Copyright Modius

A headset device called Modius is making waves in the world of tech and weight loss, not to mention in the brains of the people using it!

By stimulating a certain part of the brain, Modius can apparently initiate an increased rate of fat burning, elevate metabolic hormone activity and suppress appetite.

Human trials have shown that it can significantly reduce body fat over a period of a few months when used for an hour per day.

The headset in fact cannot be used for more than an hour a day, and has an automatic shut-off function that ensures the user cannot do more.

It’s a wonderful concept, and we are very interested to see how it develops, especially if more manufacturers get involved and drive the current price tag of $500+ down.

One can’t help but wonder if weight loss induced by tricking the brain with signals from a headset is the best way to go about it. But then, isn’t a fat burning supplement just a way to trick the brain? And perhaps, in the end, the result is the only thing that matters, especially if it can help reduce some of the inevitable casualties of the war with obesity.

How Does the Modius Device Work?

The Modius device is a headset which stimulates the hypothalamus in the brain, specifically via the vestibular nerve.

The signal it sends to the hypothalamus is apparently interpreted in the same way as increased physical activity, which in turn switches the process of fat-burning to a higher rate.

According to the scientists that designed it, Modius can also suppress appetite and activate metabolic hormones.

Modius can only be used for an hour a day, and has a failsafe shut-down function built in to prevent the user from leaving it on, either intentionally or accidentally, past the allotted time.

Neuroscientists at the University of California invented Modius and have tested it on users for 3 hours per week for 16 weeks with an average body fat loss of 8 per cent. The studies were undertaken with no change to the users’ diet and exercise plan.

Neurovalens, a tech company with offices in California and Belfast launched the project with a couple million dollars in funding.

Benefits of Modius

If you read about Modius in the media, for example this article in the Daily Mail, then you’ll feel the hype about this headset coming off the screen (or paper), because anything that can help people lose weight is a story that sells papers.

In this case, the researchers appear to have done their homework before getting the tech community and the media excited about it. They have actual research studies with subjects losing an average of 8 per cent body fat over a 16 week period with an average of 3 hours headset time per week.
According to the scientists who created Modius, the headset exerts the following effects:

1. Increase in Fat Burning
2. Reduction of Appetite / Cravings
3. Increased Metabolic Hormone activity

A solid message that appears to be coming from both the creators of Modius and the guys who are vocal about having tested it is that there is a psychological benefit as well.

The guy in the Daily Mail article is a good example – it’s motivated him to get a better grip on his diet and do more exercise. It may have provided him with more energy for the daily grind as well.

That makes sense given that fat metabolism provides a lot of energy, aerobic energy, potential. Mobilizing fat is the best way to increase our general energy levels, and the best way to do that is to exercise.

Foreseeable Problems with Modius

The idea of effortless weight loss at the flick of a switch is extremely tempting but depending on who’s using it, it could also be unhealthy.

Eating disorders are the first thing that comes to mind, on both ends of the spectrum. Consider the obsessives, the anorexics, the “perfectionists”. It could become addictive; the single hour per day that Modius can be used would become the hour that some people base their lives around.

Jump to the other end of the scale and you might see people struggling with obesity using it as an excuse to eat more and more.

What of the programming that prevents overuse? There’s no reason to believe some clever soul isn’t going to circumvent that with some technical wizardry.

Looking further ahead, if we can induce autonomous metabolic processes by signalling the brain with a simple headset, who’s to say what projects are in the early phases of research and development. Good things and bad things to come, they’re almost guaranteed.

Finally (we’ll leave it there because we could go on and on), there is the possibility that some people will see Modius as their excuse for not exercising. There are just too many benefits to physical activity; a major one being the construction of stronger, denser muscle tissue. For now at least, the best way to do that is by using them.

Purchasing the Modius Headset

Different sources say the Modius headset will cost around $500 USD or more (about £370 GBP), and you’re unlikely to see that price come down anytime soon, especially while the project loan itself is still being paid back to investors.

Modius is now being shipped to countries in the EU, the US, Australia, and New Zealand, and can be purchased from the company’s official website.

We’re also going to hang around a bit to see some more feedback from customers and not people affiliated to the company making Modius, or even the trial subjects who obviously take part in studies funded by the researchers.

The current way to lose fat effectively is by:

1. a Calorie Controlled diet
2. Exercise
3. Fat Burner, Appetite Suppressant or other Diet Pill Supplement

You alone have to accomplish the first two, but we can help you with the third option there: a supplement recommendation.

Supplements are what we do, and while most of them are about as useful as a chocolate frying pan, there are some gems in the rough.

We’ve compiled a little summary of the fat loss supplements that can help you burn an additional 300 plus calories a day, help your mood and boost your energy – all of which can make a massive difference when you’re trying to lose weight.

Follow the link below to check them out.

Click here to see the best diet supplements available

The same can be said for dietary supplements, so called superfoods and whatever macronutrient is being focused on at any point.

If you want to lose weight, sometimes it’s best just to start doing something, rather than spending time trying to decide which thing to do.

Here’s our take on a few simple examples of dieting, food and supplements.

