Spring has Sprung!

Are you one of those people that work your butt off at the gym, but can’t seem to reach your goals? Let’s say you come to the gym 4 times a week, for an hour each time, working at a reasonable intensity. Well, there are 168 hours in a week. So take away those 4 hours and we are left with 164 hours. Let’s also assume you get 7 hours of sleep a night, which brings us down to 115 waking hours in your week.

Not surprisingly, it’s what people do in these 115 hours away from the gym, that is ultimately going to determine whether or not your goals will be reached. If you’re on the treadmill for 30 minutes jogging on level 9, followed by an intense 30 minute cycle, you’ll burn about 2000kJ (or about 500cal). So if you then decide to treat yourself to a latte and a muffin (2500kJ) you’ve really wasted your hard work. Most people think the food they eat is great, but they may be eating too much, not enough, making poor snack choices, or gaining extra kilojoules from other bad habits.

Losing weight is actually very simple. You need to burn more than you consume. This amount is different for everyone, so following a diet or cutting down on fat is not necessarily going to help you just because your friend lost weight following it.

This amount you need to burn is known as your basal metabolic rate (or BMR). Factors influencing your BMR include age, gender, height, weight, lean muscle mass and genetics. A lot of these are out of your control, but increasing your lean muscle will increase you BMR. The higher your BMR, the more fuel your body needs to function. Your body needs fuel to keep everything working properly, like for breathing, metabolism, digestion, temperature regulation, and the like. Also, by increasing your BMR, your body has to work harder when you are doing nothing, to keep your lean mass healthy, so it’s a win-win situation.

Your eating patterns should be specific to you, your lifestyle and your goals, so keep that in mind when you next find yourself thinking of dieting. Better yet, see a qualified nutritionist to sort it out for you!