and controlled by you! Through your eating habits.

Weight loss is simply this, burn more calories than you consume.
Food is on this earth to give us energy, it comes in different forms also known as macronutrients; proteins, carbohydrates, and fats also known as the bodies 3 energy sources. When you consume more energy (food) than is needed your body WILL (not maybe) store it as fat. The opposite effect happens when you consume less energy(food) than is needed, you will lose weight. Eat enough energy (food) to supply the bodies demand and you will remain the same-neither gain or lose.

So real quick, here is a review on what we just learned about calories in vs. calories out?
Maintaining your weight requires eating the same amount of calories your body burns
Gaining weight requires consuming more calories than your body burns
Weight loss requires consuming fewer calories than your body burns

Seriously; I’m not lying, it is literally that simple. Weight control is easy when you think of it in this way. As a whole people have made weight gain/loss more complicated than it needs to be, so lets change that.

The worst thing I see is people eating too little in order to lose weight. This is terrible. In order to burn calories and fat the body MUST have calories to burn, otherwise it will find energy from other sources, mainly your proteins also known as your muscles.

So back to our metabolism, how do we train it and keep it from crashing?

1. Muscle, believe it or not the more muscle you have the higher your metabolism. The body burns more calories when you have more muscle mass, this is why building muscle is important.
2. Eat enough, as stated earlier the more muscle you have the higher your metabolism. When you don’t eat you don’t build muscle. You also tear down the muscle and can ultimately lose tons of muscle mass due to restricting your calories.

Now lets talk about properly feeding our metabolism.

​This is more than likely everyones favorite time of the day, Food time! first off lets not go crazy and eat 10,000 calories, what I am saying is you NEED to eat in order to lose weight. Many people have the false perception that if they restrict their calories to bare minimum-which in turn causes them to starve- they will lose weight. Doing this will literally send your body into starvation mode. 

Restricting your calorie intake below the needed amount of energy to get through the day will not feed your nervous system properly! Now if it’s one thing we need to feed, it’s our nervous system. When you’re in "starvation mode" your body WILL burn your muscle for its energy source (proteins). As we stated earlier the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. If you are burning away your muscle and breaking it down, we are also causing our metabolism to slow down. Will you lose weight by starving yourself? Yes, but I promise you will look and feel weak/sick and will gain all of your weight back once you start eating properly again.

My recommendation? Make smart decision in what you eat, don’t starve yourself and make sure you are ALWAYS getting enough energy(food) to support your body.
Feed your muscles and body, this is the only way to properly lose weight. Make smart decisions, eat healthy, stay within your calorie range, and DO NOT STARVE YOURSELF. Get out of the mindset of “I can’t eat, I’ll gain weight,” get into the mindset of “I need to fuel my body."

A faster metabolism leads to more calories being burned throughout the day, this is our big goal.

Lastly, please guys do not attempt to go on any diet that restricts your calories to a dangerously low number. Personally, I think anything less than 10 calories per Lb is not enough to sustain your basal metabolism (the fuel for your vital body functions). This can and WILL crash your metabolism.

​Hope you guys learned something, if you have any questions about training or just wanna chat please feel free to email me: [email protected]