 First and foremost the thyroid gland that sits in the front of your neck under your voice box is the little guy that controls our metabolism. The thyroid secretes T4 and T3 into our bloodstream and these hormones go to work in our cells to tell them how to convert the calories we eat into energy for us to use! They also control the temperature of our body and heart rate.
A healthy thyroid is always making these hormones with the help of another organ…. The thyroid has a supporting partner in all of this, the pituitary gland, which is located in the lower central part of your brain. The pituitary gland releases thyroid stimulating hormone or TSH which allows the thyroid to function to send out the correct amounts of T3 and T4. Sort of a checks and balances system within your body. I won’t get into the dysfunctions of the thyroid but I do want to chat about our lifestyle choices, mainly calorie intake and how that affects our energy levels and energy output. When we have a consistent amount of calories coming in that is well above our BMR (basal metabolic rate) our cells can allow us to use the excess energy made during the metabolism process rather than store it. Our body would want to store energy (calories from food) if we were eating at or below our BMR for too long(several weeks, months or years) because it is in a state of stress at that point. The thyroid in this case would naturally want to release less of T4 & T3 so that our metabolism process slows down so that we may conserve energy for more important tasks WITHIN our own body. This translates to us;
This is where you realize you are more in control than you think of your metabolism by fueling your body with the adequate amount of calories it needs to not be in a stressed state. This translates into us being able to;
In conclusion, yes our organs do control metabolism but you can help support a healthier more active metabolism with proper calorie intake consistently and moving your body more.
0 Comments
 Have you ever pleaded with someone to stop smoking, drinking or doing drugs? To stop texting and driving? Have you constantly told someone they should lose weight or get more active? To stop eating so much fast food? To go to the doctor. To get that spot checked? To go to the dentist? To just get the shot already?? Have you ever been in these situations with family, friends or right now your social media friends?? If so read on!! "It's simple, just do it already," we say or more likely, yell at them. However doing that does nothing, they continue to stay stagnant. How can we help these people we love or have friendships with make a change for the better, without leaving both sides feeling frustrated? The Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change was created for this purpose. First you must recognize what stage of change they are in and what to do for them in that specific stage. I am here to help you all understand the science behind the stages of change. Read on to find how to help your fellow loved ones, friends or social media acquaintances!
 What is the definition of metabolism? Metabolism generally, is the process of our bodies converting food into energy. Calories are that energy. It can be stored for quick energy use or if not needed, your body will store it as adipose (fat) tissue for later energy use. Your BMR or basal metabolic rate will pretty much always stay the same unless you are eating less than your BMR. For instance my body needs about 1400 calories to maintain bodily functions and other systems that keep me alive. If you regularly do not eat at your BMR, your body will down regulate your metabolism by slowing down the processes it does in the background, you know the ones that keep you alive, in effort to conserve energy. If you do this in an effort to lose weight, it will backfire and weight loss will stall. Even if you yo-yo diet, where some weeks you eat way more calories than your body can use for daily energy requirements and then other weeks you eat only 1000 or so calories per day, your body will still not let go of that precious adipose(fat) tissue that it might need to convert into energy someday because it doesn’t understand that you will eventually give it more food. Our body can only think about what is happening, right now. Now that we have covered that I want to go back to the first sentence, about metabolism. I want to share some information about that metabolism at work by the thermic effect of food. More specifically the thermic effect of the three macronutrients, carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
Your BMR rises slightly after you eat because your body uses energy (calories) to digest foods we consume. Which one of those three macros has the greatest thermic effect?? Now I am not saying that the thermic effect of food is a great weight control or weight loss tool, however when you think of it in the long term effect, like your whole freaking life, it can be a huge difference maker. Now let’s dive in and find out why…  Calorie deficit does not have to mean you are on a “diet.”
Following a certain diet doesn’t guarantee a calorie deficit. Whoa! Let us break this down a little bit. First off, the only and I mean the ONLY way to lose weight is to be in a calorie deficit. The phrases “diet” and “calorie deficit” are not mutually exclusive. The word diet can mean different things to different people. Which is why I wanted to share the definitions with you all and how they might be perceived. Maybe we stop saying the word diet and start saying, my eating habits or something similar. The word diet just has too many negative connotations that all of us have put in it. Okay back to the beginning, being in a calorie deficit doesn’t have to be categorized as being on a diet (i.e. certain ideals such as restriction come to mind). You could eat Mcdonald’s, Chipotle or Taco bell all day everyday and still lose weight by eating less than what your daily caloric needs are. Would that be difficult? Possibly, as a lot of fast food is loaded with more calories than foods we might prepare at home. You could be in a calorie deficit while eating fast food for each meal but in all likelihood you would not be getting enough nutrient dense food. You would likely be overloaded with sodium or saturated fats and not enough vitamins or minerals.  This story is probably familiar for a lot of people; you want to get stronger in the gym, you want to eat more nutrient dense foods, you want to tone up or gain/ lose some weight. You have all the ideas on how to do it, the equipment and a little bit of knowledge to get you going in the right direction. You will notice that some individuals will be able to succeed and maintain their success for a lifetime or sometimes we that success start to slowly taper off with old habits returning. Another thing that happens a lot is that some individuals will start with the best of intentions but throw in the towel within a few weeks or even days. Do you relate to the last two scenarios I mentioned? If so then you could benefit from the rest of this post. Even if you do not feel like, "this is me," there is still much to be taken into consideration over the next few minutes as you read on..
