The term metabolism gets thrown around a lot. But, what exactly is it? Rather than you spending hours trying to figure it out on your own, I'm going to make it simple here. Our metabolisms are very complex, but there are a few main ways to break it down to better understand what the term really means. 

Metabolism is simply a sum of all the chemical processes that go on inside of us to sustain life. 

We can look at our metabolism (very simply) as our TDEE, or our total daily energy expenditure. When you hear the term "fast" and "slow" metabolism, that is really just a low or high TDEE. Our metabolisms are not static. They change and adapt based on current energy balance (calories in vs out), hormones, micronutrient availability, and more. Let's go over the 4 components of our TDEE (what makes up how many calories we burn in a day).

1. BMR: This stands for basal metabolic rate and accounts for the calories burned just to keep you alive (heart pumping, breathing, etc). This...