Brooke Hogan’s Diet

She was Australia’s Next Top Model, and is now one of the most popular faces in the modelling world, not to mention being the ambassador for the Colour Run, and releasing her own clothing line.

She eats like she wants to keep that perfect body as well. But if you read her social media posts, you’ll see that it’s not all rabbit food and air that cuts a shape like that. Her diet has real substance…

…from the muesli with almond milk, yoghurt, bananas and berries for breakfast, to the portions of chicken, lean meats and fish for lunch and dinner. Veggies and more veggies seems to be the side order of the day for Brooke too.

Stick to leafy greens and coloured vegetables for the most part, she says. Not all diets have to be strict portions of this and that but it’s a good idea to get your protein portions to be consistently about the size of a lean chicken breast, or the palm of your hand.

Diets shouldn’t have specific exclusions, like “zero carbs” because it’s impossible, but it’s clear from Brooke Hogan’s approach that the starchy, heavy carbs like pasta and potatoes are kept to a minimum.

Let’s not forget she works out like a demon and gets plenty of solid rest as well. Our only gripe with Brooke is that she takes Swisse supplements [https://www.youbutskinny.com/swisse-weight-control-australia-uk], which we are not that fond of.

Smoothies – For Nutrient Density

Liquids could never replace solid foods in a diet, but if you’re seriously committed to losing weight, they can make a great meal replacement or a healthy snack.

Depending on what you put in them, they can contain a good portion of protein, and all the smashed up fruits and vegetables you could need.

Hunger is often attributed to lack of nutrients, which is one of the great things about blenders. The more powerful ones can destroy fruits and vegetables so absolutely, down to the cellular level, that some nutrients like chlorophyl are released. That’s something chewing does much less efficiently.

By getting this nutrient dense liquid into your body, you can avoid consuming many of the additional calories that might come with a full meal, while hitting your health points for the day in one swoop.

Supplement to Burn a Few Hundred Extra Calories

Dietary supplements – fat burners, diet pills, appetite suppressors – should not be thought of as the solution to weight problems. The name supplement even tells you they are additional by definition.

So on top of your dieting, and your exercising, you can tip the scales in your favour with a good diet pill.

PhenQ is a great example of a popular all-round diet pill, which helps keep the hunger down and burns extra fat at the same time. It even contains compounds which block some fat from being stored.

Women and men all over the world are using this clinically designed weight management supplement to help themselves lose those inches of the waist.

Available to be shipped nearly everywhere on the planet, including Australia, Canada, USA, UK, and Europe, it is often available at discounted prices.

Click here to read the complete review of PhenQ

Product:

CLICK here to see the most recommended weight loss products

Summary

BikiniBOD is a company based in the US, which manufactures two capsule supplements:

1. BikiniBOD – The Ultimate Beauty Body Formula
2. Carb Control

The company also provides nutrition and exercise plans with purchases of the 60 capsule bottles and the BikiniBod + Carb Control packages.

This review will deal with the primary product: BIKINIBOD, and we will do a separate article on Carb Control.

BikiniBOD contains two formulas: the Thermo Blend and the Hair, Skin and Nails Blend.

Given the tagline to the product is “The Ultimate Beauty Body Formula”, it is in the very least part of a newish niche group of products which is targeted toward women specifically for a more all-round benefit on body aesthetics.

The ingredients in this product are good, and it’s an interesting approach to add some inclusions that are for the improvement of hair, nails and skin.

The whole daily dosage comes to about 1000mg of active ingredients. Unfortunately, not even the bottle label tells us much more detail than that.

Continue reading for the full BikiniBOD review.

BikiniBOD in Detail

The company say their BikiniBOD has been “exclusively designed to…”:

• Support Healthy Metabolism
• Suppress Appetite
• Assist Weight Management Goals

PLUS

• Provide Some of the Finest Beauty Enhancing Ingredients Available

A pill that can help women lose weight and AND enhance their beauty is quite an ambitious idea, and a great one…if it works.

Like all supplements, the ingredients and their inclusion dosages are the only two points that determine whether a product can do what the company says it can do, or not.

Ingredients of BikiniBOD

The maximum recommended daily dose is 2 capsules of BikiniBOD, which equates to 1001mg of the active ingredients.

The bottle label shows what is in one capsule, however individual ingredient amounts are not shown.

When proprietary blends are used like this, the order in which the ingredients are listed should reflect the order of biggest to smallest amounts; the first ingredient in the list being the largest inclusion in the formula, and the last being the smallest.

1 Capsule Contains:

• Biotin – 1000mcg

BikiniBOD Proprietary Blend – 500mg

Thermo Blend

• Caffeine Anhydrous
• Uva Ursi
• Bitter Orange Extract (50% Synephrine)
• L-Theanine
• Raspberry Ketones
• Yohimbe
• Garcinia Extract
• Toothed Clubmoss

Hair, Skin and Nails Blend

• Grape and Grape Seed Extract
• Blueberry Extract
• Raspberry and Raspberry Seed Extract
• Cranberry
• Prune
• Sour Cherry
• Bilberry Extract
• Strawberry
• Green Coffee Bean Extract
• Green Tea Extract

A couple of the Hair, Skin and Nail (HSN) blend ingredients are often found in fat burners – Green Coffee and Green Tea. They are probably in very small doses here though and therefore couldn’t be considered as part of the Thermo Blend.

