Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 8:16PM 
As I talked about in my last post, the set-point, starvation-response, and metabolic-adaptation theories have kept changing over the years as their advocates attempt to maintain a viable theory. The Truth? Are there physiological changes associated with energy restriction? Yes. Do they prevent weight loss, or maintenance of weight loss? No.
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 12:49PM 
It’s not uncommon to hear both lay persons and professionals matter-of-factly refer to the “starvation response” (also called metabolic adaptation) and “set-point theory” as if they were accepted facts. The supposition of these theories is that the body reacts to reduced energy intake, or weight loss, by lowering its basal metabolic rate in an attempt to maintain the current weight or return to a higher weight.
These theories however, have not survived sound scientific investigation, and those researchers who are familiar with this area of medical literature have known that for almost 20-years. Three comprehensive reviews of the literature in 1992, 1994, and 1995[i],[ii],[iii] all reached the same conclusions that:
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 1:01PM 
It’s not uncommon to hear or read claims that, “if you gain one pound of muscle you will burn about 50 extra calories per day.” If only it were that easy...
In fact, the resting metabolic rate of skeletal muscle is frequently confused with the resting metabolic rate of the lean body mass as a whole. Lean body mass however includes all our organs (liver, brain, heart, and kidneys) which burn 15 to 33 times more calories by weight than skeletal muscle.
Monday, February 28, 2011 at 12:55PM 
You may not be aware that the resting metabolic rate (RMR) associated with a given body weight can vary ±20%. Like many things in nature metabolic rates fall into a "normal" bell curve. The middle of the bell curve is the "expected" or average metabolic rate.
Another way of saying this is that 80% of you have a metabolic rate that is ±10% of the middle of the bell curve (for your gender, height, weight, and age).
Where you fall on the curve is based (mainly) on the genetic "hand" you were dealt.
The chart here shows an example for a 150-lb. 32-year-old female, using the World Health Organization's formula for metabolic rate
Friday, February 25, 2011 at 7:28AM 
The majority of clients I’ve worked with over the years had matter-of-factly accepted the notion that they had a “low metabolism,” possibly secondary to yo-yo dieting.
Several comprehensive reviews of the literature (including one by a National Institutes of Health expert panel), however, have concluded that the negative metabolic and body composition side-effects frequently attributed to yo-yo dieting are not supported by careful review of the data. The conclusions: yo-yo dieting does not have a lasting negative effect on resting energy expenditure (REE), or muscle tissue/lean body mass (LBM), and does not make future attempts at weight loss more difficult (at least from a physiological standpoint).
