Knowing Your S.T.A.T.S.

by Braxton Cosby

Welcome back to this month’s health and wellness article.

I’m following up on the discussion I started last month with knowing your S.T.A.T.S. Recall that this acronym represented the various levels or areas of one’s overall fitness: S- sex, T- total cholesterol count, A- activity level, T- training regime, and S- spiritual alignment. 

Last month I covered S and T. So now, we are moving on to A: Your Activity Level. How important is your energy or activity level as pertaining to wellness, or more specifically, fitness? More significant than you know! I’ll tell you why. It all has to do with a process called homeostasis. Defined it’s the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties like temperature or ph. As pertaining to human beings, the body manages a multitude of highly complex interactions on a daily basis in order to maintain balance or to return systems to functioning within a normal range (ex. heart and respiratory rate). These interactions within the body facilitate compensatory changes supportive of physical and psychological functioning, which is essential to the survival of the individual or species. Failure to do so, causes shut down, mutation or even sudden death; neither of which is an attractive option. How does the body do it? Through the process of Metabolism. I know, I know. Everybody hates that word because it infers that the average 300 pound person that has a lineage of over-weight or obesity running in the family doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in you know where to lose as much weight as the average 150 pounder. Well, sit back and read as I break it down a little for you and shed some light on this otherwise, dark truth.

Webster has two definitions:

a: the sum of the processes in the buildup and destruction of protoplasm; specifically: the chemical changes in living cells by which energy is provided for vital processes and activities and new material is assimilated

b: the sum of the processes by which a particular substance is handled in the living body

In other words, the sum total of the chemical reactions that goes on in living cells which allows for reactions by which the body obtains and spends the energy from food – energy metabolism. At least two-thirds of the energy the average person spends in a day supports the body’s metabolic activity. Therefore, it’s just a measure of how well our bodies complete chemical reactions to release energy for use or storage (when too much energy is available and not needed). The last part is the problem. Did you know that fat is nothing more than stored energy? Your body is smart people. It stores away what it does not need right now.

So this is great news, right? You no longer have to be intimidated by Metabolism. Still confused? Let’s look at Metabolism just a little bit closer. During digestion, the body breaks down three energy yielding nutrients- carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins – into four units that can be absorbed into the blood. These are: glucose, glycerol, fatty acids and amino acids. All of these nutrients are used to build muscle, repair injured cells, build new cells and etc, etc. In other words, YOU NEED THEM, but just not as much as you take in daily. Metabolism is measured by your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) – the rate of energy use for metabolism under basal (normal) conditions. Factors that affect BMR are: age, height, growth, body composition, hormones, caffeine, sleep, stresses, and environmental temperature. Some of these things you just can’t change. But, BMR can be manipulated by the A-activity level as pertaining to energy output. Activity causes and expenditure of energy, which forces the body to use more nutrients to fuel functions such as movement, delivery of oxygen via the heart and lungs and disposal of wastes. The amount of energy needed is dependent on three things: muscle mass, body weight, and the activity. Take home tip: the larger the muscle mass required and the heavier the weight of the body part to be moved, the more energy is spent. So, the 300 pound person from earlier can expend more energy per workout than the 150 pound person. What needs to be done in order to achieve this is to select the right exercise prescription based on the goals for each individual. Performing exercises that use more muscle groups simultaneously will produce greater energy expenditures, thus speeding up the body’s need to produce more muscle mass, which in turn produces more energy. And the cycle goes on and on over time. Running, skiing, and even playing basketball expend more energy than aerobics and walking.

How does one improve their overall fitness? Cut down on the amount of energy intake (that’s food folks- especially fat) and start building more muscle as quickly as you can. Once you build lean muscle mass, then increase your activity-level with more multi-joint activities, and your energy expenditure levels and rate (BMR) will have no choice but to sky-rocket beyond their normal rates. I’m not saying you’ll be able to slide back into your high-school jeans again, but at least you’ll be well on your way to be a better you than you are now. Take care until next time.

Connect with Braxton at http://www.braxtonacosbygodson.com

OM Times Magazine » syndicated