Ryan Singerman, DO, PPG – Weight Management & Bariatric Surgery, explains why shifting your fitness mindset could lead to wins on the scale.
One of the most commonly misunderstood topics regarding healthy body weight is metabolism. Unfortunately, even medical providers can get it wrong. We have this idea that somebody who has a healthy body weight has a fast metabolism, while somebody who has an unhealthy body weight has a slow metabolism.
I think many of us know someone, like my cousin, who is maybe 160 pounds, soaking wet, and can eat 7,000 calories a day and won’t gain weight. And then you've got those who seem to eat a piece of salad and then gain 20 or 30 pounds. What's going on there?
Metabolism, simply put, is the number of calories needed to maintain your current body weight. That's it. Nothing magical. It's just about the calories needed to maintain your body weight. And that takes into account what your activity level is and what your body is burning. And then that net effect is your body weight.
If you take somebody who's 5'11 and 190 pounds and another person who’s 5'11 and 290 pounds, in a cultural sense, we would say the person who's 190 pounds has a faster metabolism than the person who is 290 pounds. Based on the definition of metabolism, a person who is 290 pounds actually has a higher metabolism because they have a much higher calorie requirement than a person who is 190 pounds, which is completely backward to the way that we understand the human condition.
The key thing to understand is that there isn't really a fast or a slow metabolism. Your metabolism is just how your body handles calories. Our goal is to work with you to help figure out how to get your metabolism to a healthier place and improve calorie input and calorie burning.
You can see Dr. Singerman unpack more weight loss myths here.
To learn more about the resources available to you at PPG - Weight Management & Bariatric Surgery, including free seminars, call 260-425-6390 or fill out this form and one of our care team members will contact you with more information.
