Image via Wikipedia

Lose Weight or Fat? Part 3

Hi,

In the last 2 posts you saw how most people in order to lose weight will go on a diet and start some kind of aerobics program.

We went into detail on how both of those ways was good at helping you lose weight.  As long as you never stop. 

But, they aren’t so good at helping your burn body fat.  In reality, the only thing that will happen if you lose weight is that you will be a smaller size of your original body shape. 

So how do you fix this?

Well, one way is to change the macronutrients in your diet.  Those are the proteins, fats and carbs. 

Just eating less food, whether it is less protein, less carbs or less fat will help you lose weight. 

But, it will do nothing to help keep your metabolism up.  And as you saw in the previous posts, eating less lowers your metabolism. 

One of the worst mistakes one can make is to reduce their calories too much. 

When you do that the body notices right away.  It does not like drastic changes.  It likes homeostasis or the “same old, same old”. 

A drastic change, like a drop in calories, will cause your body to reduce its need for calories to the level you dropped the calories.

So if you were eating 3000 calories a day and reduced it to 2000 calories a day, your body will reduce your energy needs so that it only needs 2000 calories a day. 

Now it takes some time for this to happen.  It depends upon your age, sex, stress in your life and how many times you have been on the yo-yo diet. 

If you haven’t lost as much weight as you would like and reduce your calories even more to 1500 a day, then your body will again reduce your metabolism so it only needs 1500 calories a day. 

This can continue until you die.  But, most people stop before then:-).

So what do you do?  You reduce your calories gradually and manipulate the macronutrients. 

You do this by cutting say 200-300 calories a day to start.  And you make sure you are getting food your body can use. 

That is good protein, good carbs and good fats.   Yes, you need all three. 

I think you already know that eating hot dogs and potato chips would not be considered good even if you only ate 1500 calories a day of them. 

Your body will need energy for the next part of the equation and that is your exercise program. 

Wouldn’t you like to know how to exercise less, burn more calories and keep a raised metabolism?

We will address that in part four of the lose weight or fat series.  Just know that you have to feed your body enough food and good quality food.

Thanks

Image via Wikipedia

Lose Weight or Fat?

Hi,

Okay, you have to lose some weight (or fat) for an upcoming event.  Maybe it is for your wedding, an upcoming show, or you just got sick and tired of weighing so much.

If you are like most people you will reduce your calories and do some aerobics.  If you watch most people “running” outdoors or indoors on the machines you will notice that very few actually run.

Most jog at best or do some type of motion between a walk and a jog. 

Now, let me say there is nothing wrong with that.  After all everyone has to start somewhere.  And even walking – if done consistently – will help you lose weight.

But, is this the most efficient way to reshape your body?

The answer is no and here is why.

Low or medium intensity exercise will help you lose weight.  That is fat weight, muscle weight, bone weight, organ weight.  At most it is estimated that you will not lose more than 35-50% body fat following a low intensity aerobics or jogging/walking program.

This translates to a smaller you.  But the worst part of this is that you have not upped your metabolism. 

Low intensity exercise is not demanding on your body.  And it does not switch on the after burning effects of a raised metabolism.    So you are only burning up your body (fat, muscle, etc.) while you are doing the exercise.

Once you stop the burning effects of exercise stop.   And since you have not raised your metabolism the  body perceives that you do not need to burn as much fuel for energy.

The overall effect is that your body gets smaller and your metabolism drops.  Your body shape will pretty much remain the same. 

And what happens if you start eating a little more or exercise a little less?  Fat gain quickly is what happens.

There have been several studies that compare weight loss, fat loss and raised metabolisms.

While weight loss exercise does help you lose weight, it does nothing to raise your metabolism. 

If you can raise your metabolism you will burn more calories and more fat even if you are exercising 1/2 of the time. 

We will continue this lose weight or fat series for the next few posts. 

Thanks

Hi,

In part one of you are what you eat we left off with why did the Atkins diet proponents gain weight back.

