Our body should not be considered as our enemy but as our best friend. Listen to it and it will help you live better.
Our body has been designed in such a way, it tries to save us from abuse (crash diets, etc) and it is enough refined to adapt to about any situation so that we can go on living and using it.
For example, by starving your body during a crash diet, you have programmed it to conserve energy. In other words, it works like the screen saver on your computer. Thus a side effect of this energy conservation mode is a lower basal metabolic rate (the rate at which we burn calories at rest). The BMR is the energy taken for your basic bodily functions and muscle tissue. The body turns into a survival mode.
Therefore, someone with a slow metabolism burns less calories at rest than someone with a higher metabolism.
Sports activities plus a logic and well-balanced diet speed up your overall metabolism, not your basal metabolism.
A three large meals per day, or five or six smaller meals spread evenly throughout the day helps improving the body's ability to maintain a constant energy burning state. To eat throughout the day a well-balanced meal and not junk food helps your body to conserve a better metabolism.
Those who have lost several pounds of weight by dieting did not help their body composition; on the contrary, much of the weight lost was muscle and not fat.
Worse, they are lighter but the ratio of body fat to muscle has not changed; in some cases, it has increased. Why? Because their body got rid of what served it less: muscles, and kept the source of great energy: fat.
Now, losing muscle mass is not good because muscles act as calorie-burning furnaces in our bodies. The more muscles you form, the lesser your body tend to be in fat. Muscles add to your metabolism. If your muscles do not burn extra-calories, then these calories are transformed and stored into fat. This is why having a regular physical activity is important.
To conclude, starving the body of nutrients result in slowing down your metabolism, thus increasing the body's chances of storing fat.
Links:
In order to calculate your basal metabolism rate, you can go to this site:
http://www.room42.com/nutrition/basal.sh...
Nutrition experts answer your questions on metabolism and nutrition. Plus, they offer you a FREE monthly newsletter.
http://www.metabolism.com/
If you need a few links to calculate your calories intake everyday and online, access to Nutrition on the Web and try their diet planner:
