Burn Calories While Resting

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness.
My name is Rob Maxwell and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sFitness Programs and I've been
in business since 1994.
The purpose of this podcast isto get to the real deal of what
really works and, mostimportantly, why things work.
Hence the name there is aMethod to the Madness.

(00:23):
Before I get started today, letme thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gilden of the Gilden GroupRealty Pros.
They are committed to providingthe highest level of customer
service in home sales.
Why don't you give them a shoutand figure out what your home
is worth?
386-451-2412.

(00:44):
Hello everybody and welcome tothe podcast.
Again.
I'm going to give you some goodnews today.
I'm going to teach you how toburn calories even at rest.

(01:05):
But this really isn't anythingnew.
This is just our restingmetabolic rate that I'm talking
about, and it is so important tokeep healthy.
I don't think many peopleunderstand that our resting
metabolic rate is the main waythat we actually burn our

(01:28):
calories, our expenditurethroughout the day.
Our resting metabolic rate, orbasal metabolic, accounts for
about 60 to 70% of our caloricburn.
That is a lot, of course, androughly 15 to 30% comes from our

(01:56):
physical activity.
So we have definitely someovert control over that.
As you see, the 15 to 30% wecan maximize that caloric burn
and get that up to 30% if we'revery active individuals, and
that's a great thing.
And then finally we burncalories through what is called

(02:18):
the thermic effect of feeding,or when we eat we actually burn
calories because our body has torev up to digest the calories.
But that's only about tops 5%.
So let's not start overeatingso we burn more calories.
That might be just a touchcounterproductive, but the point

(02:42):
is, the majority of caloricburn comes from our resting
metabolic rate.
So I don't know, to me it seemslike if that's the majority of
our burn, we would want to doeverything we can to keep that
metabolic rate as high as we can, and there is something that we

(03:06):
can do about it.
Now I know a lot of us hear allthe time that our resting
metabolic rate or metabolismslows down as we age.
That's partly true.
I was listening to a podcast acouple weeks ago.
True, I was listening to apodcast a couple of weeks ago

(03:29):
and it's a podcaster I reallylike and they interview guests
that I really like and the guestwas very, very well-meaning and
very well-educated and I knowwhat they were getting at.
But at the same time they didmisspeak a little bit, at least
factually, on age and metabolicrate.
They were talking about how wedon't have any control over

(03:51):
aging, which is true and it'saging that causes the decrease
in the metabolic rate.
But that isn't necessarily true.
There is some truth to it.
But the main reason why ourresting metabolic rate lessens
as we age is because we losemuscle.

(04:12):
In fact there's a term for it,it's called sarcopenia.
Sarcopenia means age-relatedmuscle mass loss.
That's the main reason why ourmetabolic rate slows down,
because we simply lose muscle.
After the age of 30, we startlosing some muscle mass and that

(04:34):
basically accelerates everydecade.
Unless we do something about it.
Then we can maintain as muchmuscle mass as possible.
For example, if you took Ishould say I would take in this
bet a 70-year-old that still hasa lot of muscle, we can see

(04:58):
that.
Let's say so.
Let's make this very factual.
We can see that by his weightat, say, being 180 pounds and
he's 15% body fat.
So that's pretty darn lean forthat age.
Or we can take the same sizeperson, 180 pound man.

(05:19):
Again, they're only 30 yearsold but they're at 30% body fat,
which for that age that wouldbe obese.
So that would mean if they'rethe same weight and the only
difference is in the body fatpercentage, that means the
younger one at the higher bodyfat percentage has a lot more

(05:41):
body fat and a lot less muscle,because those are the two things
that make up our weight.
You know, of course there'sbone, but the primary changes
that we see that make up ourweight is going to be Body fat
and lean body mass, which ismuscle, and of course water does

(06:02):
fluctuate in and out on a dailylevel.
I will take that older man withthe 15% body fat's metabolism
over that younger man with the30% body fat's metabolism any
day of the week.
Any day of the week, because atthe same weight, the 180-pound

(06:26):
man with 15% body fat has a lotmore muscle than the younger man
at 180 pounds, at 30% body fat.
It's simple math.
Muscle is metabolic.
So you can see that it's not somuch age that lowers our
metabolic rate, but we losemuscle.
Now that's good news.
I told you in the verybeginning this is going to be

(06:49):
good news because we don't haveto Sure.
It is harder.
As people age, we losetestosterone, both men and women
.
Our endocrine system does startto slow down in production a
little bit.
Yes, these things happen, butstudy after study, research
after research study, has shownthat we can still hypertrophy,

(07:13):
which is gain muscle mass, wellwell into life.
A matter of fact, wayneWestcott did some studies
several years back that showedthat people could hypertrophy
into their 90s, and hypertrophyis the opposite of sarcopenia or
atrophy.
It is adding muscle mass to ourbodies.

(07:33):
So we can do that very late inlife.
So we do have control over this.
Now other studies, actually bythe same person, has shown that
we can bump our metabolic rateby 7% by adding muscle.
7%, that's huge.