Conversely, it could be said that Uva Ursi in the Thermo Blend would be more suited to the other one considering its use in topical skin creams, although its effect through oral ingestion would be negligible to none. Its other main use is to combat UTIs.

Synephrine, L-Theanine, Caffeine and Yohimbe are all known to aid in weight loss. Theanine does so in a secondary capacity by reducing the potential over-stimulation side effects of some of the other three which are stimulants.

Toothed Clubmoss is an interesting inclusion. Again it might be more appropriate in the NCS blend given its skin healing properties. Its often used for improving cognitive function due to its Huperzine-A bioactive. Not much of a fat burner.

It would appear some mood enhancers (L-Theanine, Clubmoss) have been added, possibly to boost the ‘feel-good’ factor of the formula.

Not a bad set of ingredients, but the lack of dosage data makes it difficult to properly assess.

As to the effect of the Hair, Skin and Nails blend, one can only guess at how much of these fruit extracts are present in a formula that weighs a single gram.

Biotin, for its part, will certainly work to improve hair and nail health and growth.

Side Effects

Yohimbe is the main ingredient to watch out for here, especially if you are a young adult as it has been found to cause anxiety ion this age group.

It may also interact with anti-anxiety medication and anti-depressants. Simply put, many countries do not allow yohimbe across the border because of these possible effects. To add to that, too much of it can cause problems such as overstimulation.

Given there are a few stimulants in this blend, it is probably wise to start with a half dose (which the max 2 capsule dose allows) if you are sensitive to stimulants.

If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, don’t bother even trying this product. And if you are on medication or have a medical condition it’s best to check with your doctor before you use BikiniBOD.

Is BikiniBOD Recommended?

All things considered, the ingredients they have used are not at all bad but the dosages might be complete bananas.

This probably is not the case, but it would be wise to exercise caution and go with a half dose, which even the company themselves recommend to be fair.

Do we recommend BikiniBOD? Not when there are better products for the job. And by that we mean there are better fat burners and weight loss supplements and better ways to go about improving your hair, skin and nails.

No doubt you can find a Biotin supplement for very little cash, and a good Vitamin D3 softgel supplement will take care of much of the rest.

Eating fruit and fibre and a generally healthy diet is mandatory if you want a nice complexion, and most of your hair issues can be solved with a non-silicon shampoo and deep conditioner.

Follow the link below to see the best fat loss products.

CLICK HERE to view the TOP Fat Burners and Diet Pills

Product: Skinny Coffee Club

CLICK here to see the most recommended weight loss products

Skinny Coffee Club Summary

Skinny Coffee Club is an online store which offers a blend of coffee and other ingredients to be used as a weight loss beverage, marketed toward women.

The bags of the coffee based formula come in various packages, depending on how much you want your program to last, from 28 days to 12 weeks.

There is a Day/Original blend and a Night Edition, which contains decaffeinated coffee and healthy antioxidants/superfoods.

The coffee is easier to drink than green tea but not nearly has nice as a real coffee.

Weight loss results from Skinny Coffee are mild but there is a health factor to the drink and it does indeed improve the look of your skin after a few weeks of using it.

Overall though, a bit disappointing as a fat burner.

Use the link below to see the products we highly recommend for losing fat effectively.

CLICK HERE to read about the Best Weight Loss Products

Continue reading for the rest of the review.

Skinny Coffee Club Full Review

The company promotes itself first and foremost as a weight loss aid, with added benefits. The promised benefits are as follows:

• Increased Weight Loss*
• Fast Visible Results
• Works Without Exercise**
• Improves Complexion
• Boosts Energy Levels
• Tastes Good and Works Quickly

* This, they say is clinically proven – likely due to the extensive research into caffeine, which is indeed a proven fat burner. Garcinia, Green Coffee and Green Tea also have their fair share of research. However, the dose of caffeine itself is quite low in Skinny Coffee, and the others cannot be very strong otherwise this drink would taste foul. The point being: “clinically proven” and “significantly effective” are two different things.

** All weight loss supplements and drinks should work without exercise. That is the point of chemically induced thermogenesis versus exercise induced thermogenesis. Diet and Exercise, however, are vastly more important than weight loss supplements. We think this flippant “Works Without Exercise” idea encourages women to lose weight without working out, which is clearly not what in their best interests.

Aside from our above reservations about the wording, we are happy to give the Skinny Coffee Club a fair shot.

The key to any weight loss product is the ingredients, so we’ll have a look at those next.

Ingredients of Skinny Coffee

As mentioned, there is a Day (Original) blend and a Night Edition.

The Day / Original ingredients are:

1. Ground Coffee
2. Ground Green Coffee Bean extract
3. Green Tea extract
4. Garcinia Cambogia
5. Siberian Ginseng
6. Spirulina

The Night Edition ingredients are:

1. Decaffeinated Coffee
2. Fennel
3. Spirulina
4. Chlorella

Coffee contains caffeine which is one of the more common fat burners in supplements. Here it is included at 63mg per serving, which is mild even for an average cup of coffee.

