Welcome back…

A lot of fitness writers rattle off all sorts of terms and don’t realy either expalin what they mean or use them in ways that are, well… dubious at best.

Here is the most common terms used in conjunction with metabolism and what they really mean!!

Some Terms to know:

Metabolism: The various ways the cells, organs and tissues in our bodies use and handle the fuel derived from the food we eat.

Homeostasis: The term was coined in 1932 by Walter Cannon from two Greek words meaning’ to remain the same’. In particular it refers to the body’s preference to remain as it is today. Your body does not like to change – especially quickly, and it resists our efforts to alter it from where it is today.

keeping things dead level is what homeostasis means - hard to do though!!

The thing is the way your body is today as you read this just did not happen overnight – it arrived here by a gradual slowing of your metabolism, the accretion of bad exercise & food habits and so forth. Your body accepted these gradual, incremental changes to its composition and metabolism until they became a part of what your body now considers ‘normal’.

Homeostasis is the desire of your body to stay the way it has been gradually conditioned to consider normal.

If you are fat, and have been for some time, your body will consider this ‘normal’ and fight to stay that way. This is particularly true in times of calorie restriction.

Basically our bodies were designed to store fat against future food scarcity and are very good at it. Too rapid a fat loss can threaten what your body considers to be ‘normal’. Even if you are overweight! Your body is trying hard to keep what it considers your normal weight within a narrow margin.

The good news is that your body accepts changes to its composition and metabolism when they are repeated. The Lose 20 in 30 Program uses this fact to ‘reset’ your homeostatic trigger point.

Simply put homeostasis is your body using a host of internal feedback mechanisms in an attempt to remain the same. It is what makes it easier to gain body fat than it is to shed it. But we can make homeostasis work for us by creating a new ‘norm’ that it will fight to preserve.

Metabolic Set Point: The metabolic set point is an inbuilt survival mechanism, and is a major part of the homeostasis systems used by your body to resist changes to its composition. Your metabolic set point acts to ensure that there is adequate body fat for survival in the event food becomes scarce. Our bodies are

It's not easy but you change your 'set point' & alter homeostasis...

great at fat storage. Unfortunately, in modern times, with food in abundance, our body cannot easily distinguish between what is a real famine and what is an attempt by us to get leaner. Certainly our bodies cannot differentiate between a crash diet and a strategic approach to body recomposition. This makes altering this metabolic set-point difficult.

Not one of us has the same metabolic set point; your body composition is as individual as you are. What is the same though is that it can be hard to shift this set point because your body likes stability. In fact, as we saw above in ‘Homeostasis’,  your body will fight hard to maintain what it has come to accept as your normal amount of body fat and lean muscle mass. But, again, we can make this work for us. Once reset, this survival mechanism becomes our supporter, not our adversary.

Metabolic rate: Your metabolic rate is a result of a combination of your activity levels, caloric intake, the types of foods that you consume and the way your hormones react to this. Sudden changes to your calorie intake or sudden weight loss can trigger a defensive reaction which manifests as a slower metabolism as your body tries to maintain what it has come to view as your ‘normal’ weight.

Metabolic Cost: The amount of energy consumed as the result of performing a given work task; usually expressed in calories / kilojoules. In the Lose 30 in 30 Exercise manual we use a program that creates a high metabolic cost to really burn calories and recondition our metabolism.

EPOC: Formerly called Oxygen Debt, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) refers to the body’s continued need for higher amounts than normal (ie non-exercising) of oxygen after metabolic, cardiovascular exercise or weight training. It is closely tied to Metabolic Cost and you could almost consider it the ‘follow on’ effect of the exercises used the Lose 20 in 30 Exercise program. Often it is referred to as the ‘Afterburn’ effect.

Because your body will experience a heightened metabolism after our strategic exercise programs, it will continue to burn fat for hours after the exercising is completed – this is EPOC / Afterburn and is an important part of your fat loss and metabolic reconditioning tool kit.

One way to up the metabolic cost of exercise - add a weighted vest...

Metabolic Conditioning: A type of exercise protocol that creates both an enormous metabolic cost and a strong EPOC that is the most effective way to burn fat and reconditions your metabolism. A strategic mix of cardio, and resistance training performed using an interval training protocol. This is covered more fully in the Lose 20 in 30 Exercise program, and is the best way to rev up your metabolism and burn fat through activity.

Hypothalamus: this is the main organ responsible for regulating your metabolism. The hypothalamus is located on your brain stem. Its chief functions are:

• The control and integration of the activities of your autonomic nervous system (ANS)
  • The ANS regulates the contraction of both smooth muscle and cardiac (heart) muscle, along with the secretions of many endocrine organs such as the thyroid gland – which controls many of your hormone levels.
  • Your hypothalamus uses feedback from the ANS to regulate activities such as your heart rate, the movement of food through your gastrointestinal tract, and the contraction of your bladder.
• The control & regulation of your body temperature
• The regulation of food intake, through your feeding centre:
  • The feeding centre or hunger centre is responsible for the sensations that cause us to seek food.
  • When sufficient food has been eaten and leptin is high, then the satiety centre is stimulated and tells your feeding centre that no more food is needed at this moment.
  • When insufficient food is present in the stomach and ghrelin levels are high, receptors in the hypothalamus make you experience hunger.

Taken together, the functions of the hypothalamus form one of your body’s survival mechanisms that enable us to sustain the body processes that make up your BMR and RMR.

Well a bit dry this wekk but important nonetheless…. Back to more fun stuff next week when we look at making your metabolism work for you…

Be well.