The truth about your metabolism
by Maurice Larocque, M.D.
What is metabolism?
Imagine a room heated by a furnace. The larger the room, the more heat the furnace needs to heat it. Metabolism is our indoor furnace that produces heat to keep our body in good working order.
A 200-pound (100-kg) sedentary woman burns about 1,500 calories a day, which comes off as heat and energy to keep her alive at rest. This is the basal metabolism.
A person who goes on a diet sees his metabolism decrease by about 10%, or 150 calories a day. A good walk of about one hour per day burns the equivalent and wipes out the inconveniences of metabolic slowing down.
ATTENTION, remember this: after two months of a normal diet to maintain the new weight, the basal metabolism becomes completely normal.
I do not eat and I get fat!
So how come people in good faith swear on their mothers’ heads (?) That they only eat 1,000 calories a day and they do not lose weight?
Dr. Steven B. Heymsfield has just given us the answer.
From a sample of 224 obese subjects, he identified 10 subjects who were considered to be resistant to dieting.
Some had followed more than 20 diets and blamed their inheritance and metabolism. These people were so convinced and unhappy about their inability to lose weight that they all agreed to be hospitalized and to undergo a variety of tests and exams.
Very interesting results
Metabolically, all subjects were quite normal. No physical, biological, or genetic abnormalities could explain their resistance to losing weight.
By further analyzing their food diaries, the researchers noted the following facts:
while the subjects reported an intake of 1,030 calories per day, they actually consumed 2,080 calories;
while they reported doing exercise to burn 1,020 calories a day, they actually burned 775 calories.
In fact, if the subjects had really consumed and burned what they said, they would have lost 2 pounds (1 kg) in their week.
Conclusions
By learning these results, all the subjects were upset, really believing in their old perceptions.
The researchers conclude that there is a need to further analyze what is happening between the two ears and to find the reasons why some people make a lot of negation about what they eat.
Health Tips
If you suffer from excess weight, do not hesitate to resume a good dieting, even after several unsuccessful attempts.
Take advantage of your mistakes to improve yourself. Studies show that the more failures you have had in the past, the more likely you are to succeed.
It’s between the two ears, work on your Mental Weight Questionnaire. Take the computer test at least once a month and follow the instructions.
By doing things differently, you will have different results.