Green Coffee beans contain chlorogenic acid – a compound which is reported to be able to block some carbs/sugars from being absorbed, thus preventing some being converted to fat. It is also an antioxidant and can reduce blood pressure.

Green Tea is another well established thermogenic fat burner and antioxidant. Concentrated amounts from 300 to 500mg are usually required to do anything. At the cup-of-green-tea level, it won’t do much to your waistline.

Garcinia contains hydroxycitric acid (HCA) which may reduce hunger through the serotonin pathway. There may also be appetite suppressing mechanisms which are not fully understood as yet. Optimal dosage has not yet been established, though many standalone HCA supplements contain 1500mg per day dose.

Siberian Ginseng is an adaptogen which are fairly mysterious compounds that are able to reduce the effect of chemical and physical stress. Adaptogens are great for mood. There is research showing its ability to increase fat oxidation as well.

Spirulina is a protein rich blue-green algae that has been given the non-technical designation of ‘superfood’ by the health and nutrition community. Spirulina improves lipid and glucose metabolism and can reduce liver fat while protecting the heart.

Fennel is often used to improve flavour (a good thing in the case of Skinny Coffee) and can have some slightly medicinal qualities like anti-inflammation, anti-oxidant and analgesic effects.

Chlorella is a fresh water algae and one of the few that contain bioactive B12 and can be used by vegans to make sure they are getting enough of the precious B vitamin.

Skinny Coffee Club Side Effects

There should be no negative side effects of any great impact, although people would be wise to check with their doctor if they are taking medication as to whether they should be using the ingredients in Skinny Coffee Club’s products.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women should also avoid Skinny Coffee and only take supplements which have been recommended by the doctor monitoring them.

Other medical conditions are subject to doctors’ discretion also.

Is Skinny Coffee Club Recommended?

Skinny Coffee Club’s product might be a good addition to your diet and exercise routine, but don’t expect it to burn lots of fat off just by itself.

For a similar price, there are more powerful options that we can recommend (follow the link below).

For what it’s worth, there are some excellent ingredients in Skinny Coffee, and they are definitely complexion friendly as well as combatting all sorts of nasty carcinogens and oxidants in our bodies.

If they’d marketed it more as a health coffee then we’d be more inclined to say that it does indeed do what they claim it does. However, the word ‘Skinny’ is in the name, and that’s what it’s being judged on.

CLICK HERE for the the Top Weight Loss Supplements and Fat Burners

In the context of diet and nutritional health, the latest supervillain is carbohydrates.

Some people have even gone as far as adopting the ludicrously coined “carb free diet”. A thing which is impossible to achieve and dangerous to try.

Fruit and many vegetables are carbohydrates. Do these people avoid these vitamin and micro-nutrient dense foods!!??

Carbohydrates: both simple and complex are not the enemy. As with most things diet related, it’s more likely that selection and overconsumption is the problem.

Empty Carbs

Here’s a buzz phrase if ever there was one. What are little packets of nothing we are eating?

If we get right down to it, “empty carbs” are the crux of the problem. They can be classified by having all of the following traits:

• Tasty
• Moderate to High Calorie content
• Very Little Nutritional Value
• Very Little Satiety Value (feeling of fullness)

A good example of the extreme of empty carbs would be a can of soda / pop. Coke has virtually no nutritional value at all, yet a single can contains hundreds of calories.

They are otherwise called processed carbs, a blanket term which basically means carbohydrate-rich food that isn’t natural and comes in packets.

So, yes, “empty carbs” should be avoided because they add nothing but energy in the form of simple sugars, which if goes unused, must therefore be stored…as fat.

That brings us to Insulin, the sidekick of Carbohydrates, if the media hype is to be believed.

Insulin

Insulin is probably the new cholesterol, in terms of poorly understood vital hormones.

Humans need both Insulin and Cholesterol. So important are they, in fact, that we would not have evolved in to the intelligent beings we are without them.

And yet, both of them have been labelled as the bad guys.

Like cholesterol, insulin is a transporter, messenger hormone that works incredibly hard for us. We talked about storing sugar in the section above.

Insulin is released when we eat. It is responsible for storing glucose in our bodies. Amongst other things, it can store it in muscle tissue to be used as energy for activity. It can also store it in fat cells, meaning, the more it stores, the more fat cells are required.

Now, insulin sensitivity or resistance is the important part. Insulin resistance means it has lost its way and can no longer do much aside from shovelling the glucose into fat cells. That, or the levels of insulin itself are not regulated normally.

This can occur in diabetic people, and people who have essentially abused the system and over-eaten carbohydrates – mostly of the “empty” variety (see above).

High insulin sensitivity, on the other hand, is a good thing. it basically means insulin is released when it should be, in optimal amounts, and quickly assigns glucose to relevant body tissue.

It has been shown that a healthy diet and exercise can increase insulin sensitivity and even restore it from dangerously low levels.

