 Limited calorie diets do not
work. Many people have
initial positive results on
these restricted calorie
diets, however there is a
reason why they are destined
to fail. As the diet
progresses, your metabolism
begins to think it is being
deprived, causing your body
to go into a stressful
situation and as a result,
your metabolic rate drops.
When your metabolic rate
drops, you stop losing
weight, or worse, you begin
to re-gain the weight you
have lost. You will then
have to reduce your calorie
intake even further, which
will only continue to fuel
the loop of failure. For
example, while
you may burn 3000 calories
at the start of a diet,
after a week or two of
dieting, you are no longer
burning 3000 calories. Now,
you will be burning 2800
calories. A couple of weeks
later, you will be burning
just 2200 calories.
Calorie counters are
good, but they are not
perfect and can lead to
mistakes. Calorie counters are a
great place to start, in
fact, they are much better
than not keeping track of
what you eat and how many
calories you are consuming,
however they assume that one
pound of lost weight is
equal to a loss of 3500
calories, which is not
exactly true. One pound of fat equals
3500 calories, but when you
are dieting you are going to
lose both fat and muscle as
well as water (water losses
can actually account for
40-50% of the weight loss
during the first two weeks
on a diet). After the first
two weeks, the most typical
weight loss consists of 25%
lean body muscle mass and
75% fat mass. So, in order for you to
lose one pound of lean body
mass, you only need to lose
500 calories! Anyone can see
there is a huge difference
between 500 and 3500
calories, also you really
want to be losing fat, NOT
lean muscle, which actually
helps you to burn more fat. Most calorie counters
ignore these facts and in
order to lose weight and
keep it off, you need to
understand the dynamics of
your metabolism once you
start to restrict your
calories, and how to
maximize your weight loss.
What does work?
You need to determine you
resting metabolic rate,
which will let you know just
how many calories you burn
from doing nothing.
Keep a food journal with
accurate amounts of foods
and the time you ate your
food. This will help you
determine what your eating
and snacking patterns are.
Many people never realize
just how many calories they
really are eating. Those
bites of brownies at
meetings and sugar sodas as
an afternoon pick me up
really add up over time.
Do decide to cut your
calorie intake, but take a
vitamin supplement and
increase your water intake
if you are not already
drinking at least 6, eight
ounce glasses of water each
day. If you do not like to
drink water, try adding some
of the no calorie, no sugar
flavorings out there to help
you drink more water.
YOU MUST EXERCISE. Even
if it is walking back and
forth your hall during
commercial breaks, it is
moving. Sedentary and obese
people are at a much higher
risk for developing fatal
blood clots in their legs
and pelvis. If you work in
an office job this applies
to you also; every hour you
need to take an "Ergo"
break; stand up and stretch,
walk to the bathroom and
back. Bend over and touch
your toes, and wiggle your
toes and calves every 30
minutes to help prevent
stiff muscles and blood
clots. These breaks also
help you to burn calories,
to which you should add to
an activity journal. Put
down EVERY type of movement
of significance in it and at
the end of your first week, evaluate your eating and
movement journals and then
you will have a better idea
as to how you can tweak your
eating and exercise plans to
maximize your weight loss.
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