What I want everyone to know is that because you didn’t succeed, that does not mean anything is wrong with you, or that you can’t do it. You need a different approach. You need a change in behavior. Seems simple but yet it isn’t. Let’s dive into that a little further…. The person who succeeds and who can maintain their success for a lifetime can do so because they have changed their behavior. They were able to decipher that there was a threat to their overall health or wellbeing if they did not change behaviors. If there is no perceived threat to the person's wellbeing then no lasting change will happen. The threat doesn’t have to be life or death though. Think along the lines of just, “going through the motions.” When you do that, you aren't driving or fostering real change, you aren’t being present with what you need. When you adopt behavior changes you are able to handle things in life that might come in and disrupt your fitness or nutrition game, you might take a step off the wagon for a few days or weeks but are able to easily hop back on. This idea doesn’t just apply to fitness and health, let's talk about those now!  Let’s clear things up…
I want you all to know once and for all why I always talk about not paying attention to the calories on your watch. {Or if you do not have a fitness watch but you might have had these thoughts I list below} Now, if you think I am crazy or you can separate fact from fiction already then this post is not for you. It’s for a past me and I know there are a lot of people out there who have dysfunctional thoughts about the calories burned on their fitness watches, or just calories burned in general by working out or not. Let's continue.. Have you ever eaten back the calories you burned during a workout, because you thought you deserve them? Have you ever said to yourself, “I deserve this _____food because I worked out hard today and probably already burned it off or I will burn it off in tomorrow’s workout.” Do you say, “I don’t deserve to eat all this food because I didn’t burn enough calories in my workout, or I didn’t workout at all so I won’t eat much today.” These statements are things that I used to say to myself or thoughts I believed to be true. I used to workout and then go eat foods that continually trashed my body. I also had thoughts that continuously trashed my body as well.  A NEW WORKOUT EACH DAY! BORED WITH YOUR WORKOUTS? Try this program with new, exciting and challenging exercises! Keep your muscles confused and guessing by doing a new program with completely new workouts everyday! I could go on and on but do any of these things sound familiar?
As a certified personal trainer that is very passionate about fitness and how to approach it correctly and safely, I feel it is my duty to talk about the the newest, most exciting workout fad that is coming out about 3 months or so. I see highly paid, possibly not even CPTs talking about the newest way to tone up or get stronger with their new workouts. Workouts that they probably don't even do themselves. I see girls performing exercises that are dangerous to their backs, or doing odd motions with weights that put their joints at risk or just terrible form in general that leads you very susceptible to injury. I want to go back to that second sentence in this paragraph. The newest way to tone up or to get stronger...well there is no new way. Our body can only move in so many directions or planes at one time. Squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling and rotating (and deadlifting because I think that should be the 6th movement) are the 5 basic movement patterns that our body does to complete any daily task, including exercise! I want you to know that you can get stronger without confusing your muscles or without those fancy new exercises/workouts each day. What if I told you the best thing you could do for yourself is to stick with ONE exercise program for 6 months to a year? I know most of you are probably already like, goodbye! In several months to a year you can truly learn how to move the way your body is designed to in exercise and throughout the rest of your day. This is not only important for the muscle you are isolating in your workouts but also to your core strength. Let me tell you about that last part real quick... Our core is not just the 6 pack we all dream of having. {Why tho? I love carbs and sweets too much to even think about getting one of those.} Our core consists of muscles in our pelvis, upper legs, our back and the front of our abdomen. Learning how to brace, breathe and move for all 5 movements is vital to everyone's core strength and health of their spine. I hope you will continue reading to learn more about the movement patterns, as well about how you can effectively and safely change your workouts to get stronger and even tone up! Now let’s dive into each movement below..  Do you struggle with emotional eating??
Disclaimer, this post is not for people who believe they may have an eating disorder such as anorexia, bulimia etc. If you feel this might be you, please reach out and I can connect you with a licensed professional who can help you ASAP. Emotional eating can be described as the act of overeating during times of anxiety, stress, depression, boredom or anger among other negative emotions. I once suffered from this too, until I was about 30 years old. Millions and millions of people do or will experience this in their lifetime as well. It is something that you CAN overcome. Will it be easy? I won’t lie, it isn’t. The number one thing I believe you can do for yourself when you have what you might think of as a “failure” is to STOP that negative talk right away. You didn’t mess up, there is no reason to quit or throw in the towel. Let those so called mistakes be stepping stones for you on your way to conquering emotional or mindless eating.  Counting calories vs counting macros
The differences might be obvious to some but maybe not to others which is why I am sending out some gentle reminders. Calories counting is just what it says it is, counting calories. But could you be missing important nutrients you need each day just by doing just this? It’s possible. Macros still have your calories figured in them but then the calories are divided into grams between protein, carbs and fats. These macronutrients are little but they pack a (good) punch for our body. Counting macros can be a way to make sure you get enough of these to fuel your workouts, build muscle (if that is your goal) and provide you energy for all the activities in your daily life. Let's say you consume 2000 calories a day. You could eat 2000 calories of food that has little to no nutritional value or be eating too many calories from carbs, or fats and not getting enough protein daily or vise versa. If you track macros you could be more inclined to eat foods that hold more nutrients in them because you are trying to meet your protein, carb and healthier fat requirements. Let's move on to talk and learn a little more about how protein, carbs and fats work in the body. |