The question has come after last week’s story about eating more food. How does that work? Why is it true? It is the exact opposite of what most of us believe. We all have a basal metabolic rate. In simple terms you have an amount of calories you need to eat every day to maintain the lean muscle mass your body has. If you don’t have much lean muscle mass you don’t need many calories. If you are a 300 pound body builder you need a lot more food every day just to fuel the muscles on your body.

If you want a scientific discussion you can go here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate

There are formulas and everything to satisfy your yearning for science. The bottom line is this: before you do anything in your day you need a certain number of calories to support your current lean muscle mass. It is just like a business…before I turn the lock in the door I need a certain dollar amount every day to cover the rent and lights and fixed expenses. This is my base metabolic rate.
If you want to calculate your BMR you can go here:

https://www.healthstatus.com/perl/calculator.cgi

I did it two ways…one with my gross weight and it gave me about 3100 calories a day. The other way I put in my lean muscle mass and it gave me 2800 calories a day. SO before I do any work I need that many calories just to keep my muscle on. When I work out and start moving I will burn more calories. If I want to get stronger and build muscle my body needs more fuel to build that strength. I need the fuel REAL FOOD gives me…the macro nutrients as well as the micro nutrients…the fiber, the act of digestion…I need it all.

For too long we have been seduced by the calorie in – calorie out argument. You can live on 1000 calories a day. You won’t be healthy. You will compromise our immune system. You will lose weight. Unfortunately your body will conserve fat (a very rich source of fuel that doesn’t have any caloric needs) and will burn muscle to fuel the deficit in calories. So you will keep the fat and lose the muscle. It takes more calories to feed muscle than fat. You will become the dreaded Skinny-Fat person. You see them all the time…especially in fashion magazines. They are both men and women.

You need fuel to feed a strong sexy body. EAT MORE REAL FOOD. Run your basal metabolic rate. Let’s get a scan and figure out how much you need to eat and then we will strip the fat off and leave a body ready to kick some a** and take names!

Call me!

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com