They gained weight back because they went on the diet in the first place. 

Here is the thing about dieting.  First of all any diet is pretty much a scam.

This is because no one is telling you that full truth about dieting. 

And if you are like most people you are not going to stay on a diet your whole life. 

Those two points make it almost 100% probable that you will regain all of the weight you have lost.  And in many cases you will actually gain more. 

So let’s look at these two statements.

When you diet or deprive yourself of calories you body reacts to this.  Your body will react even if you have been giving it too many calories for a very long time. 

Your body has become adjusted to a level of caloric intake.  Changing this level will cause your body to react.  This reaction will be against the change. 

So if you reduce your calories coming in which is in essence reducing the amount of energy coming in you body will react by reducing the amount of energy it expends.

It does this by slowing down your metabolism.  Why does it do this?

Because of something called homeostasis.  Your body wants to keep things sailing along smoothly.  So it likes things to stay the same.  Even if staying the same is unhealthy for you.

So a reduction in energy coming in upsets homeostasis.  Your body reduces your metabolism.  This way everything goes back to the same old way. 

It does take your body awhile to recognize this change and react to it.  So you will lose weight for awhile until your body catches us to the reduction in energy coming in. 

That is why you can lose weight pretty easily at first, but the weight loss slows down and eventually stops.

So what do you do next.  You reduce the calories even more.  And again, your body reacts and slows your metabolsim down even more.

Ever wonder why so many diet pills make you hyper.  That is because they are trying to stimulate your metabolism in an unnatural way. 

They are designed to keep your metabolsim ratcheted way up while you are on your diet.

Problem is that they only work for awhile also.  And when their effectiveness wears off you come crashing down. 

And then the weight loss stops and the weight gain restarts.

More in the next post.

Thanks

Hi,

In our last post on losing weight by fasting we looked at some of the problems with your ability to lose weight by fasting.

One of the other issues is the fact that since your metabolism gets lowered when fasting, once you stop the fasting you will regain the weight back really quickly.

This is because you start eating more right when your metabolism is at its lowest point.  Guess what, you have just made it really easy to gain weight quickly. 

I can add a few personal comments here.  I have been pretty good at maintaining a four pack out of the elusive 6 pack abs that everyone wants.  I have done this for several years.

Every once in a while I could start to see the outline of the other two, but never quite got there.

So I decided to try one of the fasting + exercise programs out there to see if it lived up to its name.

It was a five week program and you fasted once every 5 days.  And there was a pretty decent exercise program that went along with it.

I followed it all 5 weeks.  And I did lose weight.  5 pounds.  I also kept records of my measurements.  I lost size in my arms, my chest, and my legs.  I did not lose even 1 centimeter in my waist. 

Not quite what I had in mind. 

But, this program did me in.  I was fatigued and irritable.  I had no energy. 

At first the fasting did not bother me, which surprised me.  But, as it went on I felt drained of all energy. 

So, for me fasting is not an option. 

However, that does not mean you can’t use it and here are some of my thoughts on how best to use it.

You already fast for several hours a day when you are sleeping.  You can extend this time frame by not eating after your last meal of the day or after 7 – 8 pm. 

While I believe in eating a good breakfast, if you are not already eating a breakfast, then continue your fast for a 2-3 more hours before you eat your first meal.

You could also try skipping a lunch once a week.  Or skip a lunch and dinner once a week.

This might be easier for some of you. 

Thinking and worrying about what you eat and how much at every meal is pretty hard to do when you are on a diet.  If you only have to worry about not eating at all for a couple of meals a week, you might find that easier.

After all, even though not talked about much, if your mind is fatigued from worrying about your diet, it makes staying on a diet much harder.

Fasting might be a help in that area.

Losing weight by fasting is possible.  Just remember it is not the be all and end all. 

If you are going to fast make sure you add some exercising for strength and cardio. 

