If you don’t already know I am Phyllis Thompson w/ beastmom fitness and I help busy moms 35 and up lose weight, defy aging through fitness and nutrition and unleash her inner beast in the process.
Now let’s get started...I’ve got some pretty cool (and weird) human facts for you today.
They have to do with your metabolism and I hope at least one of them leaves you feeling empowered!
As I mentioned last week, it’s tempting to think of your metabolism as something you can “turn up” or “turn down” ... but the fact is, metabolism is a complicated process that happens in your cells – and the more cells you have, the faster your metabolism.
(Random fact: the average person has 30 trillion cells! That’s a lot of cells … and a lot of metabolism.)
The biggest chunk of your calorie burn (aka your metabolism) happens just to keep you alive – it’s known as your BMR, your basal metabolic rate. BMR can vary a LOT between people.
Some things that impact your BMR are things you can’t control – genetics, gender, and more (we’ll get into some of this later).
But there’s actually a lot you CAN do to turn up your metabolism, and it has to do with your body composition.
I like to think of these ‘metabolic boosters’ like compound interest ... it’s not going to make you rich overnight, but over time, it adds up in a big way!
So here it is …
Add more muscle to your body through your workouts. And I’m not talking about giant Hulk muscles, btw if you’ve been following me for a while you see that putting on huge muscle isn’t easy and you have to do it on purpose so don’t worry about getting bulky. As women we simply do not have enough of the necessary hormones naturally to do that without trying. I simply mean strong, flexible, and supple muscle!
Scientists estimate that every pound of muscle you have burns about 6 calories while you’re resting. That’s triple the amount of a pound of fat, which comes in at about 2 calories a day.
So, 10 pounds of fat would burn 20 calories a day, while 10 pounds of muscle would burn 60 just being alive. Not that impressive huh.
But over a year, 10 pounds of muscle burns 21,900 calories (a little over 6 pounds), while 10 pounds of fat burns 7,300 calories in a year (around 2 pounds).
That means workouts that build your muscles – whether it’s old-school bodybuilding workouts, or fitness workouts that include weights – have a double-whammy effect!
Not only are you burning calories WHILE you’re doing them, but you get a BONUS burn in the future as you build muscle! Pretty cool, right?
Beyond your workouts, it’s important to get enough protein (between 10 and 35% of your daily calories) to help build, repair, and maintain your muscle.
Want to get even MORE tactical?
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that if you want to build muscle, on top of adding resistance training to your workouts, you should eat 1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein per kg of body weight per day – which equals 0.5 to 0.8 grams per pound of body weight.
If you need help figuring those numbers for you, I can help! As have one spot left in my new transformation program that launched earlier this week closes this weekend. If you want to drop 10-15lbs by thanksgiving with a proven strength building, fat burning plan simply email me @ Phyllis@beastmomfitness.com
Make it an amazing day!
Phyllis Thompson
http://beastmomfitness.com