Break It Down or It's All Geek To Me

Metabolism. It is still just as important in today's post as it was in yesterday's. But today we are adding the consideration of two big .50 cent words, which (when put together) are a key to weight loss as well as a key to staying fit. They are enzyme and biosynthesis. Together they make enzyme biosynthesis.

The great news is that as speciously science-geeky as it sounds, we've already talked about some of the key parts of enzyme biosynthesis. (See now, it gets less scary every time we say it! Say it with me again, “enzyme biosythesis”).

I went out on my first bike ride in 6 months yesterday. I was moving along at about 12 mph (not blazing fast, but probably not the best speed for an overweight guy who hadn't been on a bike for 6 months). About 20 minutes in, my right calf cramped like mad. I stretch and repositioned it over and over trying to get it to stop...but, being determined, I continued to petal away. Then my left calf followed suit. They were awful by the time I made it home, but in minutes after stopping they were completely normal.

Was it lack of muscle fitness that caused my pain? Well, if it were, it probably wouldn't have stop when I stopped. My pain was caused by pushing my body too far too fast.

Back to the science-geek stuff. Metabolism is ramped up by enzyme biosynthesis. In order to make energy (a direct benefit of metabolism) your body has to breaking down molecules (carbs, fats and protiens). In order to do it, it uses enzymes (delicate little tools made by DNA from protein). That process of making enzymes is called.... (you guessed it) enzyme biosynthesis.

Why is it so important? Well, you need enzymes to break down carbs, fats and proteins. But, as I said, enzymes are both PROTIEN and DELICATE! So, it turns out that not only do they break down (as proteins), but they breakdown faster than the others (they are delicate). So, in order to build a body that burns calories well (if you weren't gifted with genes that do it for you), you have to constantly encourage your body to be in the process of enzyme biosynthesis. It is KEY to raising you metabolism.

How do you do it? Eating right and exercise (more importantly the right kinds and amounts of exercise). Which brings us back to my bike ride. My pain was caused by the build up of acid in my muscles. There's a long nerdy explanation that is really needed here which involves pyruvic acid, lactic acid, conversion of oxygen and a few other very uninteresting biological concepts, but it is sufficient to say – I over did it - and while my muscles could keep up, my lungs and heart could not, so I didn't get enough oxygen to my muscle cells. Enzymes need oxygen to do their work. Too little exercise and you don't encourage them enough to do their work – they will let you know about this by not breaking down the fat in your body and you'll find yourself buying bigger and bigger pants. Too intense of exercise and you won't be able to give them enough oxygen to do their work – they will let you know about this by sharp pain and probably a reduced ability to lose weight.

For me, my over doing it (even though I was on target with my calories and protein yesterday) meant that I seriously impeded my body's ability to burn carbs, fat and protein – all the while I was building muscle as I exercised which of course is heavier than fat. Net result, weigh in today – 263. I lost 1 lb. (of course that's the equivalent of 3500 calories, so nothing to complain about).

Tomorrow, more on the exercise\oxygen relationship – aerobic vs. anaerobic exercise. And...let me hear from you! It's easier when we are all in this together!

Feed Me...

Metabolism. As I said in my last post, for me, the key to loosing weight is understanding your metabolism. If there were some magic pill that could ramp up your metabolic rate (there is not, no matter what the advertisers tell you), weight loss would be easy.

Being that there is not a pill called the Metabolizer or the Meta-loss or whatever cute name the marketers would come up with, we have to work at getting our metabolism to run faster. The good news is not ALL of the work is physical activity (a good deal of it is, more on that tomorrow). Some of it is understanding your metabolism and then applying a little discipline. And the good news is, part of that means...eating! And most of us are where we are, in part, because eating is something at which we are good.

One of the easiest ways to keep your metabolism burning away is to give it a reason to be working. Every 3 hours or so, without the proper encouragement, it decides to take a wee nap. Now, there are two downsides to that:

1. Metabolism both breaks down molecules and builds them. One of the most abundant molecules in the human body is carbohydrates (these little buggers are great at making fat – they are also great fuel for all sorts of biological functions). If you let your metabolic rate slough off for a bit, you are not gaining the benefits of it breaking down molecules – things like carbs...and fat. You also are not giving it as many chances to build molecules - and one of the molecules metabolism is particularly fond of building is protein, which helps build muscles...which are FANTASTIC fat burners.
2. The second downside is that it takes longer for your metabolism to get back up to speed once it slows down significantly. Which means you are giving your body less chance to shed weight over the course of a day if you let it nap a bit.