The Real Problem

It’s hinted at above, but the actual problem is the person eating the carbs, not the food itself.

We can complain and cry all we want that carbohydrates make us put on weight, but the truth is a lot simpler than that.

Over-eating is causing weight gain, and it’s getting worse and worse in western culture. Sure, food companies play a role in that; making delicious food with next to no nutritional value whatsoever…but it’s up to us not to succumb to our junk cravings.

That doesn’t mean all carbs should be cut by any means.

In fact, if weight loss is your primary concern, the most important thing to remember is that you need to consume less calories than you spend in energy each day.

Read our article about boosting your protein intake in order to help you lose more weight.

CLICK here to read how more protein can help you lose weight

Sometimes, however, the opposite is true. In the case of protein consumption during dieting, it might be that more is less.

One of the major downsides of dieting is the loss of lean mass, particularly muscle mass, along with the targeted fat loss.

Up to one third of the weight you lose during a diet can be lean mass. Retention of muscle is extremely important, and its reduction is one of the reasons people can not maintain a diet, and become weak and possibly sick as a result.

Taking A Lesson from Athletes

Professional and elite athletes are good examples to pay attention to because they often need to lose some overall body mass while keeping as much muscle mass as possible.

Perhaps the best cases are boxers, competition fighters and any other sport which involves strict bodyweight categories.

After bulking up over a period of intense off-season training, they often have to lose weight quickly and accurately in order to qualify, at the same time as retaining as much of their hard-earned gains as possible.

Protein plays a huge role in this process.

Protein and Resistance Training

To lose weight, an overall calories deficit is necessary. This means, the energy (calories) you expend over the course of a day must be greater than the energy you consume in the form of food.

It is possible to lose weight simply by controlling how much is eaten. We do, after al, have Resting Metabolic Rates and energy expenditure no matter what.

However, to maximize benefits and stay healthy, it is recommended to retain muscle mass.

The combination of resistance training and extra protein consumption during a period of overall calorie deficit appears to greatly increase the retention of muscle mass.

How Much Protein?

There are no exact numbers known, and there may never be. Guidelines are all we can come up with, mostly because of the individualities between different people.

One very interesting study, however, found that 30 grams of protein following resistance training has better results than 15 grams in terms of muscle protein synthesis.

Other studies show that consuming twice the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) of protein over the course of the day has good results. The RDA is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. Therefore 1.6 grams per kilogram. In fact, one trial noticed even better results from 2 grams per kilogram bodyweight.

The most definitive study carried out by scientists involved 40 overweight males. They had a history in sports training, but only engaged in mild activity at the start of the study.

During the study, they underwent 6 days of intense exercise, including total body resistance training, interval training, cycling and plyometrics. They also walked at least 10,000 steps per day.

The group was split into two – one control group and one test group. Both had 40% less energy consumption per day. The important difference is that the control group consumed 1.2 grams per kg bodyweight within their overall intake, whereas the test group had twice that: 2.4 g/kg.

Similar decreases in weight were observed and similar performance gains were also observed. However, the + protein test group (2.4 g/kg) retained more muscle, meaning of course that they lost more fat compared to the control group.

The difference over this 4 week study was a loss of 4.8 kg of fat for the test group, compared with 3.5 kg fat loss in the control group.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The ultimate body improvement strategy is possible. You CAN lose weight while building muscle. The study summarized above, shows that clearly.

That’s the good news.

Real world application of the kind of intense training and calorie deficit would be more difficult. It requires the kind of absolute single-mindedness that elite professional athletes can manage for short terms.

To cut a long story short, without someone watching your every move, you could easily give in to the enormous food cravings and desire to rest more.

That’s the bad news.

The medium news is that a sort of compromise is possible. More exercise and more protein, within an overall calorie deficit diet will no doubt improve your body composition.

A 40% daily calorie, which was in that study, is massive. You can cut that in half and then some, and still lose weight and maintain muscle mass.

Further Reading

1. Is a Slow Metabolism Preventing Me from Losing Weight?
2. Is Breakfast Really The Most Important Meal of The Day?
3. Cold Exposure – The FREE Way to Lose Weight
4. Coffee and Caffeine – How to Really Get The Benefits Back

It’s not actually a thing. Not for the most part anyway.

Yes there are some exceptions to the rule, but most people – about 95% of people – are within 300 kcal of the average Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), which is what people really mean when they say “metabolism”.

So only about 5% of people have what you would call “fast” or “slow” metabolisms. And even then it only amounts to the equivalent of a couple cookies a day – not buckets of food, as you might think.

No, if someone has a higher than average RMR, there’s usually something they are doing to boost it. We’ll look at that later, but first let’s take a closer look at what metabolism really is.

Metabolism and Resting Metabolic Rate

The Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is pretty much what people are talking about when they say metabolism.

Your RMR is only one factor within the total amount of energy you expend in a day – which is what really matters when you consider Energy Out vs Energy In…and ultimately, whether you gain, maintain or lose weight.

Metabolism consists of all the metabolic (chemical) reactions and processes that happen in your body every day. Each one of them needs energy, which has been numerically standardized into units called calories.

