We all have this feeling, after the end of the student years into work, that is, almost 30 years old, people began to grow fat, fat is easy to greasy, so people always say greasy middle-aged, and some people even tease that there is no easy thing in life, only middle-aged is easier to grow fat.
In the traditional perception, the human metabolism slows down after the age of 30 and calorie consumption decreases significantly, plus eating greasy, calorie intake is greater than consumption, so people begin to slowly get fat. But a paper published in the main issue of the top scientific journal “Science”, “Analysis of daily energy consumption over a lifetime” has overturned this perception. The core idea of this paper is that between the ages of 20 and 60, the daily energy consumption of the human body, including the basal metabolism, has not slowed down significantly, which means that the metabolism of the human body is stable in middle age, and the main reason for gaining weight is the imbalance between energy intake and consumption. The main reason for gaining weight is the imbalance between energy intake and consumption, or, as the saying goes, eating too much and moving too little, and the decline in basal metabolism is not to blame for gaining weight in middle age.
1. People’s metabolism does not slow down from 20 to 60 years old
This is an international collaborative study in which the research team analyzed the average caloric consumption consumed in daily life of more than 6,600 people from 29 countries and regions around the world, ranging in age from one week old to 95 years old, and found that metabolism peaks as early as infancy and childhood, then slowly declines, and basically stabilizes after age 20, and only declines again after about age 60.
Both daily basal metabolism and total daily energy consumption are stable from 20 to 60 years old
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the minimum amount of energy required to maintain the body’s vital activities when the body is awake, quiet, fasting, and at a room temperature of about 20 degrees Celsius, and this energy is mainly used to maintain respiration, heart rate, body temperature, glandular secretion, etc. Basal metabolism can be approximated by multiplying body weight by 24 hours, for example, a person weighing 60 kg has a basal metabolism of 1440 calories a day, while the total energy consumption of a person is around 2000-3000 calories a day.
Basal metabolism is definitely the bulk of a day’s energy consumption, accounting for about 60-70% of a day’s total energy consumption, in other words, even if you lie in bed all day without moving, there are a couple of thousand calories consumed. The second part of human energy consumption is the thermal effect of food, which is the energy consumption brought by the eating process, so we will feel the body heat when we eat, but of course this part of energy consumption is very limited, accounting for about 10% of daily energy consumption. The last part is physical activity, including walking, cycling, housework, physical exercise, etc., accounting for about 30% of the total energy consumption, this part of the energy consumption is extremely variable, if you participate in a full horse, the total energy consumption can reach more than 2000 calories, and if you are sedentary one day, this part is very little.
2.the more lean body weight, the more energy a person consumes in a day
This study also came to another important conclusion, fat body weight (also known as lean body weight) and total energy consumption per day is positively correlated, that is, the lower the percentage of body fat, the higher the lean body weight, the more energy consumption per day, because the unit weight muscle metabolic rate is significantly higher than the unit weight fat metabolic rate. So how is lean body mass calculated? For example, if a person weighs 70 kg and has a body fat percentage of 16%, then their lean body mass is equal to 70-70 x 0.16 = 58.8 kg. This conclusion is certainly in line with our general perception.
The more lean body weight the more energy consumption in a day
The basal metabolic rate of muscle is about 3 times that of fat, for example, if you increase the amount of muscle by 10 kg, the basal metabolism increases by about 120 calories, which can account for about 10% of the day’s basal metabolism, which is why we say that strength training can improve the basal metabolism, so that people are less likely to become fat important reason.
Of course, improving muscle content itself is not an easy task, in fact, growing muscle is more difficult than losing fat, you improve muscle content, basically means that you have carried out regular training, in the process, you produce a lot of consumption, so you can not just say that because the muscle increases so improve the basal metabolism, more because you do a lot of exercise in order to increase muscle, especially to do a lot of strength training, in the process you greatly increase your daily energy consumption, so the process of muscle gain must be accompanied by the realization of weight loss.
Through the above, we can clearly conclude that our traditional view that the basic metabolism decreases after entering middle age is a wrong point of view, after 30 years old, the basic metabolism and even daily energy consumption does not become significantly less, or because after entering middle age, our exercise is reduced, sedentary work is extended, plus eat more, even if you eat as much as before, because energy consumption is greatly reduced, these factors cause middle-aged people are prone to fat.
4.how can we maintain the daily energy metabolism
Basic metabolism, as the basic physiological process of maintaining human life activities, will not fluctuate significantly, and this study also confirmed that metabolism will not slow down from the age of 20 to 60, but if poor lifestyle accumulates over a long period of time, the accumulation of small amounts may still lead to insufficient consumption, thus making calorie intake greater than consumption, and cause obesity. The following are the recommended ways to maintain the body’s energy metabolism.
- avoid irregular meal times and overeating
Maintain regular eating habits, eat more meals to maintain a high basal metabolic rate is beneficial, even if you can not do more meals, to ensure that the three meals a day, food is not excessive than irregular meal times, overeating is much better. Research shows that regular meal times can train the body to produce more calorie consumption between meals.
- intake of adequate protein, avoid refined carbohydrate intake on the high side
Adequate protein intake is good for maintaining lean body weight, and sufficient lean body weight helps to enhance the body’s metabolic rate, while simple carbohydrates, such as desserts, drinks, including rice, noodles and other refined staple food intake is too much, is not conducive to the body to maintain adequate metabolism.
- active and regular exercise
Long-term lack of exercise will lead to a decline in muscle content and an increase in fat content, which will lead to a decline in basal metabolism. At the same time, the habit of regular exercise can also promote the body’s metabolic capacity to enhance. If possible, regular exercise, such as every other day exercise, or daily exercise better. And as long as the sedentary reach 20 minutes or more, metabolism will slow down.
- Adequate sleep
Irregular, poor quality sleep can also lead to a decline in basal metabolism, and sleep deprivation will in fact reduce the body’s energy consumption levels during quiet time. Of course, good eating habits for night sleep is also important, do not eat, do not drink tea, coffee, alcohol two hours before bed.
- control diet is needed, but do not diet
The so-called diet refers to the three meals a day do not eat one of the meals, and control diet refers to eat seventy to eighty percent full, eat less high-fat, high-sugar food, dieting is one of the most serious behaviors we know for the basic metabolic damage, dieting will trigger a significant decline in basal metabolism, because this is the human evolutionary process of self-protection. Once dieting, the feedback given to the body is to avoid calorie consumption.
- adequate water intake
Research shows that not drinking enough water can also lead to a slower basal metabolism. Because water is very important to maintain normal cell function, not enough water will lead to a slower metabolic rate.
- Eat breakfast normally
Missing breakfast will lead to a slower basal metabolism, rich in high-quality protein, fresh vegetables and fruits breakfast helps to enhance metabolism, and miss a breakfast often leads to your next meal eat too much, which on the one hand leads to the aforementioned irregular diet, and can lead to a hungry, a binge eating and other problems.
5.Summary
Energy metabolism is an important factor in determining whether a person is prone to gain weight. In the absence of endocrine disorders, metabolism is kept basically stable, and increasing muscle mass and lean body mass helps maintain an adequate energy metabolism. Do not let the slowing metabolism become your excuse for getting fat, adults in the case of basic metabolism remains basically the same, eat more, move less; even if you eat normally, move less, is the root cause of people gaining weight, move more than anything else!
