Metabolism - The myth behind slow and fast metabolism

You always hear people say that they are fat because they have a slow metabolism or that they are skinny because they have a fast metabolism, but research has shown that to be false, unless you have a problem with the thyroid gland or some other medical disorder, which very few people have. Most of the time the person that is overweight is so because either he is eating too much or moving too little and the person that is skinny is so because either he is eating too little or moving too much.

First let´s clear up a couple of confusing terms:

• Metabolism - is the name for the process your body uses to convert the food you eat into energy.
• Basal Metabolic Rate - is the energy your body burns when you are not ACTIVE. Basal Metabolic Rate is determined by how much weight and muscle your body has. Muscle burns more calories than fat, approximately in between 6-10 calories per pound (25 calories per kilo), and fat burns around 2 calories per pound. This is also very interesting because people always think (I was one of them) that muscle burns many more calories, but it actually only burns 4 to 6 calories more!! That´s nothing!
• Basal Metabolic Rate plus the energy required for physical activity make up our TOTAL ENERGY EXPENDITURE. Your total energy needs depend on how active you are.

Often, overweight people believe they eat very little and still put on weight, hence the 'slow metabolism' theory, but research has shown people tend to eat more than they think. Also, a very interesting fact is that overweight people usually use more energy to keep their bodies working because they need more energy to keep the blood flowing around their body, meaning their Basal Metabolic Rate is actually higher than skinnier people.

So analyzing all this information, it´s safe to say that people that are overweight are usally so because they are eating more than they are supposed to and moving less than they should, it´s that simple. 

Here is a link that BBC did on this Myth. It´s a two part presentation each lasting 9 minutes long. I highly recommend that you all take a look at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt-qKTaEMIQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTx-D5NJ_kU

My next blog will talk about eating late. People always think that eating something heavy for dinner will make you fat. But is this is really true? We will see that next week, until then, enjoy the weekend!