RMR is therefore the energy used by these processes when not eating or exercising, which is most of the time. RMR can however be influenced by both of those things.

The majority of the energy expended as part of your RMR is by your vital organs and your muscle tissue.

Obesity and Metabolic Rate

Quite a popular misconception is that obese people have ‘slow’ metabolisms. In fact, the opposite is true.

Obesity puts a heavier tax on the body, from breathing, to pumping blood, to simply moving a heavier mass from A to B.

Therefore more energy is used up. The problem comes because obese people still eat more – sometimes due to overcompensation – than they can burn. Again, it’s a fairly simple energy-in vs energy-out equation.

Internal and External Temperature

Muscle mass and organ processes have the largest effect on your resting metabolic rate, but internal body temperature, as well as external environmental temperature probably have the next largest impact.

Cold exposure is now considered a viable means of raising one’s RMR. The reason being that it takes energy to keep our blood warm enough (37 celsius) to live.

If the external temperature is significantly lower than ideal body temperature, your body has to expend more energy to keep it warm.

Whether this can be taken advantage of to lose weight reliably is up to the individual and their determination. Click here for our article about dialling down the heat to lose more weight.

Effect of Food

Eating provides you with energy, no doubt about that, but there is a quite a lot needed to break it down, absorb and store the nutrients.

About one tenth of your daily energy expenditure can be attributed to this. It’s known as the thermic effect of food.

What’s more, protein has a lot more effect that fat and carbohydrates, which is the reason it is often explained in diets as the macronutrient to increase in comparison to the others.

Protein is also the most important for muscle growth and repair, making it even more invaluable for active dieters.

Exercise and Activity

Here’s the part where you can have the most effect on a portion of your Resting Metabolic Rate and overall energy expenditure.

Up to HALF of you total energy expenditure can be put down to activity. That would be your highly active people; those training daily – or most days – in both intense and aerobic conditioning.

Even sedentary people – those who don’t partake in much, or any, exercise – can clock up to 15% of the energy expenditure through activity. That’s because ‘activity’ in this sense can include spontaneous physical activity, like tapping you foot at your desk, chewing gum and the walking and stair climbing you do any given day.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you can see that metabolism cannot really be blamed for any obesity problems. It’s more likely a simple case of Energy Consumption outweighing Energy Expenditure.

Sure, there are people with above average Resting Metabolic Rates, but over 95% fit into a narrow bracket – within about 250 calories of each other per day.

The most control you can have over your own RMR is to exercise. Just 30 minutes of exercise each day can add another 25% ore more to your resting metabolic rate, which can in turn be the difference between gaining and losing weight.

Increasing your protein intake and adjusting levels of carbs accordingly, whilst engaging in an exercise schedule will enhance your efforts even further.

Obese people can take heart in the fact that they actually have a higher RMR going into their diet / exercise. Each step on the treadmill will use more energy.

Further Reading

1. Cold Exposure – The FREE Way to Lose Weight
2. Coffee and Caffeine – How to Really Get The Benefits Back
3. Is Breakfast Really The Most Important Meal of The Day?

On top of mental determination and some physical discomfort, the road to your target weight has all sorts of turns along the way.

Should I take these diet pills, or that diet shake? Which diet plan is better? Is higher protein, fat, or carbohydrate consumption better?

So when a completely free, and very simple way to lose fat is literally at your fingertips, you might not believe in it.

And yet, believe it you must.

Metabolism vs Cold Exposure

What happens when you put a warm-blooded creature like a human being in a cold environment?

There’s no joke there. Serious question. In the context of metabolism, many people would believe that things get slower the colder they get.

The truth is, we need to keep our blood at a stable temperature to stay alive, a warm temperature (about 37 deg C or 98.6 deg F).

So when the environment we are in is colder than the desired temperature for our blood, our body has to get to work in order to keep it warm.

That involved burning fuel. Fat is the best fuel we have. It packs 9 calories per gram, and it burns most effectively under oxygenated conditions, like when you breathe.

So, being in a cooler room can help you lose weight? Let’s hear more.

Regulating Body Temperature – Thermoregulation

Nearly half – HALF – of our energy intake (food) is applied to regulating body – or core – temperature. A few degrees either side of 37 and we are in real trouble.

When we are in a cooler environment, we often put layers of clothing on or turn up the heater. At least, these days we do. And it can lead to weight gain over time, because instead of burning fuel to heat up internally, our bodies slow metabolism down.

What’s more, colder temperatures at night favour deeper sleep. Turning up the heat in the bedroom might cause a more restless night AND prevent some free and easy weight loss.

Brown Adipose Tissue – BAT

This is the most exciting area of research in recent years, especially in the context of weight loss and fat burning.

Until 2009, scientists didn’t know adults even had any (Brown Adipose Tissue) BAT left.

BAT – also known as Brown Fat – is a type of fat which shares a few characteristics as muscle tissue, in fact it comes from the same stem cells.

Babies have a high proportion of BAT because they don’t have the ability to shiver.

Shivering warms us up as adults because of all the fuel it burns and thus heat it produces. Since babies can’t shiver, they have another method, called Non-Shivering Thermogenesis. That’s where a protein in BAT’s mitochondria produce heat instead of energy.

