How does our body use the calories we consume?

Almost all diets boil down to one basic principle, reducing the number of calories we eat so that we are consuming less energy than we are expending.

Calories in vs. calories out. Seems simple right? Calories in is easier to understand because we consume calories by eating and drinking them. But what about the calories out part? I'm going to break it down for you.

The calories we eat - energy - are used by the body in four different ways;

The biggest portion by far, around 70% of energy expenditure, is BMR - Basal Metabolic Rate. This is the energy our body uses while at rest. Even if you were to lay down all day you would still be burning these calories.

Ever had a foggy brain when you were hungry? Our brains use roughly 20% of our BMR. Which explains why we might find it harder to concentrate when dieting or if we miss a meal.

Next up is NEAT - Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, which makes up about 15% of our energy expenditure. These are the calories we burn (outside of exercise) while moving throughout the day.

This is all about quantity! And it’s the reason that I and other coaches bang on about aiming for 10,000 steps a day. It’s the easiest way to increase the number of calories you burn as you can incorporate it into day to day life.

10% of energy burned is through TEF - Thermogenic Effect of Food. These are the calories we burn to digest the food we have eaten.

Some foods require more energy to process than others, protein is one of them and its the reason why so many people tout a high protein diet as metabolism boosting and the best diet to ‘burn fat’.

Both carbohydrates and protein contain 4 kcal per gram, however we burn about 20-30% of the calories from protein digesting it. It is not metabolism boosting, your body just has to work a little harder to digest it.

Fat has 9kcal per gram, and is very easily digestible, in fact we use almost no energy digesting it. That’s not to say fat is bad, good fats are super beneficial for your heart, cholesterol and overall health!

Then making up the last 5% of our energy expenditure is EAT - Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, which is any planned activity or exercise. This could be a gym session, bike ride or hike.

Many people are surprised to find that planned exercise makes such a small portion of energy expenditure.

These are average figures, there will be people who go to the gym for 2+ hours everyday and in these cases it will be higher, but the majority of the people who workout go to the gym for maybe 2-4 hours per week. This is why our activity outside of the gym or what we do in other 164 hours of the week is so important!

It’s not just what you do in the gym that counts. Over time, consistent, progressive exercise will increase your muscle size, strength and cardiovascular capabilities resulting in a higher BMR (that 70% section) The best way to get these benefits is through resistance or strength training!

If you want to know more about incorporating strength training into your exercise routine, or if you are new to training and don’t know where to start contact me for a free consultation!

maxineellison@me.com or 07747676414.