Thermogenesis is the capacity to generate heat to balance with the environment. In mammals it has attributes that are obligatory and others that depend on their occurrence. Obligatory is the Basal Metabolic Expenditure, the calories generated by a living being – in this case us – to stay alive at rest. Then we will add the energy produced by consuming food, the additional energy produced by the low ambient temperature. And finally we add the energy expenditure from physical activities.

Special life situations such as growth, pregnancy or breastfeeding generate an additional caloric expenditure, which must be taken into account at the right time.

It has long been known that cells have a place where energy from nutrients is transformed, burned or stored, called mitochondria. It has been known for a few years that cells have a mechanism of energy loss in the form of heat. Some people have a greater loss of energy as heat and this allows them to better maintain their body weight. On the other hand, others have very little capacity to lose energy in this way, and remain overweight for a longer period of time.

On the contrary, when those patients want to reduce weight with a hypocaloric diet, they feel cold because the body metabolism is reduced, that is to say, they spend less energy.

Sometimes a disease, such as hypothyroidism, can lead to a decrease in the body’s energy expenditure, but most of the time it has to do with genetic and environmental factors.

Sixty percent of our caloric expenditure is consumed by only 4 organs: brain, liver, kidney, lungs, and in good health this is not a modifiable condition.

Although exercise contributes to burning calories, it is not to the extent that we think or would like, because muscle is a great energy saver; therefore, we need a lot of exercise if our goal is to lose weight.
As an example, let’s take into account that losing 1 kilo of fat is equivalent to losing 7700 calories. And we can spend about 200 to 240 calories walking, or we will have to walk about 32 hours to lose 1 kilo of fat.
The brown fat is the one that allows us to burn extra calories in the cold. It is located in the upper back or neck and has a great capacity to burn fat. It is activated in the cold, with temperatures below 20 degrees and can be used to our advantage, exercising at times when the temperature is lower, or maintaining lower temperatures in the house.

How to measure the calories we spend?

With formulas, although there are numerous ways, they are not exact.
The most appropriate way is with Indirect Calorimetry, a sophisticated equipment that allows us to know from the oxygen consumption of our body and the elimination of carbon dioxide the exact amount of calories we consume at that given moment. The equipment and the experience of our team allows us to know not only how many calories we consume, but also when we burn fat. This allows us to adjust the indications individually.