“I have to lose some weight. I can’t fit into this skirt anymore. I feel like such a cow.”
“The doctor says I should lose weight. He said I could get a heart attack if I don’t start taking better care of myself.”
On any given day, there are millions of Americans on a diet. There are hundreds, if not thousands of diet books circulating around, in addition to numerous magazines, pamphlets, and television shows on the topic. Yet almost all diets will fail. In the short run, most people on a diet will lose some weight, but inevitably, they will return to their old processed, refined diets, and gain all of the weight back, and then some. Of course there are those that manage to keep the weight off over the long run, but they constitute a tiny minority of all dieters.
Big deal you say. So they gained the weight back. At least they had their moment in the sun. But there is a problem. The way a typical diet works is that you cut the number of calories you eat, such that you are eating less than what your body requires. You then proceed to lose weight. Sounds good, right? You’ve been given this advice time and time again. Unfortunately, such thinking is faulty. Although it is correct that if you eat fewer calories than your body requires you will lose some weight, it isn’t that simple. First of all, when one is on a calorie restricted diet, the body perceives this as a famine or drought period. After all, it is unnatural to force oneself NOT to eat. In the wild, animals are always looking for food. You’ll never see a lioness pounce on an antelope, and then walk away from the kill because she is on a diet and the meat looks too fatty. If animals acted in such a way they would starve to death. Human beings were created in a similar fashion. The problem is that we are surrounded by a variety of processed junk food and so when we eat whenever we can we get fat. However, this point still doesn’t change the fact that when we do cut calories, our brains still perceive the situation as potential starvation.
Our body will adapt to this potential starvation by slowing down its metabolism to conserve energy for the upcoming famine. It doesn’t know that a burger with fries and a super size cola are just a five minute drive away. When your metabolism is slower, you burn fewer calories. Another thing that occurs when you lose weight is that you burn BOTH fat and muscle to make up for the caloric deficit. Muscle is metabolically more active than fat – just having muscle makes you burn calories at rest, whereas having extra fat burns very few calories. So, burning off muscle for energy slows down your metabolism. You end up delivering a one-two punch to your metabolism. The diet in and of itself will slow down it down, and burning off muscle tissue for energy will slow it down even more.
When you finally become revolted at the idea of eating another meal of cottage cheese and grapefruit, your metabolism has already slowed down considerably, and you now burn fewer calories at rest than before the diet. When you return to your good ol’ diet of pizza, burgers, fries, bagels with cream cheese, and donuts, you become fatter than before.
And the vicious cycle begins. You are now fatter than ever, and after a certain amount of time, you will once again go on a diet for whatever reason. Once again, you will burn both fat and muscle, and once again, your metabolism will slow down some more. After a few such cycles, your metabolism will have slowed down so much that just looking at a bowl of ice cream will make you gain weight.
What can you do then if you need to lose some weight? Let’s put down some guidelines to help you out. First of all, forget the idea of a diet. A diet is temporary, and once you go off of it, you will gain more weight. Start thinking in terms of changing your lifestyle. Incorporate changes you can stick with – for life. I’m not saying that there will be no self sacrifice involved. You can’t continue to eat the same crap you do now and expect any positive changes to occur. However, what you eat isn’t a black or white proposition. You don’t have to fall into the erroneous mindset of either being on a strict diet or eating what you want. Do some of each.
Emphasize fresh fruits and vegetables. Eat more fresh meat, poultry, and fish. Cut out processed, starchy and packaged foods and all refined carbohydrates. A higher protein diet will decrease your body’s rate of burning muscle for energy as well as boost your metabolism. Don’t be obsessive about fat. It really isn’t the problem. By cutting out packaged and processed food you will eliminate most of the harmful fats in your diet. Beyond that, you want some fat. It has a satiating effect on the body, and is essential for good health.
The most important change you can make in your life is to initiate an exercise program which builds muscle. If you build some muscle, your metabolism will speed up as well. Lifting weights is excellent for building muscle, but you often don’t get much of a cardiovascular workout from lifting weights, and thus you burn less fat during your workouts. Jogging and other aerobic type workouts can often exacerbate muscle loss since only one specific muscle group is targeted during the workout, while the rest of the muscles which aren’t being used are often cannibalized for energy along with some fat in much the same way as when you cut calories. Middle-aged joggers often present with a pot belly and a thin, weak upper body.
The best way to build muscle and work out your heart and lungs at the same time is with bodyweight exercises. For example, a circuit of deep knee bends, push-ups, jumping jacks and toe touches, when performed a few times in succession without resting between the exercises, will not only develop most of the muscles in your body, but in addition will improve your cardiovascular fitness and even your flexibility.
Wind sprints (alternating brisk walking with 20 second or so bursts of running as fast as you can) are also a great workout. The high intensity nature of the sprint builds muscles throughout the body (even the upper body is targeted by the vigorous pumping of the arms), and the periods of walking in between will allow you to extend the workout such that you obtain cardiovascular benefits as well.
The important thing is to start slow, with exercises which you are comfortable performing. The reason so many people quit their exercise programs is that the programs are either too long in duration for the average busy working person to keep up with, or else they are too intense, in which case the person is injured or simply cannot continue such a difficult regimen and so gives up altogether. Don’t be stupid. Start off with a few minutes a day of moderate exercise, and slowly built up. Combined with the dietary changes I mentioned above (and elsewhere on the webpage), you will surely succeed. Just remember that this is for life. Stick with the positive changes you have made.