I just want to be thin

It is a long read but DO READ IT! This is taken from the book ‘Eat stop eat’ and without this little part I would’ve never lost weight because I would’ve been too scared of the ‘starvation mode’ and ‘slowing down of metabolism’. 

“The story they are telling goes like this; if you lower your calories too much, then you will stop losing fat because your body has entered ‘starvation mode’ and your metabolic rate will slow to a stand-still. 

This is the nutrition ‘gospel’. However, it turns out that this is actually not true. 

Let me explain. Our metabolism is based on the energetic costs of keeping the cells in our bodies alive. For example, let’s say we put you in a fancy lab and measured the amount of calories you burned in one day sitting on a couch doing nothing. Let’s assume that number was 2000 Calories. This would be called your basal metabolic rate (BMR); 2000 Calories would be the amount of Calories you need to eat to match the amount you burn simply being you. 

Now, lets say you moved around that day, perhaps 30 minutes of walking, you might burn an extra 100 calories bringing your daily total to 2100 burnt calories. Your basal metabolic rate is always 2000, and then any extra energy you expend moving your body (such as exercise) is added to that number.

So in this example, you are going to burn 2000 calories per day no matter what you do. So why are we being told that our metabolism will slow down if we don’t eat for an extended period of time? The answer lies with an interesting metabolic process of eating called “The thermic effect of food”, and some clever interpretation of this rather simple process.

The act of eating can increase your metabolism by a very small amount, this is referred to as ‘the thermic effect of food’. This increase in metabolism is a result of the extra energy your body uses to digest and process the food. It takes energy to break down, digest, absorb and store the food once you eat it. This ‘energy cost’ has been measured in laboratory settings and is part of the basis for popular diets that promote the metabolic cost of one nutrient over another.

For example, it takes more Calories to digest protein than to digest carbohydrates or fats, so some diets recommend substituting some protein for carbohydrates and fat assuming this will burn more calories. Although this is scientifically true, the amount of extra calories this dietary change will cause you to burn is very small and will hardly make a difference to your overall calories burned in any given day.

As an example, the idea of eating an extra 25 grams of protein so you can burn more calories is ridiculous to me. If you eat an additional 25 grams of protein you would be adding 100 Calories to your diet just so you can burn 10 calories! The more logical approach would be to just not eat those 100 Calories.

Almost all of the calories you burn in a day result from your basal or resting metabolic rate (the calories it takes just to be alive). Beyond that the only significant way to increase the amount of calories you burn in a day is to exercise.”

He then adds some research to prove the theory. I highly recommend you to read the full book.

“The bottom line is food has virtually nothing to do with your metabolism. In fact, your metabolism is much more closely tied to your bodyweight. If your weight goes up or down, so does your metabolism. The only other thing that can affect your metabolism (in both the short term and longer term) is exercise and weight loss. Even in the complete absence of food for three days, your metabolism remains unchanged.”(!!)