(07:56):
Studies have shown that whenpeople strength train while
they're dieting, okay.
While they're taking off bodyfat purposely, so while they're
dieting, all right.
If they maintain their strengthtraining regimen, they're going

(08:17):
to maintain their muscle mass,so their metabolic rate won't
take such a hit.
So, as we see, the real key toall of this is to strength train
.
You know, in the old days theway people lost weight was and

(08:38):
let's just say the old days inthe 70s and 80s the running boom
.
Okay, a big thing people weredoing was dieting, cutting
calories, and, yes, we have towatch what we eat, change what
we eat, change how much we eatwhen we want to lose weight.
That was true then.
It's true now.
I don't want to say it's alwaysgoing to be true, who the heck

(08:59):
knows but I mean, I can't see aworld in which that isn't the
case.
So we are going to have tochange how we eat.
That's nothing new, but therewas a huge push back in those
days, in the early days ofexercise, of just burning it off
, just running.
You know the running revolution.
And running is great, great forthe mind, great for the body.
Walking is great, great for themind, great for the body.

(09:22):
The problem with that is whencardio is the only means of
exercise to lose weight, thenwe're not doing anything for
that resting metabolic rate.
In fact, we are losing muscle.
And if we're attaching cardioto a caloric deficit, we're

(09:49):
losing even more muscle.
So, yes, the scale is comingdown, and for some people that's
all they care about.
But at least half of that andthe only way you know is to have
body composition tests done butat least half of that might be
muscle.
Again, I'll go back to the study.
When strength training isperformed during the dieting

(10:11):
process, that is not true.
Now you may not lose as muchweight on the scale because
you're maintaining the muscle,but that is a good thing.
We don't want to lose themuscle, because what happens is
this when we lose the muscle,when we diet, when we lose
weight, eventually the majorityof people go back to their own,

(10:36):
their old eating styles.
When they go back to their oldeating styles, guess what
happens?
The weight starts to come backon.
But now, if they haven't beenstrength training, it's even
worse because they've loweredtheir metabolic rate a touch.
So every time they kind ofyo-yo and go up and down and

(10:59):
don't include strength training,they're making it a little bit
harder to lose again.
And I don't know about you, butreally strength training is so
much easier to do than diet.
You don't know how many peopleI mean almost on a daily basis,
when I have these types ofconversations with clients or

(11:21):
just casual conversations whilesomebody's working out they'll
say you know, this part's easy.
Getting to the gym and workingout is the fun part, man, it's
that food thing that reallysucks.
I mean, yeah, almost everybodysays that.
So if we know that, if we knowgetting to the gym and strength
training isn't really the hardpart, we need to do it.

(11:44):
It is so beneficial.
Strength training is not justfor people that want to bench
press more weight nowadays, it'snot just for people that want
to be in CrossFit competitionsor bodybuilding shows.
It's for everybody.
It is for our metabolic health.
All right.
So I'm giving you the numbers.

(12:05):
I want people to understand thenumbers so they can really
think about their choices.
So many people I mean only 25%or so of the population is doing
enough cardio and strengthtraining to get benefits.
By the year 2030, we might beat a 70% overweight and obesity

(12:30):
rate in the United States.
I mean, come on, people, only30% not overweight or obese.
We can do better than that.
You know.
A quote I love is one by John FKennedy, and he says the time to
repair the roof is when the sunis shining.

(12:52):
So what that means in this caseis that too many people think
that they're going to dosomething about it when it's
already problematic and look,that is better than nothing or
better than not doing it.
But the best time to thinkabout this is when we are

(13:12):
younger, when we do have themeans and the energy to get to
the gym.
We don't want to get into thatcycle of sarcopenia.
If you're middle-aged now oryounger than that, it is the
time to start going to the gymso you can keep your metabolic
rate up, because guess whatthat's typically when it starts

(13:33):
to go down.
I mean, the majority of myclients at the gym are over 60,
the majority because they got tothe point where it's like you
know what, I need to dosomething about it and it's
great.
I mean, some have been doing ittheir whole lives and needed a
push, but many of them have notand I'm glad they're there and

(13:53):
they've seen so much benefit.
But I can tell you right now,if the sun is shining now and
you're not having problems, youstill need to strength train.
You want to keep muscle mass onthe body and whatever is
stopping you?
Don't let it.
It doesn't have to consume yourlife.
Research has shown thatstrength training two to three

(14:16):
days a week for about 30 minutesat a time is more than adequate
to put muscle mass on your bodyso you can keep your metabolic
rate up and you can keep yourstrength levels up.
90 minutes a week.
People.
That's not asking a lot, right,and the benefits are there.
We get at least a bump of 7%,along with just feeling really,

(14:38):
really great about ourselves.
All right, I did my workout thismorning.
I love to work out, it is agreat meditation for me and I
hope you'll join me in thatbeauty of an endeavor.
Thank you for listening totoday's show.
I ask you to please follow thisshow on wherever you get your

(15:00):
podcasts and also please hitautomatic downloads.
It really helps me and it helpsthe show.
Now I want to thank OverheadDoor of Daytona Beach, the
premier garage door company inVolusia County With the best
product with the best service.
I can vouch for Jeff and ZachHawk, the owners.
They are great people.

(15:21):
If you need any help with yourgarage doors, give them a shout
386-222-3165.