Your Metabolism Meltdown
As a dietitian, how our metabolism works is a very common discussion topic since we associate our BMR (metabolism) with the number on our scale.
Since I get asked this on the regular, I thought now would be the perfect time to answer “…How can I increase my BMR?”
So here we go
TDEE: Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is the total amount of calories you are using or “burning” per day. This number is different for everyone. Also, there are different categories that contribute to this final number. They are
- Exercise Activity- 5% of the total
- Thermic Effect of Food- 10% of the total
- NEAT- 15% of the total
- BMR- 60% of the total
And here’s the wild part. Your BMR, which takes into consideration your height, weight, age, and gender. So since we’re talking about why your metabolism has suddenly come to a halt over the past 8 weeks, it’s probably not because of this
NEAT
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. This is the second most impactful category when trying to determine the number of calories you require to lose, maintain, or add weight. And we have completely underestimated how impactful this has on our health.
Walking, yard work, cooking, cleaning…simply moving your body. This is what NEAT is.
So do you really want to know why your metabolism is “broken”? You didn’t realize how much you were moving daily pre COVID until now. Because for some, your diet habits haven’t changed that much, and now you are noticing the scale is starting to climb and your clothes just don’t fit the same as they once did.
So take a look at this post. Look at the difference in steps per day on average pre-COVID vs now. This is approximately a 400 cal/d decrease in energy requirement. For some, this is an entire meal difference in calories. And it’s dropped this dramatically because we have stopped moving.
If now isn’t the best time to start a nutrition program or strength program, that’s ok. Here is your next best option. Move your body. Get outside (if possible) and walk for 1 hour per day. If you can do more, that’s great too. Increase the number of steps you are taking per day. Because your metabolism isn’t broken and it certainly hasn’t melted. You just didn’t realize you stopped moving your body.
Continue to follow SCN2xL for the latest nutrition resources from Dietitian Blog. Written by Alfredo Angione, a registered dietitian.
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