Weight Loss Tips and Articles

“That’s it. I’ve had enough. I’m going to diet and finally get rid of these pounds!”

Did words like these ever come from your mouth?

Along with these words, most of us also have an expectation or desire that we may or may not actually acknowledge. That is the desire for immediacy . . . we want the weight gone now!

Before we take a closer look at this, I want you to know that I understand. I’ve been there myself. We are a nation of “zero tolerance” people when it comes to patience. Our society moves fast and we expect fast results - that’s just how it is.

To lose weight fast, the thought that first comes to mind for many people is to reduce their caloric intake.

This is basically the correct line of thinking. Losing body fat is in the most simplistic sense, a matter of eating fewer calories than it takes to maintain the pounds we want to get rid of.

In our pursuit of how to lose weight, it is not so much method but time that gets us into trouble. When we attempt to lose weight quickly, the body believes that there is a danger of starvation present. This triggers the body’s defense mechanisms.

It is a curious fact that as conscious beings, we sometimes disagree with nature’s view of what’s important. In situations where the survival is the focus of attention, this disagreement takes on a much heavier consequence.

As an example; when the body is exposed to conditions of cold that it can’t cope with, its own internal temperature begins to drop. This is a condition known as hypothermia.

In an attempt to weather out the threatening hypothermia situation as long as possible, the body shuts down blood to non-essential parts of the body. This list of “non-essentials” seems reasonable: arms, legs . . . WHAT?!? . . . the head? That’s right; the body considers the head a non-essential part!!

We also come to a parting of the ways with our bodies when it comes to how the body handles things when it thinks we are in danger of starving. Among the many responses the body has to this situation, two are of particular interest.

1. The body adapts to the lower number of available calories by lowering the metabolism. This way, it can conserve its inventory of fat.
2. The body knows that muscle is “high maintenance.” Muscle consumes calories even if we’re just relaxing on the couch. So the body remedies this problem by reducing our muscle mass - it literally “eats” it!

It would appear that we have been outsmarted by our bodies. By becoming more frugal about spending fat and evicting much of the muscle population, the body transformed our fast weight loss diet into keep weight at all costs diet.

The transition is complete; we are now long term fat storage units.

The lesson here is to avoid aggressive diets if you can.

So what would a more conservative approach to dieting look like?

An effective weight loss plan would have at least these features:

1. Non-aggressive calorie reduction: don’t cut your calories by more than 20%.
2. A body building component to help increase muscle mass.
3. Some aerobic workouts to increase the body’s Basal Metabolic Rate.

These features are each well covered in many books as individual topics. If you are looking at a diet system that is missing some of these activities, you can always just add them.

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