As I sit here, trying to formulate some sort of clever introduction, I am reminded of my former boss, Todd, who would frequently walk into the lunch room with a single apple, a granola bar, or a miniature frozen meal and watch in envy as the people around him consume their oh-so-yummy lunches. He would often communicate his frustrations with dieting and having to give up his favorite foods, or food in general, without seeing any results. On a similar note, I have a friend named Katie, who is very physically active, participates in many types of sports, has run several marathons, who has also expressed to me her frustrations with trying losing weight.
I know there are many people in this world who can relate to Todd and Katie; otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this article right now. In fact, one of the biggest struggles people face today is dealing with weight loss. Many of us try outrageous diets. Others try hitting the gym. Both scenarios however usually end with little success. Why? Because most people just are not aware of the right or wrong ways to diet or exercise. And can you blame them? No. You can’t blame the unlearned for what has not been taught. The reality is that most of the information we get today about diet, exercise, and “healthy eating” comes from marketing schemes that try to sell their products or quick-fix ideas just to get their hands in our pockets. Think about it. Nobody ever really teaches a child the right way to eat or exercise, so we shouldn’t expect them to know it as adults.
Okay, so by now I’m sure you have one or two questions in mind like “What is the right way to diet or exercise?”, “How do I lose weight then?”, or more importantly, “How do I keep the weight off?” Well, in my research, I’ve discovered that to lose weight, keep it off, and hopefully still manage a smile on your face, you need three essential ingredients: a good healthy diet, moderate exercise, and most importantly patience. Most diets fail because they lack one of these. But as you will learn a diet cannot help sustain weight-loss without exercise, and vice versa. So let’s talk about how each of these plays a part in the big picture and discuss some common misconceptions along the way.
Dieting: When we hear the word “diet” we usually associate it with negative thoughts or feelings. Most of us tend to frown at the thought of it. However, dieting is just a general term relating to “what and how we eat”. A good diet consists of adding healthier foods to your day and moderating the not-so-healthy ones. It doesn’t necessarily mean give up all the foods you love.
Dieting is important to weight loss because it prevents you from consuming more calories than your body needs which allows it to burn any excess fat that has been stored. Basically, it will help you lose weight. However, many people tend to think that if they cut enough calories from their diet, they won’t need to exercise. True statement? Well I guess it depends on how much you are willing to give up. If you are the type of person who doesn’t love to eat, (does anyone like that even exist in the world?) then shedding pounds will be easy for you. All you have to do is cut your food consumption by nearly half; that’s the amount of dieting it would take for the average person to lose about one pound a week. Then maintain that diet for the rest of your life (see Notes 1.0 for breakdown). See the problem?
Notes 1.0
Facts
- The average American consumes about 2,700 calories per day (USDA’s Economic Research Service Report)
- A physically inactive person, on average, will burn less than 2,000 calories per day.
- 3,500 calories = 1 pound
Conclusions
- 500 calories must be lost per day to lose 1 pound per week (3,500 ÷ 7 days).
- The average person must eat less than 1,500 calories per day (2,000 – 500) to exhibit that calorie loss.
- That is 1,200 fewer calories than the average person eats now.
- Therefore, the average person must decrease food intake by 44% or more (1,200 ÷ 2,700 = 44%).
Most people who go on diets will generally lose weight initially but are unable to maintain that weight loss. Why? Because diets are often so strict that people give up on them and fall back into their old eating habits. When this happens, they either return to their original weight or gain more. One study, published in the April issue of American Psychologist, followed a group of dieters for over two years and reported that 83% of them had gained back more weight than they lost. In another study, researchers found that one of the best predictors of weight gain was having lost weight on a past diet.
Why does this happen? Well, there are many explanations for this, the simplest being that people who go on diets generally don’t learn healthy sustainable habits. Instead they look to find quick-fixes that usually result in doom.
I don’t know how many times I’ve grinned in the past having to sit and watch as a dieting co-worker eats their compact cheese covered broccoli meal or half-sized steak nachos. Many dieters tend to eat less to help take off the pounds without considering a second option, eating healthier. They eat their usual steak and fries but cut their servings down and are left hungry shortly afterwards. That’s no way to live. Dieting doesn’t have to mean “less food”. Sure for some of us, it wouldn’t hurt to cut down on the food intake just a little. But for the most part if we just avoid fats and processed foods, we could still eat healthy full meals without penalizing our bodies for it.
