Learn your rate to lose weight

• By KAREN MARTIN
• Advocate assistant People editor
• Published: Oct 28, 2009 - Page: 1D

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Remember when to lose five pounds you just cut back on snacks for a few days, and, like magic, they disappeared?

If you’re older than 40, you can pretty much kiss those days goodbye.

It’s not so much the food that’s causing the problem, it’s your metabolism, which is your body’s ability to convert food into energy, exercise physiologist Dawn Braud told a class on “Women, Metabolism and Weight Loss.”

“Our metabolism decreases as we age,” said Braud, manager of the Fitness Club at the Woman’s Center for Wellness, where the session was held. “About every 10 years, we lose 4 to 5 pounds of muscle. Muscle burns more calories, so when we lose it, we lose our ability to burn those calories.”

Between your mid-20s and mid-50s, your metabolism can slow so much that you’re burning 200 fewer calories each day. Do the math. It doesn’t take long for the pounds to appear and stick.

Braud advised getting tested to find out your resting metabolic rate, which is the amount of calories your body burns at rest.

“Then you know what you’re dealing with. If your RMR (resting metabolic rate) shows your body burns 1,200 calories to maintain itself and you’re eating 2,000 calories, that’s extra calories right there that are being stored as fat because your body doesn’t need them,” Braud explained.

A RMR test can cost about $150 and is not usually covered by insurance, she said.

And, Braud added, cutting calories is not the single answer to your weight loss woes.

Metabolism, she said, is a complex issue, and there are no one-size-fits-all answers.

Reducing your food intake could, in fact, create more problems, Braud warned.

“If we decrease the amount of fuel we take in, the metabolism slows down,” she said. “If you skip breakfast, your metabolism is going to be way down. When you eat, your body is going to take those calories and store them.”

  So, she advised, don’t skip meals.