Today’s Health discussion will be about why after careful eating some of us do not loose weight or continue to gain weight. This topic came up during the holidays when I was visiting my mother. My mother years after having me and my brother was still pretty skinny and then the bloating started. Now after her numerous attempts at eating right her weight hasn’t budged.
There are several factors to consider when planning a diet. The biggest one is how much weight does one want to loose a week? The ideal for any human being is between half a pound to one pound. Anything more than that is doable but not recommended by alot of doctors and dietitian.
Myth #1: If I stop eating a lot I will drop weight faster.
This is true if you plan your diet the correct way. A lot of us decide that we are going to just eat a slice of bread and fruit for breakfast. Something small for lunch and possibly a small dinner or in my mothers case a hefty dinner. The reason this doesn’t seem to drop pounds as expected is that the human body is supposed to consume atleast 1200 calories per day whatever your weight might be! If you drop below 1200 calories you are not getting the nutrients that are needed to maintain your body and your body in turn goes into starvation mode. Once starvation mode kicks in your body stores as much fat as it can because it is planning to survive on the bare necessities it is being provided in the form of nutrition. Hence instead of dropping the pounds you expected you either face the dilemma of not losing anything or your weight starts to go up.
After intervening in my mothers daily intake of food I noticed how she was consuming 700 calories below what she is expected to hence her weight doesn’t seem to budge while on the other hand people who eat more than her still continue to be smaller than her.
Myth #2 I can eat smaller meals and then have a big meal for dinner
Yes yes we all heard growing up how breakfast is the most important meal and should not be skipped and no they weren’t lying to us. The reasoning behind this is also that you need to continue providing your body enough nutrition otherwise your metabolic rate starts to slow down. It is the body’s reaction to not getting enough food and energy therefore it decides to shut the shop down! It throws its hands up and says well there is nothing I can do. I do not have enough energy to run the entire system as well as store it. Also just nibbling a little here and there all day leads to you having a hefty meal (cause hey you can only go hungry for so long). At the end of the day when your metabolic rate has already slowed down in turn leading your body to convert that GIANT meal you just had into more fat!
Myth #3 My friend Leslie lost 20 pounds on this diet I am going to follow suit
My conversation with my mother in regards to her diet was very carefully geared towards her trying to figure out what is it that would work for her and no it does not mean you have to get expensive trainers or even a gym membership if that is not what you are interested in. It also does not mean a life of eating salads and fruits unless you enjoy that over regular greasy food. I specifically explained to her that after doing the math I a person 35 pounds lighter than her needs to consume less calories than her. If she follows my diet plan it is only going to backfire and continues resulting in the stubborn weight loss. The reason being our activity level. I spend at least 9 to 11 hours sitting at a Desk everyday where as she has an active job where she has to be on her feet all day running around. If she eats how much and what I eat she actually will run into a calorie deficit and continue to rack up pounds or face the stubborn weight loss.
This is it for Fitness 101 today! I promise I have more coming so if you are interested in understanding why certain things work for one person and not for others and how you can find your own path to being happy and healthy please feel to stop by my blog often or hit the follow button. Trust me you wont be disappointed. You are talking to someone who was skinny struggling to gain weight all their life and then ending up gaining a little too much and has just recently found the balance of where they need to be. How do I know these concepts work? Because I have tried it and there is science behind it to prove it!
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