Thermogenesis is the process involved when your body burns off calories consumed. The amount it burns will vary depending on the macronutrient consumed as well as the quality of the food source itself.
For example;
Protein: 20-35% of calories burned through processing
Carbohydrates: 5-15% of calories burned through processing
Fats: 0-5% of calories burned through processing
What does this mean to us?
The thermogenic effect of food will determine how many of the calories we are consuming are being burned, and what types of foods are best suited to our energy demands, training intensity, body types, and the lifestyle we live.
With different macro-nutrients burning different amounts, the percentage of total calories burned for the day will vary person to person depending on the foods they consume.
If someone has a higher carbohydrate diet, then they will be burning less calories through digestion than someone who has a higher protein intake.
Even with this in mind, it is still vital that we consume a healthy balance of all the macro-nutrients to ensure the right amounts are being delivered to support muscle growth, and to promote an overall healthy body.
How many calories do I burn?
This number will vary from person to person, but if you look at someone who consumes roughly 2500 calories per day and 40% of them are protein, that means they are consuming 1000 calories from protein.
Therefore, they will burn between 200-350 calories per day. If the person is consuming roughly 800 calories from carbohydrates, this means that their body will burn off roughly 40-120 calories per day of carbs.
And if their diet contains 700 calories of fat per day, they will burn between 0-35 calories by consuming this amount of fats.
In saying this, just because we burn a higher amount of calories from eating protein, it doesn’t mean we should be avoiding fats altogether, because remember, there is also fat present in most protein based foods anyway.
To ensure you still burn an adequate amount of calories during daily function, at the same time as maintaining a strong, healthy and lean body, it is vital to choose high quality protein sources, as well as complex carbs and healthy fats to support immune system and also fuel and support our most important organs.
What supports the metabolism?
There is also other additional factors you can use to increase your body’s natural ability to process food better and faster as well as more effectively burn calories. These include;
- exercise
- spices and stimulants - eg. Cinnamon, coffee (ideally cold dripped), and chilli
Include these into your diet and make an overall improvement to your health this year!
In conclusion;
- don’t get caught up on trying to limit food sources
- eat more protein, and balance that out with good amounts of carbs and fats
- track what you eat
- train hard to enhance your lean muscle mass, and fat burning capability
- de-stress your life by taking time out to do the things you love to prevent a build up of adrenal stress leading to chronic fatigue and an inefficient fat burning machine!
Enjoy!