Whether you’re going for a bike ride or reading quietly in an armchair, you need energy for all your daily activities. The minimum amount of energy your body needs at rest, that is, when you are not doing anything at all, is called basal metabolism. “It’s the energy needed to maintain the body’s physiological functions at rest,” says Sina Peters , WW graduate ecotrophologist. The basic metabolism, generally indicated in calories per day, allows the maintenance of all the vital functions of the heart, the lungs, the digestive system, etc.
As a general rule, the basal metabolism represents the major part of our energy expenditure. Accurately measuring individual basal metabolic rate is quite difficult. This generally requires spending the night in a laboratory observing strict conditions: the measurement is carried out early in the morning, after a good night’s sleep and 12 hours of fasting. The internal heat production is then determined by means of an analysis of the respiratory gases (method known as indirect calorimetry), then the minimum quantity of calories needed per day is calculated from these results.
You may have heard of a similar metric, “ resting metabolism ,” also known as resting energy expenditure. In clinical practice, resting metabolism is determined like basal metabolic rate, but under less restrictive conditions. The resting metabolism is generally slightly higher than the basal metabolism, because the measurement also takes into account the heat released, for example, by the digestion of the breakfast taken on the day of the measurement. For metabolism specialists, basal metabolism is more important than resting metabolism.
If you’ve ever Googled the term “metabolism”, you may have found formulas or tools to quickly calculate your basal or resting metabolic rate based on factors such as age, weight , height. and sex. If these calculators are very practical for assessing your basic caloric needs, it should be noted that they provide very disparate results and that they do not necessarily agree with the results of a laboratory check.
How do foods and diet influence metabolism?
You may have heard that certain foods like coffee , chili peppers, or green tea can boost your metabolism. Studies have indeed been conducted to find out if these foods can speed up the metabolism, but according to the United States National Library of Medicine , there is no evidence that they have a noticeable influence on the rate of calorie burning.
Some studies suggest that a high-protein diet may slightly boost metabolism, as their thermic effect during digestion is greater than that of carbohydrates and fats. According to a calculation presented in a research report published in 2002, a person who ingests 2,000 calories a day, 30% of which is protein, would burn 23 more calories per day , or the equivalent of a walk of a few minutes, than a person with a caloric intake comprising 15% protein. A 2020 studypublished in the Journal of Nutrition came to the conclusion that a diet composed of 30% protein could help stabilize weight after weight loss, in particular because of the increase in resting metabolism.
Does sport have an influence on the metabolism?
Regular physical activity, including strength training, can increase daily energy expenditure beyond the amount of calories burned during the activity itself. This is due in particular to the development of muscle mass. “More muscle mass can boost the metabolism and thus allow faster burning of calories,” says Miriam Rohmann. But that doesn’t mean you have to lift iron every day. Several studies have shown that people who exercise regularly burn more calories in any activity, whether swimming, running or tennis, than those who move little.