 STEP 1: Lose your fad weight loss diet plan & take up a well balanced diet Many people believe that by strictly sticking to a weight loss diet plan incorporating salads, soups and maybe a couple low fat meals a day, they will be able to lose weight and look healthier. Sorry to burst your bubble but this is untrue! The important thing to realize here is that the weigh scale is not an indicator of your fitness level. While strictly reducing your caloric intake prescribed by the weight loss diet plan, you may be able to shed weight but your body composition will not change. Your body composition comprises of the amount of lean muscle mass and fat present all over your body. See, what happens when you greatly reduce your caloric intake is that your brain places your body into starvation mode. It thinks you are in the middle of the Sahara, Antartica or in this economy, unemployment! Once placed in this "starvation mode" accredited to the fad weight loss diet plan, your body begins to hold on to its fat repositories for dear life so that it can conserve them for sustaining existence of life. It ends up eating into your glycogen(energy) and muscle mass stores first. The end result is a loss in muscle mass and the persistence of fat deposits. This is why most people on such a weight loss diet plan end up shrinking in size, lose weight, but are still left with a fair amount of visceral (fat stored within and around organs) and subcutaneous fat (fat around your abdomen and waist) Your minimum daily caloric intake relies on your metabolism. The metabolic rate of ones body depends on their day-to-day activities, lifestyle and overall lean muscle mass. During starvation mode, your body’s metabolic rate considerably slows down. Partaking in such fad weight loss diet plans over an extended period of time will force your metabolism to adapt to this change causing your weight loss to plateau and harder to maintain lean muscle mass. Any future increase in calories will result in alarming increase in body fat. Bottom line, what you need is a well balanced diet along with exercise to promote an active lifestyle and the acquisition of lean muscle mass; thereby increasing your body’s metabolic rate. What you should focus on is fat loss and NOT weight loss! In addition, in order to maintain and/or accelerate your metabolism you will need to include an adequate amount of fat within your healthy diet. Now you may think that the fact of consuming more fat in order to effectively lose fat is preposterous. But I kid you not! These 'new fats' are required to burn fat normally and maintain normal glucose and cholestorol levels. You would need to focus on Omega-3 fatty acids, unsaturated and polyunsaturated ("good fats") necessary to combat and eliminate the saturated "bad fats". Find out how many calories a day you need based on your general metabolic rate. Ideally, you would want to maintain a well balanced diet comprising of 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates, 30% fat. Atleast 20 of the 30 percent of your fat intake should be derived from “good fat” sources. Also, do not go overboard with the protein intake. Remember, the human body can only absorb 30g of protein in a single sitting. The rest of it is burned off as fuel or processed into urea and dispelled from the body. When it comes to carbohydrates within your well balanced diet, focus on consuming complex carbohydrates (high fiber foods) and stay away from simple carbohydrates (sugar and starchy food). In addition, an important fact to bring to your attention is that carbs are energy. The calories derived from carbohydrates are used to maintain body weight or can be burned off. Anything excess left at the end of the day is stored as future energy i.e. fat. Thus, you would want to consume a majority of your carbs during the day such that you burn as much off as you progress into the night, eventually getting the body ready for sleep. So hang up waiting in line to speak to a Jenny Craig representative! Start eating a well balanced diet and stay tuned to this blog for key tips to help you reach your fitness goals. Are you on or have tried a fad weight loss diet plan in the recent past? Please tell us about your results. I would also like to strongly encourage readers to share their own health nutrition tips within the comments section of this blog. Have you read STEP 2 of how to LOSE FAT AND GAIN MUSCLE AT THE SAME TIME?    CommentsD Gill Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:24:44 Excellent advice! People need to top focusing so much on fads and focus on facts. Bobby V Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:32:12 good stuff qiangqiang Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:54:11 I am a fat boy in the past, but now I am a sexy and confident boy. Maybe you will ask how I can do it. So I will tell you about it. If you use the product zi xiu tang ,you will lose weight quickly.you can landing site (2daydiet-green.com)to inquiry it. Leave a Reply |
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