Ultimate Fitness Gym

Unlocking The Metabolism Code

Posted August 9th, 2010 by: Jesse Amarelo

Well hopefully after reading last week’s blog post you are eating breakfast now and realize why it’s so important. If you missed it then I recommend that you take a minute to read it now Your Most Important Meal Of The Day. So you have eaten breakfast and are ready to start your day. “But what now? When should I eat again? How many more meals?” Good job! Those were some great questions that I received and I’m more than happy to answer them

First let me start by defining what a “fast” metabolism is. To put it in simple terms it means that your body is effectively burning calories throughout the day. So whether you’re at your job, relaxing with your family, or actually working out your body is burning calories efficiently. Sounds nice huh? Because we all know that burning calories is how we lose fat and stay trim. So with that said, everyone’s goal should be to have a healthy, fast metabolism. So how do you get this ‘healthy, fast metabolism’? What’s the secret? What’s the number one way? It’s actually quite simple. MEAL FREQUENCY.

You may have heard this before but I’m here to make it loud and clear. So there is no mistaking it. Eating small and frequent meals every three to four hours is by FAR the most POWERFUL method to boost your metabolism. And why every three-four hours? Because that’s how long  it takes your body to digest a meal. When you combine small frequent meals with the right foods you will turn your body into a calorie burning incinerator! You actually have to eat to lose. Not making sense? Don’t worry I’ll explain.

Whenever I tell this to beginners entering the gym they have a hard time grasping the concept. They’ve always heard that they need to cut calories to lose weight and here I am actually advising them to eat more. In many instances asking them to double their meal frequency. But here’s the thing. They’re roughly taking in the same amount of calories, sometimes a little more, but these calories are spread into small portions throughout the day. Read that again. Small portions. And consuming small frequent meals makes your body burn more calories because of the thermic effect of food. I’m not making this up. There is such a thing and here’s where it all makes sense.

Every single process that your body goes through uses energy a.k.a. calories. Breathing, thinking, your heart beating, etc. Well guess what?! The same goes for digestion. The digestion process uses up a whole bunch of calories. So basically some of the calories in the food you eat are being used just to digest them! This is called the thermic effect. When you choose foods with a high thermic effect it’s nearly impossible to store fat because the calories from the food are being used to digest them. Which brings me to my next topic. Which foods have a high thermic effect.

Lean proteins such as turkey, chicken, and fish have a high thermic effect. As well as most green vegetables and salads. If you use these as the core of your meal plan it will almost be impossible to store fat. Seriously. And I’m not saying you can’t have carbs. You absolutely should have them. Just make sure that the focal point of your meal is the protein and not the other way around. For instance, a giant bowl of pasta with alfredo sauce is a big no-no. That’s basically all carbs and little protein. Just keep in mind that lean protein is known as a “metabolic stimulator” and should always be at the center of your meal.

For those of you cringing at the idea of eating five to six meals a day don’t worry. Just start small. Each time you eat it doesn’t have to be a full-blown meal. You can have a nutritious snack. The most important thing is to get your body used to eating more frequently. As with most new habits I tell people to shoot for consistency first and then start concentrating on performance. To make this a little easier to understand here’s a sample mealplan for an individual who should be eating 1600 calories a day…

Sample Mealplan For 1600 Calories

Meal 1 Breakfast: 400 calories

Meal 2 Snack: 150 calories

Meal 3 Lunch: 400 calories

Meal 4 Snack: 150 calories

Meal 5 Dinner: 350 calories

Meal 6 Snack: 150 calories

And to make things even easier to understand and to be completely clear…

ONE to TWO meals/day: DISASTER! Unless you’re a freak of nature you’re doing some serious damage to your metabolism.

THREE meals/day: If you are eating three precise meals that are filled with clean foods and measured for your specific needs along with a great exercise plan then you will get results. But only half the results you would get from eating six meals and it will take you twice as long.

FOUR meals/day: Ok you’re three-quarters of the way there. Now let’s step it up and get to the holy grail.

FIVE to SIX meals/day: Bingo! This is the plan. And because of two basic principles. First your body needs about three hours to digest a meal and second protein only lasts about three hours in the bloodstream.

Hopefully by now we’re both in COMPLETE agreement that meal frequency is super important and the most effective way to have a fast metabolism. And hopefully we’re also in complete agreement that eating five to six times a day is not going to be easy. It’ going to take consistency and discipline. There’s just no way around it. If it was easy then everyone would be doing it and everyone would be looking great. But we both know that’s not the case. It’s actually quite the opposite. Most people eat only one to two meals a day with small snacks in between. Don’t be one of them. If you’re reading this post then you obviously care about your health and want to improve it. With that said let me add that it will get easier and easier the longer you stick with it. And soon you will be at the point where not eating  frequent will just not feel right.

If anyone wants additional help figuring out a custom mealplan then you’re in luck. Ultimate Fitness Gym now offers an online mealplan solution. We’re in the process of creating a full website but for now you can access it here Ultimate Fitness Nutrition. When you go to the site you will see there is a demo on the homepage. Put 10 minutes aside to watch it and decide if it’s something you’re interested in. If so then simply send me an email, jesse@ultimatefitnessgym.com , and we can go from there.

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