In an effort to drop those unwanted pounds, all too often, people will ‘go on a diet’ and focus all of their attention on loosing scale weight. Unfortunately, the chronic habit of loosing and gaining weight or yo-yo dieting by restricting calories, carbohydrates, protein or even fat, creates multiple problems that make loosing weight very difficult.
Other common strategies such as appetite suppressants, fasting for prolonged periods and taking laxatives create tremendous metabolic problems that actually compound the problem. In fact, this repetitive dieting epidemic that pervades our society actually encourages the storage of body fat and reduction in lean muscle tissue, further encouraging more and more storage of body fat – a vicious cycle to be sure. To get a complete understanding how to effectively manage your body mass and body fat percentage, it’s important to look at some of the side effects of crash dieting and restricting nutrients.
Our bodies have a tremendous capacity to store energy. Between our muscles and our liver stores of glucose or glycogen, we have the capacity to run many miles without replenishment. However, our fat stores contain enough energy to run literally hundreds and hundreds of miles! The interesting thing about our bodies is that they haven’t changed much since our early hunter/gatherer ancestors.
During those times, our early ancestors went prolonged periods without food. Because of this heritage, when we don’t consume enough energy, our bodies literally reprogram to store as much energy (calories) as possible – body fat. So, when we resume the consumption of calories, more gets stored for the next bout of limited food. As a result of this, we have become very effective at storing calories and not very efficient at shedding those calories later. In fact, during those times of severe food shortage, in an effort to save energy, our body metabolism will drop and our body will attempt to save the fat stores even more.
If the shortage lasts long enough, the body will begin using our muscle tissue for energy! Imagine that. We have a genetic predisposition to catabolize our own muscle tissue instead of body fat to meet our energy needs during famine periods. Is it, then, any wonder that the average diet in America leads to a net weight GAIN. Yes, it’s true that there are many people that loose weight on the thousands and thousands of diets that are available. But, at what expense?
Although there is weight loss, as we have seen, much of the loss is in the form of our muscle tissue. Accompanying the weight loss, the results are often metabolic problems, gall stones, dehydration, kidney problems, hair loss, wrinkles, thyroid problems, osteoporosis, fatigue, muscle wasting, muscle cramping, confusion, dizziness, and more.
Without jumping around the subject too much – DIETS DON’T WORK! Every time you restrict calories or any one of the macro nutrients, your body will adjust to the reduction. In addition, when you have those periods of yo-yo dieting, you begin to create permanent damage to your organs and glands making it more and more difficult to loose weight each time you begin again requiring more drastic efforts.
Begin with the end in mind
If you begin with the end in mind, I suggest striving to have a healthy body composition, be fit, have lots of energy, and be pain free, to fit into the clothes you like, and generally enjoy life! To reach that ideal, realize that dieting and getting quick weight loss actually does the opposite. So, let’s look at the various factors that encourage fat gain and fat storage in the body.
In short, those factors are; insulin insensitivity, increased blood glucose levels, chronic stress hormones and decreased muscle volume.
Insulin is a fundamental hormone produced by the pancreas that helps usher glucose from the blood stream primarily into the muscle and liver cells. Insulin insensitivity develops as the result of physical in-activity, a diet high in processed sugars and being overweight. If someone is insulin resistant, thy will typically have chronically high levels of circulating blood glucose. Excess levels of blood glucose get converted to fat and stored for later use. The result is more resistance and higher levels of circulating blood glucose encouraging more fat storage – a vicious cycle.
Your muscle system is composed of 639 individual skeletal muscles. The primary function of these muscles is to provide locomotion and balance to gravity. The other benefit comes from what’s known as muscle tone. Many people will look at someone and see that they are toned. What they are referring to is the leanness of their body. However, everyone has a certain level of tone to their muscles. Regardless how much fat you have covering your muscles, you still have a level of tone. Tone is a partially contracted state of the muscular system of the body.
This tone burns energy even while you are sleeping. The amount of muscle you have and the tone of that muscle will determine your basal metabolic rate. Your basal metabolic rate is the rate that your body will burn energy while at rest. Ad to that basic rate of energy consumption to your daily activities like walking, reading, working, and other exercise will give you the total calories burned throughout the each day. Your basal metabolic rate is the key to your ability to burn fat for energy and be fit and lean. It stands to reason that if you have a low basal metabolic rate, you will burn less energy or calories throughout the day and the more prone you will be to store any excess calories as fat.
Now, here’s the key; dieting reduces your basal metabolic rate. As we have already discussed, our bodies are exceptional at adapting to our environment. When we restrict calories and other macro-nutrients like carbohydrates, fat or protein, our body will compensate to the low supply of energy and adjust the body’s energy demands by lowering your basal metabolic rate.
It does this by reducing your metabolically active muscle mass and muscle tone. By reducing your muscle mass and tone, your metabolic rate drops. You will burn less energy throughout the day to match the amount of energy available. When you “go off” your diet and resume your previous calorie consumption, the excess energy will be readily stored as fat for the next round of lowered energy availability; compounding the cycle of weight gain.
What does the body good?
After understanding what encourages fat storage and unhealthy weight levels, it’s easier to understand that eating plenty of calories in the form of fresh wholesome foods is important. It’s true for many people that they are simply consuming too many empty calories. So, avoid processed foods with added sugars, flours and other “white”. Avoid excess alcohol and saturated, unhealthy fats. But, understand that fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats and whole grains are all that it takes.
Incorporating a sound fitness program that includes resistance training and moderately paced cardiovascular exercise helps on many levels. The benefits of regular exercise are many. One benefit is an increase in insulin sensitivity, which improves the efficiency and regulation of your blood glucose levels. Of course, exercise burns calories above your basal metabolic rate and if done correctly, will enhance the ability of your body to burn your body fat for energy.
You’re stressing me out!
Chronic stress encourages fat deposition by creating elevated cortisol levels. Cortisol is released by the adrenal glands in the body in response to stress. In addition to suppressing immune function and accelerating the aging process, cortisol increases weight gain. Stress management, then, becomes an important factor in attaining and maintaining a healthy body weight and body composition. Unfortunately, if you are totally focused on loosing weight, the stress will work against your best efforts!
So, take the time to maintain and regulate your stress levels. That can be as simple as taking 15 minutes each day to close your eyes and rest. Exercise and physical activity, especially outside if possible, will dramatically reduce your stress levels.
Putting it all together
When planning your weight control program, understand that diets don’t work! Instead, focus on the basics and begin with the end in mind. Make small incremental improvements to your nutrition, exercise and stress management efforts. When you begin with the end in mind, before making any changes, ask yourself; is this something I can continue for the rest of my life? If you can answer – YES, then you will receive the long term benefit. If not, then don’t implement it until you can make the change long term.
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