The diet industry is a 54 billion dollar industry with a 95% fail rate
Now I ask you? What other business would succeed with those types of numbers? We must stop and think. We must stop being blatantly taken advantage of. Diets are a marketing scheme. They are commercials. They are not factual or scientifically backed.
Now before you decide to throw caution to the wind and eat the nearest pan of brownies, let me explain what I mean.
Low calorie, restricted diets encourage muscle loss.
Yes, if you greatly reduce your caloric intake you will see smaller numbers on the scale. The problem is that you are not losing fat. You are losing precious muscle mass. You are lowering your muscle mass and you are sabotaging your efforts. This is the epitomy of yo-yo dieting. The minute you go back to eating a "normal" diet you will gain all the weight back that you lost plus more because you have lowered your metabolism due to muscle loss. This will begin a vicious cycle of weight loss to weight gain and then a feeling of failure. You are NOT the failure. The diet is failing you.
A calorie, is a calorie, is a calorie. FALSE!
This is a lie promoted by the diet industry. You need to learn to eat a balanced diet that feeds your muscle, stokes your metabolism, burns fat, and prevents precious lean tissue loss. You will not get this by popping a pill or eating 1000 calories per day in the form of 3 brownies and a diet coke. Did you know there is such a thing as the cookie diet? Are you kidding me? The cookie diet!! I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.
Muscle cell vs. fat cell.
At rest, a muscle cell burns anywhere from 40-60 calories per hour while a fat cell may burn only 1-2 calories per hour. This means, that someone with a leaner body mass (i.e more muscle) will burn more calories sitting on the couch than their friend with a higher percentage of body fat. This is why strength training is crucial for weight loss.
We are far too dependent on the numbers on the scale.
We can have two people who, on the scale, have the exact same numbers but when we visually look at them they are two different people. One of them wears a size 6 and the other wears a size 10. Why is that?
Body composition is what truly matters.
In short, body composition is your percentage of body fat. Let me give you an example, we have two women who both weigh 140 pounds. One of them is 18% body fat and the other is 40% body fat. The woman who is 18% body fat wears a size 8. The woman who is 40% body fat wears a size 12 or 14. The woman who is 18% body fat can eat 800 more calories per day than the woman who is 40% body fat because, at rest, her increased muscle burns more calories.
Hard ball vs. a beach ball. What does that mean?
You want to be the hard ball. Diets promote the beach ball. A 1 lb. hard ball or a 1 lb. beach ball. Which one is visually smaller? What type of body would you rather have?
The bottom line, low calorie diets do not work. Exercise without proper nutrition, does not work. You must pair a balanced diet with exercise in order to see results.
If you'd like to understand more about what it means to gain lean tissue, eat a healthy, balanced diet, that burns fat and improves metabolism please contact me at abby.kurtz@hcfit.com
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I also just joined Calorie King online, which is a science-based food education and "lifestyle" program. I requires total honestly with yourself and a daily log of everything that passes your lips. It calculates your "net" calorie needs (cals consumed - cals burned via exercise) for losing a safe amount (1-2 lbs/week) of weight.
ReplyDeleteYour diet has to be a certain percentage of fat vs carb vs protein, etc.
I'm learning a lot about what I put in my body. Its fastinating, but sad how I've been eating for the past year.
Meg, you are correct, losing 1-2lbs per week is the maximum amount of weight that you want to lose. You must make sure that you are doing strength training and cardiovascular exercise at the same time so that you can minimize your muscle loss. Calorie King is a great place for a food log and I highly encourage it. You should work at eating 5-6 small meals every 3-4 hours. This will keep your metabolism fired up and burning all day long. Each time you eat you should combine healthy fat, complex carbohydrates, and protein. This will help your body maintain blood sugar levels at a constant rate and will thus keep you feeling full for longer. And finally, never, ever skip breakfast. Your mom was right when she told you it was the most important meal of the day.
ReplyDeleteLearning how to eat healthy is a lifelong process. It involves preparation and self-education but the rewards are immense and after all, aren't you worth it?