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Natural Weight Lose, Part II (food) - Page 2

© Robert M. Oliva, CSW

Keep this in mind: the more you restrict your intake of calories the more the body is slowing down to meet the perceived threat of starvation. As soon as you stop your diet you will gain weight very rapidly. The reason is that your metabolism is so slow that once you increase your caloric intake it all will be stored very efficiently as fat. You will become a person who says: “All I have to do is look at food and I gain weight.”

Eating can help you lose weight!

Eating improves your metabolism. Sound weird? When you eat a meal your overall metabolism is increased due to the energy required for digestion and absorption of the meal. This happens every time you eat. Your body becomes a burner of calories rather than a storage area for fat. Eating regularly throughout the day is very important. Don’t miss these opportunities to rev-up your metabolism.

Eat six small meals a day. This can increase your caloric expenditure by 5% - 10%! You also keep your sugar levels low and maintain a higher metabolism. Your body stays in a constant state of calorie utilization. By eating a meal you are actually burning more calories than if you did not eat at all.

Muscle Loss

One of the results of most crash or extreme dieting is lose of muscle tissue. This is especially important to avoid if you are over 50. Keeping your muscle mass becomes more and more important as you age. The happiness of our later years can be highly influenced by your ability to get around and perform every day tasks.

I'm sure you have seen people that have taken off a lot of weight and look terrible; their faces are drooping, their arms are sagging. Death warmed over as we used to say. They lost weight but they also lost much of their muscle tissue. To keep the weight off they have to eat nearly nothing. Once they return to any semblance of a normal diet they gain weight very rapidly and put everything back on and more. They are also weaker and less healthy than before the diet began.

You are, in effect, cannibalizing yourself.

Keep this in mind: Muscle is a good burner of calories. If you lose muscle you are yet again slowing down your metabolism and compromising your long-term health.

Lose weight safely

Consider the following approaches to weight lose. They will help you create a lifestyle that you can live with:

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