Metabolism continued
Whether or not obese people have an abnormally slow metabolism is controversial. In fact, it takes more energy to maintain a greater body mass.
For example, a person who weighs 200 lbs has a higher resting metabolic rate than someone who weighs 150 lbs. In addition, the 200-lb person expends more calories than the 150-lb person for any given physical activity.
But even when people of the same height, weight, age, gender, and muscle mass are compared, their resting metabolic rates vary by 20% or more.
This means that if you are predicted to use 1,200 calories through your resting metabolic rate, you may actually use anywhere from 1,080–1,320 calories.
This variability explains in part why two people who weigh the same may require different amounts of calories to maintain, lose, or gain weight.
It’s important to remember that whatever your resting metabolic rate, if you consume more calories than you expend, those extra calories will be stored primarily as fat.
This will happen regardless of whether the extra calories come from fats, carbohydrates, or proteins (although dietary fat is converted into body fat more efficiently than dietary proteins or carbohydrates).