Adults don’t have as much brown fat as babies, but PET scans (the first in 2009) showed we still had some lingering around the shoulders and neck. It only lights up during exposure to cold.

Here’s the really interesting part: long periods of exposure to cold can even stimulate the growth of Brown Adipose Tissue.

So it has been shown that once we stop shivering and get used to the temperature, adults go into non-shivering thermogenesis.

How Cold Though?

Yes, that’s the question, isn’t it? … “cold exposure” could mean a lot of things, and most of them aren’t pleasant thoughts.

Luckily, the adjustment to make is more on the thermostat level than the ice bath level.

Research conducted so far suggests that 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.33 Celsius) is the cut-off temperature above which the difference is too small to notice.

One study showed that 6 hours per day at 60 deg F (15.56 celsius) can increase your BAT levels by 30%.

How Much Weight Loss is Expected?

Is it worth spending so much time in colder surroundings, in terms of fat loss? You can be the judge of that.

About 10 lbs can be lost per year by doing 6 hours a day.

The problem is that people have become used to living in warmer temperatures because technology allows us to control it.

Also, it seems spending time at or above core body temperature, following the cold exposure, negates some of the progress made!

Finally, people tend to eat more when they are cold. Therefore, resisting the urge to eat in compensation is necessary, otherwise any hard work done to increase BAT levels will be quickly reversed.

Conclusion and Recommendations

For us, the easiest way to get some cold exposure in is to sleep with the thermostat down to 65 F (or about 18.5 celsius).

It might sound drastic to some people, but once you get used to it, your sleep quality also improves.

Be careful though: if there is any reason you shouldn’t approach cold exposure then don’t. Some people are affected much more than others are by colder temperatures.

Older people should ask their doctor first. As should anyone with circulation problems or any other condition which might not be conducive to this strategy.

To wrap it up: if you can handle it, then lower the temperature at night, and save a bit of money on heating your place at the same time.

Further Reading

Follow any of the links below to read more interesting articles like this one:

1. Is Breakfast Really the Most Important Meal of the Day?
2. Coffee and Caffeine – How to Really Get The Benefits Back

So why do some people say ‘oh, caffeine has no effect on me.’ … OR… ‘I only need one cup of coffee and I’m climbing the walls.’

Different tolerances, different sensitivities, different coffee making techniques are responsible for the differing reactions to caffeine.

If you remember the first time you had a cup, you might recall feeling a little bit high with euphoria. A laser like focus and serious lack of fatigue may have followed.

Perhaps you felt nauseated and never touched the stuff again.

Tolerance is the coffee-lover’s worst enemy. The more you drink over time, the less of an effect it has, until your triple-shot espresso barely does anything at all but stave off sleep for another hour.

In fact, caffeine has no tolerance ceiling, meaning when you reach a certain level, you cannot overcome it by drinking more…and we don’t recommend trying. You’ll poison yourself before you beat the tolerance you’ve built.

About the only way to reset your tolerance level is to come off caffeine for a while. Two weeks gradual weening should do it for most people. Gradual being the operative word. If you go from 5 cups a day to zero, you’ll get some monster withdrawal symptoms, including headaches for days!

Why Use Caffeine?

Aside from the fact that it scrapes you from the floor in the morning, there’s a couple of major benefits to using caffeine

Fat Burning is increased via a thermogenic effect and lipolysis, where triglycerides are broken to release fatty acids for fuel. This is the primary reason most fat burners contain caffeine in some form.

People who have built their tolerance up will miss out on the fat burning effects. The best thing to do is cycle caffeine and take a couple weeks off it (by weening off not going cold turkey) evey 2 months.

Cognitive Function can be improved via caffeine intake. it increases neurotransmitter signalling, thereby improving mood and concentration.

The downside is that, once tolerant, you need caffeine to perform at ‘normal’ cognitive levels. The boosting effect goes away with habitual use.

Physical Power can be increased from caffeine intake, but again, it’s not going to work if you consume it every day. The best way to maximize caffeine for strength training purposes is to only take it before your workout.

There are studies supporting caffeine’s use after a workout as well. It is believed to increase glycogen replacement when consumed with carbs.

Conclusion

If you drink coffee every day, you are not alone. However, it becomes virtually worthless in terms of benefits once daily intake becomes habitual.

When you have built a tolerance of caffeine, there is no way to get over it – certainly not by consuming more – except to ‘come off’ it for a while. And the best way to do that is ween yourself off it rather than going cold turkey so as to avoid unwanted side effects.

There are benefits to caffeine consumption, but they are only as good as the user’s sensitivity to it.

Cycling caffeine is a good way of ensuring that you never become too tolerant of it. Weening off for a week and staying off it for another week (2 weeks total) every 8 to 12 weeks is helpful.

Another way is to only use caffeine when it is needed, this is especially useful for people using it for situational purposes like studying, exams, physical training and so on.

Coffee-lovers, it may sound like it goes against everything you believe in to reduce caffeine intake, or reduce intake frequency.

