HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT GRADUALLY AND TO KEEP IT OFF? Part 4

Jun 27

Jun 27 HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT GRADUALLY AND TO KEEP IT OFF? Part 4

DOES OUR BODY WORK AGAINST US WHEN WE TRY TO LOSE WEIGHT?

Simple arithmetic tells us that excess food calories consumed every day, genetically destined to turn into fat and deposited in our body as extra weight for future use. So, if we want to lose weight, we must eat less and be physically more active by exercising on daily basis.

There is no such a food or diet, as commercial weight loss companies claim, “you can eat as much as you want and still lose significant weight”. Just remember that the largest animals in animal kingdom are elephants and they are grass eaters. So it is clear, what counts in weight loss is not the type of food you consume, it’s always how much you consume.

So, we must raise an important question here, “does our body work against us when we try to lose weight?”

Research scientists try to answer this question by studying basic energy metabolism in two group of patients with excessive weight loss. The first group was from the famous TV show The Biggest Loser. Where the competitors lost excess amount of weight (100 – to – 200 pounds) with draconian calories restricting diets and extreme weight bearing exercises to keep their muscle mass.

The other group were chosen from bariatric gastric – bypass surgery patients who had also lost significant muscle mass as well.

Research have shown that in both groups of people, regardless of muscle mass, body reduces its basic calorie expenditure for functional metabolism significantly, more than 500 calorie a day, to prevent starvation. More interestingly, this change in metabolism remains permanent, even years after The Biggest Loser competitors gained all the weight back that they lost.

So, these studies tell us that sudden and excess weight loss triggers body’s compensatory mechanism to reduce energy expenditure for basic metabolism. This must be the reason why dieting and weight loss so difficult and why people gain more weight after they stop dieting.

Studies on basic functional metabolism have also shown that, metabolic changes don’t occur in gradual weight loss situations.

In conclusion, we should stop dieting to lose weight - it does not work. Instead, we should train our brain to learn mindful eating habits, to enjoy our food, to dine instead of to diet, and to eat less.