Also, as a warning, make sure you talk to your doctor first.  Fasting can have some consequences.  For example, if you are a diabetic, you have to be concerned with the drop in your blood sugar levels that fasting can cause. 

So start your fasting program like outlined above.  Please don’t go out and try to lose 50 pounds by fasting for 2 months straight.  That goes even if you are on a juice fast or raw foods fast.

Be sensible.

Thanks

Hi,

The last couple of posts we debunked the cleansing by fasting myths, now let’s turn to the losing weight by fasting fad that is going around.

The bottom line is yes, you can lose weight by fasting.  However, you can also lose weight by dieting.

The issue is that with both you will eventually regain the weight back.  This is a normal way your body reacts when it is deprived of food.

It slows down.  Less food equals slowing down.  If you decided to eat a lot less food, then your body slows down even more.  This is done to protect itself. 

After all if you slow down to much you will be dead and I assume you don’t want that.

There are many different types of fasts and many “facts” floating out there.  But, let’s turn to the science.

One of the negative aspects of dieting is that some people say that if you fast for one day, the next day you will overeat and lose all the benefits of the fast. 

The science shows that you will not overeat enough to regain all the weight you lost. 

And this fact is thrown around by all the fast gurus out there.  What they didn’t tell you was that people that fast will eventually regain the weight. 

It might take a week or more, but fasting is no better than any other diet where you regain the weight over time.

Now the interesting thing is that while the weight comes back within about a week, the body tissues and fluids take a longer period of time to come back – up to 10 days or more. 

Body tissues are things like your body fat, bones, body water, organs, muscles, gastrointestinal tract contents and glycogen content.

Some have maintained that this means that if you fasted around 1 time per week then you could maintain your weight loss for just about forever.

I don’t buy that.  First of all because we don’t know where the weight loss is coming from.  If if is coming from body fat, then that is a good thing.

And it might mean that you could continue your weight loss for a longer period of time than if you went on a regular diet.

If the weight loss is coming from muscle tissue loss, then that is a problem.

Having more muscle (size) and strength means your metabolism will be burning more calories per day.  This could be from 40 – 100 calories per day depending upon your workout, your diet and your size.

Still that is 4 to 10 pounds a year you would have just by having a little more muscle.

Fasting, if it is losing muscle tissue, would negate any positive effects of having more muscle.  And it would cause you to rebound your weight loss much faster.

There are a couple of other issues on losing weight by fasting and we’ll get to them in the next post.

Thanks

Hi,

Last post we introduced the concept of your life and your health. 

Specifically to dieting I mentioned that the yo-yo dieting concept had specific physiological reasons.

Your body is very happy when things are running smoothly.  It does not matter if running smoothly is really healthy to you or not. 

If it isn’t healthy, then eventually problems will show up and we mentioned that in the last post. 

If you try to change your weight – for example – you will find that making a drastic change in your diet upsets this smooth running that your body likes. 

Yes, you will lose weight if you go on a diet.  For awhile. 

This awhile time will vary with each individual.  It will vary based upon your sex, age, body weight, metabolism, activity levels, amount of sleep you get and how many times you have been on a diet before.

Here is what happens when you start a diet.  Your body will start losing weight.  As it does this your survival mechanisms start kicking in. 

In order to not lose so much weight and keep everything the same, your body’s metabolism will slow down. 

This makes it harder to lose more weight.  So you eat less.  Again your metabolism slows down.

This game is played until you really can’t lose any more weight at all.

But, that isn’t the worst part.  About now is when most people decide the diet isn’t working.  So what is the first thing they start doing?

You got it – eating.

Eating, just when your metabolism is at the absolute lowest point.  And guess what happens now.  You gain weight like crazy. 

More calories, low metabolism = great weight gain, with most of it fat. 

And your body is pretty smart.  The next time you go on a diet, your body remembers and it drops its metabolism even faster.  That way it is even harder to lose as much weight as the first time you tried a diet. 

So if you ever wondered exactly what the concept of yo-yo dieting is and why it is so easy to gain weight again, now you know.

