Dieting thoughts

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Dieting thoughts:

Calories in and out are not the same as the body processes some

foods faster, utilizes some foods more efficiently and tends to push

foods through faster if large amounts are eaten suddenly.

When dieting, the metabolism tends to slow down causing the body to

burn less as you eat less. This is why 5-6 meals a day works better

than less, the constant intake of food (even though it is less)

prevents the body from thinking it is starving and has to store

energy (as fat). Try to fool the body sometimes--miss a few meals,

or eat extra for a day. Same with water, vary the intake, don't just

guzzle a large glass down each time, it will just pass through

without being absorbed. Let yourself get thirsty sometimes so when

you do drink, your body will soak it up.

For weight gain, do the opposite of for weight loss--eat large

meals, eat before bed, eat carbs, fats, etc. Having a large

breakfast makes you hungrier for lunch, stuff yourself at lunch,

then again 2 or 3 hours later. Same for supper, eat foods you like

and eat lots of it. Even foods with simple sugars but high calories

and protein--ice cream, etc. increases the appetite and adds high

calories. Don't take ECA while trying to gain weight, it suppresses

the appetite.

More detail:

All calories are not equal

One thing to remember are that the body is far more complex than

most people give it credit for. Most researchers, dieticians etc.

try to oversimplify things by assuming that the body will have the

same response to the same stimuli every time. They keep

saying: " To lose weight, calories going in must be less than the

calories going out. " While this is true in a very basic sense,

there are so many variables with what your body is doing

(internally) at any given time that it's virtually useless as a

guide to dieting. They used to say (and many still do) that " a

calorie is a calorie is a calorie " , meaning that all calories are

equal and by simply eating less than your estimated expenditure will

result in weight loss. It has since been proven that all calories

are NOT equal and that different types of foods have dramatically

different effects on the body. Different food types trigger

powerful hormone releases which profoundly affect how your body

deals with the calories, among other things.

It has recently been shown that those on a diet higher in protein

have an increased metabolic rate over those on a diet higher in

carbs, even though calories were the SAME for both groups. The

higher protein group also lost significantly more fat during the

test period. I have known this for years myself due to my own

experiences but it was very nice to see it proven in a controlled

study. It is but one example of calories not being equal. Calories

from sugar and carbs have a much different effect on the body than

calories from protein and fat, partly due to the blood sugar

increase and resulting insulin release to bring the sugar back to

normal. When sugar is eaten it gets absorbed very quickly into the

bloodstream which usually results in an overcompensation of

insulin. This brings the sugar levels down far below normal which

slows down the metabolism and will very likely make you tired for a

while and then hungrier than ever for more sugar/carbs. With complex

carbs this effect is much less because the carb chains have to be

broken down into simple sugars so there isn't a large sudden influx

of sugar into the blood. Still, when too many complex carbs are

eaten the body can't process or use it all at that time so it stores

what it doesn't use as fat. Sugar is easily converted to fat and

unless it's needed for energy or to replenish glycogen stores in the

muscles and liver it will be stored as fat.

Now you ask why, if you eat fewer calories, your body doesn't use

the stored fat to make up the difference? The body will generally

try to stay in its current state, and the longer it has been in that

state the harder it will be to make it change. Even if outside

elements are varied, the body will adjust itself to remain basically

the same. Now if you continually eat too much and are gaining

weight, the body is already in a state of change which is double

hard to reverse. If you suddenly cut the calories your body will

say " Hey, I used up all the food already, I better slow the

metabolism down and trigger the hunger receptors " . Suddenly you're

tired and hungry, and burning less calories. So when you eat less,

the body's first response is to slow down the metabolic rate, cause

cravings for food, store as much fat as possible from the next meal

to make up for it, and maybe take off a bit of muscle if it feels

the muscle is not needed. This is where weight training while

dieting is important; it helps preserve muscle. If you continue to

eat the lesser amount the weight gain will slow down or stop but it

could still be a while before fat loss starts. If you eat sweets and

lots of carbs your body might just learn to live with the lower

calories simply by slowing down the burning of them.

If you cut fat out of your diet the body is even more likely to

store what it can as fat. Despite what you hear, fat is a very

necessary component of the body and you would die without it. It's

just too much, and the wrong types of fat that are bad. When you

have some fat in the diet the body gets used to digesting and

burning fat, and if it doesn't feel a need to store it (if it

consistently gets adequate food and insulin levels are stable), this

fat burning will carry over into burning bodyfat.

Protein is treated differently. For one thing it's harder to break

down into sugars and the process of doing so consumes many

calories. Protein is also used for tissue building and repair so

much of it gets used just to maintain the body's condition. It

doesn't cause the large insulin spikes of sugar and doesn't promote

the storage of fat. Vegetables don't easily go to fat either due to

the fiber content which either doesn't get digested or burns many

calories to digest. Fruits contain a lot of sugar but also have

fiber which slows down absorption of it. Still, they should be

taken in moderation when trying to lose fat.