Why is it that some people can eat to their hearts content and stay relatively thin, while most of us myself included only need to smell food so to speak, to gain weight? Whilst it is easy to blame this on your genetic makeup there is scientific evidence that people with a certain gene are more susceptible to weight gain. In studies done in Europe they have identified that those people with one copy of the gene FTO are on average 1.2 kg heavier than those without and those with two copies are 3 kg heavier.
So if your genetic makeup determines whether you’re going to have a weight problem or not is there any hope for those of us on the wrong side of the research. Before I get into answering this let’s take a look at Basal Metabolic Rate, (BMR) what it is, and it’s significance to weight management.
Basal Metabolic Rate
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories we burn at rest, this energy is used to fuel the bodies vital organs such as our brain, heart, lungs, nervous system and the likes. Even though the amount of fuel hence calories we consume increases when we exercise, over a 24 hour period the larger percentage of our consumption occurs when we are at rest to sustain our vital organs as mentioned above.
BMR can be calculated manually using a formula (Harris-Benedict) as follows:
Metric
Women: BMR= 655+ (9.6 x weight in kgs) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in years)
Men: BMR= 66 + (13.7 x weight in kgs) + (5 x height in cm)-(6.8 x age in years)
Imperial
Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches)-(4.7 x age in years)
Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches)-(6.8 x age in years)
This then needs to be calibrated to your lifestyle which means multiplying your calculation from above by an activity level factor as follows:
1.0 Sedentary, doing nothing all day
1.2 Very light activity, doing nothing physical, working at a desk job
1.4 Light activity, having a non physical job, (desk job etc) but doing some walking
1.6 Moderate activity, having a non physical job and working out 3-5 times a week
1.8 High activity, training plus a physical job or non physical job training twice daily
2.0 Extreme activity, extremely physical job and daily hard training
The other consideration is the adjustment of your calorie intake according to your goal. If for example your goal is to put on muscle then you need to consume more calories, on the other hand if your goal is to lose body fat then you should adjust your intake downwards.
Weight control and Your Genes
This brings us back to the dilemma that I posed earlier if you are on the wrong side of the genetics research what can you do? Just knowing that you are genetically vulnerable to gaining weight is a good start and you shouldn’t just resign to the fact. I am proposing that there are two excellent ways to deal with this situation one is to do resistance training and the second is to put more emphasis on your nutrition.
Resistance training will result in an increase in your muscle mass which in turn will raise your BMR. As I’ve written about on previous occasions lean muscle mass burns more calories at rest therefore it becomes an excellent lifelong weight control mechanism.
On the nutrition side I would like to acknowledge that the initial inspiration to write on this topic came from a post I read by Professor Jennie Brand-Miller in the September issue of GI News, Human Nutrition Unit, University of Sydney.
To quote Professor Jennie Brand-Miller she wrote “If you were born with a tendency to be overweight, what you eat matters more. Genes can be switched on or off. By being choosy about carbohydrates and fats you will maximise your insulin sensitivity, up-regulate the genes involved in burning fat and down-regulate those involved in burning carbs. By moving your fuel ‘currency exchange’ from a ‘carbohydrate economy’ to a ‘fat economy’, you increase the opportunity of depleting fat stores over carbohydrate stores. This is exactly what will happen when you begin to eat a nutritious, low GI diet.”
The message from Professor Jennie Brand-Miller is clear an eating plan that is high in low GI food will aid fat loss as the slow release of glucose into the bloodstream allows the body to use this energy as it is required thus lowering the risk of it being stored as fat.
In summary, lifelong weight control especially for those of us that are genetically prone to putting on weight is no easy task however there are ways to reduce the risk. Two excellent strategies are to incorporate some resistance training into your program to increase lean muscle mass which in turn burns more calories at rest and adding low GI foods into your eating plan to better manage glucose expenditure leading to less fat storage.
Zol
Fitness Moves