Basal Metabolic Rate
and Thermogenesis
can speed up metabolism

Basal metabolic rate... Thermogenesis...what do these have to do with burning calories or speeding up your metabolism?

If you're anything like me, other than the much bandied around 'calorie burning' and 'speeding up metabolism' these aren't terms you're familiar with, nor are you likely to understand their significance, or how they work when it comes to burning calories and ultimately how they help you control your weight all naturally.

So in laymens' terms, what is all this big deal about exercise? How exactly does it help you control and lose weight all naturally? Let's do a bit of metabolism 101.

Did you know you have two kinds of metabolism?

Your basal metabolic rate is the amount of energy your body uses just to stay alive day in and day out. It's the calorie burning that takes place when your body breathes, digests, excretes, regulates your body temperature, performs tissue maintenance or cell renewal and so on.

They are vastly different in nature. One is temporary, the other is permanent.

Your basal metabolic rate keeps going 24/7. It's silently burning calories whether you are sleeping, sitting, standing or running. The only time it stops is when you die. This, by the way is one of the reasons why I dispute the ' breakfast will kickstart your metabolism' theory. It's baloney because your basal metabolism never stopped in the first place.

Thermogensis is what happens on top of your basal metabolic rate, temporarily raising the calorie burning process.

* Or you exercise or are active, the heat generated by your body rises and will then slowly abate again.

Our basal metabolism is a bit like merely leaving the engine of a car idling whereas thermogenesis is a bit like pressing the accelerator now and again.

When it's just idling it'll burn off a steady amount of fuel, but when you're accelerating it'll temporarily burn off more fuel.

Unlike your car where you want to burn as little fuel as possible (especially with galloping gas prices), if you can get your body's basic metabolic rate to idle at a higher rate, it'll be burning more calories even though it's just sitting there.

From a weight control point of view, this is exactly what you want - you want to use up the energy you're eating at a faster rate.

As I said though thermogenesis under normal circumstances is only temporary

The Magic of Exercise

You see, when it comes to exercise an interesting thing happens. And this is where having an understanding of how my basal metabolic rate works really changed my basic understanding about the value of consistent and regular exercise.

You can eat as much as you like, up goes your thermogenesis and then down again - and it won't change your underlying basal metabolic rate. But when you exercise on a regular and consistent basis a magical process starts to happen as a result of your body converting fat into muscle.

Let me explain something about muscle vs fat. The more body fat you have the slower your metabolism because fat doesn't require a lot of energy to stay alive. And pssst....before you fall into the trap we do easily do - that does not mean that all fat is bad fat.

However, muscle utilizes a lot more energy (burns a lot more calories) in order to stay alive.

Thus, when your body replaces fat with muscle, because it uses more energy to stay alive, it utilizes more energy for all your basic bodily functions. In other words, even as you're sleeping, your basal metabolic rate is now speeded up and your body is using more energy than it did before.

And the odd bout of exercise isn't going to do anything to change you ratio of body fat to muscle, nor is it going to do anything to speed up up your basal metabolism.

Only regular and consistent exercise over time converts fat to muscle. Muscle burns more calories to stay alive, that's what speeds up your basal metabolic rate so that even your basic bodily functions utilize more energy.

And THAT's why exercise helps you lose and maintain weight naturally.