When we realize that we need to lose weight, we will find some relevant ways to lose weight more or less. Of course, we also need to filter out some bad information from these methods and find some reasonable methods to try.
We know that to achieve good results, you need to control diet to limit daily caloric intake, or increase caloric expenditure through exercise, or both. If you have the choice, combining diet with exercise can be healthier and more effective.
However, in the process, we will also learn a key factor, and that is the basal metabolic rate. Whether you control your diet or keep exercising, you should try to keep your metabolism stable, because the basal metabolic rate is relatively high. That is to say, consuming more calories every day can help us lose weight and maintain better in the long run.

However, from the perspective of total daily calorie consumption, in addition to basal metabolism, it also includes two aspects: exercise consumption and the thermic effect of food. Among them, the thermic effect of food can be ignored, because as long as we eat it regularly, it will be accompanied by the thermic effect of food.
Even if the thermic effect of food is improved through the dietary structure, it will not have a great impact on the overall calorie consumption, because the consumption of the thermic effect of food only accounts for about 15% of the overall caloric consumption, even if there are fluctuations, it will not be too much. big.
Exercise expenditure is different because exercise expenditure is entirely up to us, that is, as long as we exercise meaningfully, exercise expenditure increases. Under normal circumstances, exercise consumption will account for about 30% of the total calorie consumption, and this proportion will also increase through the way we actively exercise.
Therefore, from the perspective of overall calorie consumption, we need to pay attention to two aspects, one is the basal metabolic rate, and the other is exercise consumption.

So, which is more important, basal metabolism and exercise consumption?
1. Basal metabolic rate
We know that from the perspective of calorie consumption, the calorie consumption generated by basal metabolism accounts for about 65-75% of the total calorie consumption. Therefore, a high basal metabolic rate means more daily calorie consumption, and vice versa means less daily consumption. Therefore, we have been emphasizing maintaining a relatively stable basal metabolic rate during the weight loss process. Methods to maintain metabolic stability include the following aspects.
The calorie gap should not be too large. When we control our diet and cooperate with exercise to achieve the calorie gap, the gap is generally around 500 kcal, or between 300-500 kcal. Basal metabolic rate is severely impaired.
Stick to strength training and maintain a certain amount of muscle mass. Muscle loss is one of the reasons for the decline in basal metabolic rate, and muscle loss is related to age and lack of exercise. In middle age, the rate of muscle loss accelerates. Therefore, the basal metabolism will also decline, so middle-aged friends will face the problem of gaining weight and becoming fat. At this time, in order to effectively solve the problem, in addition to controlling the diet, insisting on strength training plays an important role.

Ensure enough sleep. Sleep quality will affect the stability of various growth hormone secretion and metabolism. If you don't get enough sleep for 6 consecutive days, your basal metabolic rate will drop, so from a metabolic point of view, sleep also plays an important role.
However, when we are in the process of losing weight, we can better control our diet and maintain good living habits, our basal metabolic rate is relatively stable, for example, within 20 years, our basal metabolic rate will not be 5-10 % from normal.
Therefore, for weight loss, the increase of basal metabolic rate can indeed increase daily consumption, but in the short term, for friends who want to lose weight faster, it is purely from the perspective of basal metabolic rate. See, the process is slower. However, one thing we need to know is that a high basal metabolic rate will allow us to maintain our weight better, so increasing the basal metabolic rate will be more effective in the long run.

2. Exercise consumption
As mentioned above, even if we increase the basal metabolic rate to help ourselves achieve weight loss and fat loss, the process is relatively slow, but in the process of losing weight, although we do not pursue fast methods, the speed should not be too slow So at this time, simply relying on improving basal metabolism will not work.
Therefore, in a short period of time, it is more direct to choose exercise methods to increase calorie consumption. Because the amount of exercise consumed is entirely up to you, and it's the immediate kind. As long as there is exercise, there will be consumption.
In addition, for middle-aged people, in addition to the decline in metabolism, the most important reason for middle-aged people to gain weight and gain weight is the reduction of physical activity. Because middle-aged people are in a busy era, we are not only busy with work, but also at home. We will try to compress exercise time, or even exercise very little, resulting in much less exercise consumption than when we were young, which may be the daily calorie consumption. main reason for the decrease.
Therefore, in terms of short-term effects, the effect of exercise is faster and more direct than increasing the basal metabolic rate.