Understanding the Burn

The title sounds so inappropriate, doesn't it? Anyways, I really think that with this whole focus on staying lean and losing inches that it's important for people to understand exactly how much they burn every day just sitting around. I have mentioned this in a previous post about how much my metabolic rate is on average based on a simple calculation - 1900 calories. That means if I just roll out of bed and stare at the tv all day, I would burn around 1900 calories (give or take and this is based off my current activity level). So what does this mean for you? It means that a 500 calorie deficit must be created from THAT number i.e. 1400 calories a day whether that means you eat 1900 and burn 500 or eat 1400 and do nothing - that's where it has to come from. Now here's the tricky part...if I am below that 1400 calorie mark post workout - I'm in starvation mode. Sure, I might not be hungry and sure, I might not feel hungry but my body is basically saying "wait a second, I don't know when I'm going to be fed again, I need to hold on to whatever fat I can just in case". Think about this for a minute. If you are below that threshold for an extended period of time, any time you go above it your body is going to store it and you will see a weight increase that is difficult to get rid of.


This is probably the most challenging concept for people to grasp but it's so simple - fuel your body. I cannot tell you how many people I have met that are relatively overweight and they "barely eat anything" its true, they might not, but what they do eat is garbage or what they do eat is being stored because they aren't getting enough to just function on a day to day basis. I struggle with this too because I do find it hard to eat the minimum of 1900 calories to make up for the over 500 calories I burn in a work out - but this is where I struggle - I am basically in starvation mode more often than not because of my metabolic rate.


So here's the thing - eat up, eat well and reboost your metabolism. Want to know how much you need for your body to run? Check out the metabolism calculator to see around where you should be and I stress around as this isn't the most fool proof way to determine what your burn is.  Use this as a guideline to help you start making the right choices - you wont regret it!