We will resume the habits we talked about in the first post on your life and your health in the next post.

Stay tuned,

Thanks

woman running

Last post we looked at whether your metabolism decreases because of the aging process or because of the fact that your lifestyle has changed considerably from when you were younger. 

You can check that post out at: your metabolism

Today let’s look at some easy ways to keep your metabolism raised through out the day.

Make sure you get plenty of sleep.  I know I am not a good one to say this, because I would rather be doing almost anything than sleeping. 

However, if you can not or will not sleep for 7-8 hours a night at least try to get a good 20 minute nap sometime during the day. 

More rest might seem counterproductive to keeping your metabolism going, but you have to take into account 2 things.  More rest = more ability to be active throughout the day. 

The other thing is that your hormones are dependent on the amount of rest you get.  For example, remember – from previous posts – our friends ghrelin and leptin. 

Ghrelin spikes and leptin decreases in sleep deprived individuals.  So get enough sleep so that you feel energetic all day – without energy boosting beverages.

If you are already exercising in the mornings, then continue to do so.  If not add a simple 2-3 minute exercise session – even if it is just some fitness stretching or moving – first thing. 

After your exercise session eat something before you go off to work.  Eat something nutritious.  A bagel and cup of coffee is not what I had in mind. 

Get some protein and fruit if nothing else. 

Drink enough water throughout the day to keep hydrated.  Dehydration does lots of nasty things to your body, including sapping you of energy which = a lower metabolism.

Eat less at each meal and eat more meals.  The simple act of digesting burns calories and revs up your metabolism.  If you don’t over do it.

The 2000 calorie double bacon cheeseburger with everything on it will raise your metabolism as you are trying to digest it and then you will crash and have no metabolism while you try to recover.

Try these few simple things to raise your metabolism and you will feel like a youngster again.

Can you keep your metabolism high throughout life?

If you are like most people you believe that your metabolism declines with age. 

That means you are not burning the same number of calories per day as you did when you were younger.

But, is it the fact that your metabolism is declining because of your increasing age or is there something else at work here.

There is no doubt that most peoples metabolism does decrease as they age. 

I would tend to guess that while age is a factor, your lifestyle is much more of a factor. 

When you are younger you are on the go all the time.  You got to work or to school and then you go out with your friends. 

Even if the going out is not exercise related, it is usually doing something.  Some kind of movement.

It could be shopping (lots of walking, trying on clothes, etc.), dancing at a club or going to the beach or pool (swimming).

Even if it is just going to a movie, you go home, shower, get dressed, drive to the theater, walk to the ticket booth, watch the movie, walk back to the car and drive home.

And let’s not forget about some extra fooling around.  Fooling around is a great calorie burner and most younger people do it a lot more often.

Now fast forward 10 years.  You have a sit down job, you drive back and forth to work, you sit at the computer or watch tv when you get home and then you go to bed.

Your family becomes your life and going out on the town usually is a once a month thing if it ever happens any more.  Going out almost always means getting something to eat. 

Even if you get some fooling around, it isn’t as often and usually not as long – got to get up early in the morning. 

So maybe, it isn;t so much your age that causes a decrease in your metabolism as it is a decrease in your activity levels.

Even if you do get to the gym a few times a week it isn’t enough.

Doing 2-3 20-30 minute exercise sessions does not counter balance hours and hours of sitting every week.

It is a good start, but you need more.  And by more, I don’t just mean add an extra session.  You need different types of exercise every day.  Doing even 4-5 moderate to low intensity exercise for even 60 minutes a day is not going to do it.

You need to push your self.  Add some high intensity bursts of exercise during one or two of your sessions. 

Add some extra walking every day.  Simple things like parking down the street from your work and using the stairs instead of the elevator will burn a ton of extra calories over a years period of time. 

So keep your metabolism working with you and fight the old age myths.

Next post we’ll look at some other simple ways to keep your metabolism fired up!