Burning calories doesn’t mean your burning fat, which is what most people are trying to do. What’s responsible for burning calories is your metabolism. Unfortunately for a lot of people who struggle with weight gain, fatigue, cravings, mood swings, hormonal imbalance, etc…are struggling because their metabolism has shifted!
Instead of burning fats, they’re burning carbs and lean muscle
Your body burns calories from the breakdown of carbohydrates, proteins and or fats. You can only burn one of those three fuel sources for energy. Your metabolism is designed to burn fat throughout the day. Unfortunately, those people who can’t drop those extra pounds or don’t have enough energy in the day are constantly burning carbohydrates and proteins (lean muscle), instead of stored body fat, because their metabolism has shifted!
Think of your metabolism like a fireplace. In your fireplace you can burn twigs, small branches and big fat logs to produce heat (energy), pretty much the same way our metabolism burns, carbs, proteins and fats, to produce energy.. Keep in mind that I can create just as much heat by burning the big fat logs, as I can by burning twigs and small branches.
The problem is that I have to continually keep on adding twigs (carbohydrates) and small branches (protein) to the fire. Much the same way someone has to eat every 2-3 hours or they get light headed. It’s not a good strategy.
When you burn a big fat log (fats) it gives off heat (energy) for a long or longer period of time, than when you burn carbs or proteins. That’s the key to healthy weight loss – triggering your metabolism to burn the big fat logs (stored fats) that are stored on the body.
You don’t want to be burning up lean muscle (proteins), which is what leads to all the cellulite problems. Once you do that you will find many of your weight loss problems, cravings, fatigue, irritability, and so on will begin to slip away.
If you want to find out if your metabolism has shifted I encourage you to use our online health quizzes and Test Your Metabolism. See if it is working the way it was designed or does it need to be re-booted to it’s original position. This is where it comes back to finding the Right Diet for you and Training Smart, because the Wrong Diet and or the Wrong Workout for you could be what is causing your metabolism to shift and burn more lean muscle, instead of fats.
FYI….what controls your metabolism are your hormones, and that includes your stress hormones. More can be found in To Burn or Not to Burn – Fat is the Question.