One simple trick to keep your metabolism running (one that you've heard over and over again if you've ever tried to loose weight) is to eat more frequently. Do it every 3 hours or so – which means we are talking about 6 times a day. Once again, it has two big advantages:

1. Your metabolism is hungry. “Feed me!” So feed it. If you do, it will have a reason to stay awake and active. If you don't – it won't. Keep in mind you still have to consider your total calories for the day, but eating every 3 hours will help encourage it to keep ticking away. For me it works out this way: 350 calories for breakfast, a 200 calorie snack at 9am, 400ish calories at lunch, a 200 calorie afternoon snack and then (depending on the actual calorie counts of the day), I have about 700 calories left for dinner.
2. Protein fills me up. And as we mentioned earlier it also builds more muscle which are great fat burners! (If you don't want to bulk up, don't worry – not all muscle has to be big and bulky. You can also have long lean muscles). So, eating six times a day and making sure there's plenty of protein each time, keeps me from getting hungry and keeps building muscle for burning all that fat! (of course, I have to help the protein along with exercise, but more on that tomorrow).

I've been following these suggestions for 48 hours now. At weigh in today, I was at 264. Yep, 11 pounds in 2 days. Less than typical results and not sustainable over the long term, but a great kick start to the weight loss program!

Kick It Up A Notch (or 2 or 3)

Depending on who you ask, the most important aspect of losing weight varies. Some say calorie control. Some will breakdown what those calories should look like in terms of fats, proteins, fiber, etc. Or some will point to portion control. Other's say exercise. Still other's might say the correct supplements are the key. I've even seen people say the best way to lose weight is to keep a journal.

In some ways, they are all right, but my experience and research suggests that each of those are results of dealing with the real key to weight loss (and keeping it off for that matter) – metabolism.

The metabolic rate of your body is the single most important element in weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight.

Any active High Schooler can tell you calories really don't matter. Their metabolic rate is ticking at such an insatiable rate that they can consume anything - and whether it is fats, proteins, or fibers, it ultimately has very little influence on their weight (their health may be another question). The same is true for adults with highly active lifestyles. Why? Because their metabolism (either by virtue of genes or lifestyle or both) is ticking away like a second hand on a stopwatch. The trick for people like me (and maybe you) is to get that metabolic rate ticking away again. The first thing to do is measure it. And there is an amazing new tool for measuring your metabolism. You may even have one – a scale.

OK, technically, it doesn't actually give you your metabolic rate, but it will tell you if your calorie intake is out pacing your body's ability to burn up those calories. You can actually find sites that help you calculate your resting metabolic rate (RMR), but I for one was never that big on math...and quite frankly – you don't need to.

Now contrary to popular wisdom on weight loss that says “don't weigh yourself everyday,” I say you should defiantly weight yourself everyday. This is the best way to get feed back on how your personal weight plan is effecting you metabolism. The trick is to understand that there will be days were you GAIN weight. If you are not psychologically prepared for this, well, my method is not for you.

By weighing in at the same time every day, on the same scale, dressed in approximately similar clothes, you will begin to get an idea if the techniques you are using to balance your metabolic rate and calorie intake are working. You don't have to do it forever, but to start things off, it sure will help to measure whether you are making choices that contribute positively or negatively to your weight program.

So, yesterday I started using some of the techniques that I have found for increasing my metabolic rate and I managed to keep my calories under 1700 with over 100 grams of protein. The last time I started losing weight I learned (by weighing in every day and paying attention to my calorie intake) that my target calories for the day was 1500 to 1800 with 100-175 grams of protein.

The results: today's weigh in (at the same time as yesterday, using the same scale and wear basically the same clothes): 268. Sounds crazy, I know, and I had to weight twice because I couldn't believe it, but those are the numbers – I lost 7 lbs on my first day. Now, there will be days, as I build more muscle and sometimes slip on my program, where I will gain weight, but the first week or so is usually good.

Tomorrow, we'll start looking at some of the things I do to get my metabolism off and running and how I try to keep it there.