Little science lesson. Buckle up. Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur inside our organisms and it’s function is to change or produce molecules. Bored yet? It can be present in two ways: anabolic or catabolic state.

In the state of anabolism (oh you so love that word), compounds are created. In the opposite state, catabolism, there occurs a breakdown of said compounds. When we speak of diets for fat loss, people suffer from catabolism, because some of the particles of the body get degraded. That generates weight loss.

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Contrary to what is common belief (that anabolism is the muscle building process and catabolism is the opposite, destruction of muscle mass), science tells us something else. Looking into the body at a cellular level, anabolism is the creation of compounds, which can be both muscle and fat (adipose). The opposite applies as well, catabolism is the decomposition of molecules both of muscle and fat.

Nowadays it’s trendy to talk about metabolism. Many people want to know their metabolic rate. There are many doubts regarding that question, however, it’s simpler than it appears. There is no magic formula that makes your metabolism become more or less accelerated (sorry..), there are many factors that play a role and must be considered and evaluated individually so that you can fully understand how ones metabolism functions. Weight, body fat percentage, age, height, gender, physical activity levels, all of these are important factors in the regulation of metabolism. If we look at those who have more weight, need a greater energetic value. Advanced age makes the metabolism slower. Men have more muscle mass in relation to women, that makes them have faster metabolisms. Despite all of that, physical exercise makes the metabolism faster. All of these factors must be considered, nonetheless, when the matter at hand is the metabolism of each person. But as we have said many a time, the only factor you can’t measure and has to be calculated through trial and error, that influences the heart rate, is how much energy we have been consuming throughout X amount of time.

To simply keep your body alive, you spend a certain amount of calories. When you breathe, sleep and all the rest of vital functions, your body needs energy. The amount that it need is related to the base metabolism rate of each person. In the case of fat loss, where a decrease in energy supplies occurs, the body, with time, demands less energy for maintaining vital functions, making the metabolism slower, adapting to its current situation. That’s known as the Plateau effect, in which case you need to decrease the energy available through physical activity or food reduction (or even both at the same time), so that you can continue to lose the expected weight.

Bearing this in mind, you can clearly see that in all situations, whether it be for loss, gain or maintenance of weight, the energetic requirements is different from person to person.

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Sorry for the technical post, we know this can seem confusing to many of you, for others not so much, but don’t worry. That’s why we are here, at your disposal, ready to make you achieve the results you desire!