Within this new millennium, time has become our most precious commodity as we work longer hours and often find ourselves eating on the run. To our credit, we humans are great survivors, able to adapt to living anywhere from the poles to the equator, and are equipped to deal with a diet as varied as fish, vegetables, cereals, and even Big Macs. Such dietary flexibility has been key to our success over hundreds of thousands of years of climate change. However, recent generations have become accustomed to times of excess and, while our ancestors were often exposed to seasonal shortages, today the only fasts we tend to experience are self-imposed. Around every street corner there seems to be an enticement to indulge our appetites, and for many, maintaining an attractive and healthy body weight has become a daily challenge.
The model & fashion industries reflect the prevailing sexual preferences within our consumer society, and over the past fifty years we have seen a marked cultural shift from the fuller figure towards leaner, fitter forms. Today, even a modest roll of fat around the waist is considered a deterrent to romantic activity, although we still face constant social pressures to eat, drink, and to party. Our foods and beverages have been engineered to increase both their palatability and calorie density, and so staying in shape has become a daily battle against our cravings and our natural tendency to store surplus calories as fat. Most modern diets however focus upon cutting calories and the other side of the equation is rarely addressed. We all have the capacity to burn more calories simply by boosting our metabolic rate and making modest changes to our lifestyles. This does not mean spending more time perspiring at the gym, taking the latest weight loss drugs, or buying expensive supplements. There are simple adjustments which you may make to your daily routine that will shift your daily calorie account from surplus to deficit. There is no need for any reduction in the quantity that you eat, although a healthier diet should be a goal for all of us...
The body’s energy equation is simple & straightforward - if our calorie intake is greater than the amount we burn through the sum of our resting metabolism and physical activity, then the excess energy is stored. Most of us store it as fat, although athletes may store it in the form of glycogen or muscle protein. This ‘energy equation’ is merely rephrasing the basic principle of thermodynamics - namely that energy stored within food cannot be destroyed, it may only be turned into heat or else converted into fats, glycogen, or proteins. If you consider that a surplus of only 130 calories (kcal) a day, equivalent to a generous serving of apple juice, is enough to put on a pound of fat around the waist over a month, the importance of getting on the right side of the line becomes painfully clear. On a positive note, a net loss of only 900 calories a day is all that is required to reduce your body weight by 7 lbs in one month! To achieve this goal all that you will need to do is to become a little more physically active and to give your metabolism a gentle nudge...
There is one aspect of biology which is particularly important in understanding weight loss - the muscles. Your muscles will burn just about any dietary fuel, from fatty acids to alcohol, and of course carbohydrates. In contrast, the rest of the body, and particularly the brain, are very choosey. Both at rest and during physical activity, the body’s glycogen and fat stores serve as our principal energy reservoirs. The glucose and fatty acids which these two energy reserves release provide our muscles with their primary fuels, and both are consumed simultaneously to provide energy. However, the relative proportion in which these two fuels which are consumed depends upon a range of factors. For instance, sustained walking or dancing will tend to increase fat consumption, whilst short bursts of activity (e.g. running to the bus) will tend to burn carbohydrates. Our muscles are useful allies in the war of the waistline as they have a seemingly insatiable capacity to burn fats.
The recently emerging science of ‘thermogenics’, literally ‘heat generation’, was born of the observation that some people can eat and perform the same amount of exercise as others and still not put on weight. The excess calories appear to vanish into thin air, which they do in a sense, as they are lost to the atmosphere in the form of heat. Such heat arises from an increase in metabolic activity that occurs within the miniature fuel cells, or mitochondria, of our body. Mitochondria are especially abundant within muscle cells and brown fat cells, and these types of cells have particularly high levels of ‘mitochondrial uncoupling protein’, sometimes known as ‘thermogenin’. This protein gives mitochondria the ability to uncouple the burning of fuel from the production of energy-rich molecules. It may help to think of this process as pushing down the gas pedal (throttle) of a car while the wheels are disengaged. The engine accelerates loudly and more fuel is burnt, but the wheels are not turning. The extra gasoline consumed is of course lost in the form of heat.
In conclusion, let’s assume that you are a busy actress or model, and that you are active for some eight hours a day. Imagine that you have divided your breakfast and lunch into four smaller snacks which you consume throughout the course of the day, although you still have your main meal in the evening. You currently weigh some 155lbs, but feel that you could do with losing a stone (14 lbs) or so in the next month for that special occasion. You really don't have the time or the inclination to make the daily trek to the gym, and the thought of yet another diet makes you groan. This month, you start walking briskly to work, or, if you are a commuter, to the train station or bus stop. If this is around thirty minutes each way every day this will amount to some 300 calories (kcal) a day. When you get to work or the shops, and throughout the course of the day, you now decide to resist the temptation of taking the elevator and instead take the stairs wherever possible. This commitment will consume a further 280 calories per day, while running across the street to get your colleagues their teas and coffees twice a day will account for another 140 calories. In the evening you could elect to go dancing at a night club for an hour (300 cal), walk the dog (250 cal), play half a round of golf (450 cal), or just make love to your partner (500 cal+, but we won't go there...). Now add to this an increase in your basal metabolic rate of just 300-600 calories a day, and you have a grand total of between 1,300 & 1,800 calories, sufficient to lose up to 14 lbs in one month! There you have it, substantial weight loss and no need to sweat...