If you ever want it to feel like the first time again, then you have to make sacrifices

What happens if I skip breakfast and just drink coffee?

What’s interesting is that there has been some actual scientific research conducted to determine if there is any truth behind the old saying.

How many of you think that “breakfast kickstarts the metabolism” or “…prevents your body from going into starvation mode” ?

Accepting these anecdotes as facts might be closing the door on ways in which you can control your dieting habits to good effect. To slimming effect.

Scientific Studies

It probably looks like we were giving science the hard sell in the introduction, but the truth is – even science isn’t conclusive enough to give us a definitive answer.

One observational study tells us that people who don’t eat breakfast tend to be heavier on average, which might imply that missing the morning meal adversely affects metabolic rate, or, makes you eat more over the rest of the day.

However, the study didn’t question the original reason people might have skipped breakfast, one of which is: to lose weight.

Clinical trials are divided on the matter. Some say missing breakfast can increase overall calorie intake over the day, and others contradict it.

What is generally agreed upon is that trying to force your body to do something against its natural eating inclinations is more likely to cause weight gain.

On Triggering Metabolism

It has not been proven that your metabolism can be kickstarted by having breakfast. Neither has it been shown that Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is lowered if breakfast is missed.

Of course, eating less calories in a day overall compared to base metabolic rate (BMR) will cause the RMR to decrease, but whether it is from missing breakfast or just eating less throughout the day as a whole doesn’t make a difference.

On Working Out / Exercise / Physically Demanding Jobs

There has been speculation that skipping breakfast and exercising – or exerting yourself physically in any way – on an empty stomach somehow enhances fat loss.

Not true, or at least, nothing has been found to support that theory. Also, people who miss breakfast tend to preserve energy by being less active on the whole.

Intense exercise is not recommended on an empty stomach. Light exercise is fine, but it means eating afterwards, especially protein, is doubly important to maintain muscle mass.

Twenty to 30 grams of protein (whey protein shakes are good when you’re in a rush) is a good replenishment if you go jogging or do a light workout on an empty stomach.

Is It Healthy to Miss Breakfast?

All of this talk of losing weight and exercise performance is fine but what if it’s simply damaging to your health to leave breakfast out of your routine.

There is no real evidence to suggest it is harmful. The only potential negative effect seems to be related to glucose / blood sugar regulation. It’s therefore advisable for anyone with insulin / glucose / diabetes related issues to (a) follow their doctor’s advice on nutritional intake and (b) don’t introduce any dramatic changes to their routine.

Conclusion

As you can gather, for the average person, it is hardly a problem to miss breakfast, so long as you make up for any missed nutrients throughout the day.

Some people should NOT be skipping the first meal of the day, however, including:

• young people still growing
• pregnant and breastfeeding women
• diabetics and anyone with glucose maintenance / regulation problems
• muscle builders / athletes looking to retain or grow mass
• people who eat / need / enjoy breakfast as part of their routine
• people with intense physical jobs

In short, if breakfast (or even a substantial breakfast) is not something you want or feel like having, you don’t have to. A cup of coffee is fine.

If you feel you want a little something then that is fine also. A piece of toast or a banana is perfect for you.

People looking to lose weight should remember a couple of things. Missing breakfast can be a valid part of that strategy but you have to be careful not to be sedentary / lazy as a result, OR, overcompensate by eating more than you would later on.

Weight loss happens as a result of taking in less calories than you expend. The method by which this happens is much less important.

Resources

• Szajewska H, Ruszczynski M Systematic review demonstrating that breakfast consumption influences body weight outcomes in children and adolescents in Europe. REview Food Science Nutrition – 2010 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20112153]
• Reeves S, et al Experimental manipulation of breakfast in normal and overweight/obese participants is associated with changes to nutrient and energy intake consumption patterns. Phys Bio – 2014 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24866910]
• Geliebter A, et al Skipping breakfast leads to weight loss but also elevated cholesterol compared with consuming daily breakfasts of oat porridge or frosted cornflakes in overweight individuals: a randomised controlled trial . Journal Nutritional Science – 2014 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26101624]
• Betts JA, et al The causal role of breakfast in energy balance and health: a randomized controlled trial in lean adults . Clinical Nutrition – 2014 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24898233]
• Jakubowicz D, et al Fasting until noon triggers increased postprandial hyperglycemia and impaired insulin response after lunch and dinner in individuals with type 2 diabetes: a randomized clinical trial . Diabetes Care – 2015 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26220945]
• LeCheminant GM, et al A randomized controlled trial to study the effects of breakfast on energy intake, physical activity, and body fat in women who are nonhabitual breakfast eaters . Appetite – 2017 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28063876]
• Clayton DJ, James LJ The effect of breakfast on appetite regulation, energy balance and exercise performance – 2016 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26653842]
• Moro T, et al Effects of eight weeks of time-restricted feeding (16/8) on basal metabolism, maximal strength, body composition, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk factors in resistance-trained males – 2016 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27737674]
• Farshchi HR, Taylor MA, Macdonald IA Deleterious effects of omitting breakfast on insulin sensitivity and fasting lipid profiles in healthy lean women – 2005 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15699226]