Nutritional demands of the body is one of the most commonly misunderstood processes when trying to change body composition. Everyone throws around this magical word: Metabolism (or Metabolic Functioning). Who can tell me what metabolism is? No one? Some seem to think it’s this magical little thing that floats around in our body and is either “fast” and chews up fat and swells up our muscles, or is “slow” and balloons our body and makes us gain weight.
The thing about the human body is that it only does what we tell it to do. Imagine that food is a text message from your boss at a fancy chemical factory. You receive the text that you’re to mix up these chemicals to create something, so you do it. Well, if you put the wrong chemicals in, your boss gets upset because you’ve created one thing even though you meant to create something totally different. This is kind of how metabolism works in terms of flexible dieting and tracking macronutrients.
Metabolism is an all-encompassing term for the chemical reactions that collectively occur in the body. It is the all energy producing and using processes that occur within the body due to food. It is the process that allows our body to “adapt or die”. Different food sends different “text messages” to our body to use this energy for different purposes through three metabolic pathways to create adenosine triphosphate(ATP), or ENERGY!
Metabolic Pathway #1: ATP-PCr System
-Anaerobic Metabolism
-Maintain energy(ATP) levels early in exercise
-Limited capacity/only lasts a few seconds
Metabolic Pathway #2: Glycolytic System
-Anaerobic Metabolism
-Process of turning the carbohydrate glucose(sugar) into pyruvate to create ATP(ENERGY!)
Metabolic Pathway #3: Oxidative System
-Aerobic Metabolism
-Primary energy system used at rest or during long-duration, low intensity activity
-Can use carbohydrates, but primarily fat
The food we put into our body allows for metabolic functioning to supply us with enough energy to go about our day, to create an energy surplus or energy deficit. This determines if we have enough energy to help build/maintain muscle and exhale fat(yes, exhale. However, this is a topic for another time), or if our body needs the energy to just survive day-to-day tasks.
What text messages are you sending your body? Are you building and adapting or are you in a constant state of just survival?