This month’s (April, 1998) Redbook magazine has an article on metabolism, and how to “jump start” those that seem sluggish and are causing weight gain. I found the article interesting. Some comments from it.
“What slows metabolism? An underactive thyroid gland can be the cause, as can extreme deprivation diets, thanks to the body’s tendency to conserve calories as a defense mechanism against starvation. But age is probably the biggest culprit, with our metabolisms slowing an average of 5% in our thirties, and another 5% in our forties, AS MUSCLE MASS DECREASES (my caps).”
Since hyperthyroidism tends to waste away muscle mass, Graves’ patients probably need to pay particular attention to that part of the information. A pound of muscle burns about 35 calories a day, while a pound of fat only burns about TWO calories. We need to work to regain our muscle mass. The exercise recommendations in the article were for frequent aerobic workouts (walking, jogging, biking, swimming, etc.) during each week, along with weight training (20-30 minutes each session) to rebuild muscle mass.
The basic information in this article, for trying to figure out unwanted weight gain, seemed to involve two basic concepts. The first is the muscle mass one. But the second one, strangely enough, was eating too little, causing the body to reserve additional fat stores in anticipation of starvation. The article mentioned this two or three times. How our bodies do this is a mystery to me. But I have read about this phenomenon before.
Bobbi