Now, another reason for this weight-loss calamity is that “dieting” (a.k.a. food and happiness deprivation) slows down your metabolism and your body’s overall ability to burn fats. You see, when you deprive your body of food intake, your stress level increases and your body goes into survival mode. Basically, your body is preparing itself in the event that it does starve and clings onto as much fat as possible. That is why dieters who begin to incorporate more food into their day gain the weight back faster. Their bodies are still in survival mode.
Here is another factor to consider. When a diet is too extreme and your body does not receive a sufficient amount of energy to function, it takes its energy from stored fats, muscles, and sometimes bones. To easily demonstrate how this will cause a dieting person to gain back weight, we will turn to our trusty sidekick, Bob. Bob is your average American male. He is 5’10” and weighs about 200 pounds. Although Bob is a little more huggable than your average bear, it is important to note that his body currently consists of both fat and muscle. His muscles function as a fat burner even when Bob is not physically active. Yes that’s right! Your muscles will burn fat as you sleep, sit in your comfy (or not so comfy) office chair, or even as you lounge on your couch all day watching soap operas.
Let’s say that Bob needs to lose a ton of weight fast and goes on an insane you-can-barely-eat-anything diet. Now Bob’s poor body will not get enough energy for his most basic bodily functions so it breaks down fat and muscle to get that energy. Then Bob returns to his normal eating routine. But oh no! He no longer has the muscle mass he once did to help him burn calories. Therefore he gains back more weight than he had lost. What’s worse is that the next time Bob diets it will be harder for him to shed those pounds. Awe poor Bob.
Okay, so by now you are probably wondering, “Wow! If dieting doesn’t work, then what will?” Rest assured this was not an attempt to sway you from it. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, dieting helps you lose weight initially. However once you’ve lost the weight, you will need a way to keep it off. How?” you ask, by incorporating physical activity into your day. For the fortunate few, physical activity is already embedded into their daily lives, because of work, hobbies, etc. But for those of us who sit in office chairs and cubicles for several hours a day, exercise will play an important role in keeping off body fat once it has been chiseled away.
Exercising: Now the science behind exercise and weight loss is simple. Basically, exercise helps to increase your metabolic rate, the rate at which your body burns calories. Different exercises will create different results. Aerobic or cardiovascular activities will increase your heart rate and the flow of oxygen through your body, helping your body to burn lots of calories during your workout. Yay burning calories is awesome!
But wait, there’s more! By increasing your lean body mass (a.k.a. your muscles) through strength or resistance training, you will increase what is called your resting metabolic rate, the rate at which your body burns calories at your most sedentary (what I call “lazy”) state. Do you remember our friend Bob? Or how Bob gained back his weight? It was because his muscles had deteriorated. Less muscle means fewer calories burned. So understandably more muscle would mean more calories burned, right? Absolutely! What this means is that if you are feeling a little lazy, as I often do, you will still be burning more calories if you’ve built up your muscle mass. Yay burning calories is awesome!
Okay, so here’s a little grim piece of reality to help keep you mindful of your workout habits. (You may not think this is so awesome.) While exercise can help people to lose weight, it may also cause people to gain weight or have no effect on a person’s weight at all. How is this possible? Well, instead of thinking about what we do during exercise, let’s focus for a moment on what many of us tend to do after we exercise.
No doubt one of the first things that come to mind after a good workout is the thought of devouring a deliciously decadent pastry, an ice-cold smoothie, or anything that will satisfy our palettes and fill our stomachs. This is because while exercise does burn calories, it can also stimulate hunger. Most of us tend to eat more on days we exercise, whether it’s due to hunger or merely to reward ourselves for our hard work. And upon leaving the gym, we run to the nearest bakery or café just as quickly as we ran on our treadmills earlier that morning. We indulge ourselves because we think that exercise makes us immune to weight gain.
The general belief about exercise is that once you get your daily 30- to 60-minute dose, you are set for the day. But the problem with exercise is that we neglect to read the warning labels. Warning: Do not take with excess food. Exercise does not give us the power to instantly burn away all the calories we ingest into our bodies, and that one guiltless blueberry muffin you pick up from Starbucks will quickly replenish the 500 calories you’ve worked so hard to burn in your last 60-minute workout. Add a coffee or Frappuccino to that order and you have consumed more calories than you’ve burned, possibly causing your body to gain weight over time. Yikes!
Now here’s a question for you to ponder. How often do we strain ourselves over a workout and wind up too tired and sore to do anything else afterwards? We might avoid doing chores or making that shopping run and just settle for a day of watching television and napping. We workout, which is great, but then compensate for it by moving less throughout the rest of our day. Tisk! Tisk! A better solution for this would be to try to incorporate low to moderate activities throughout the day, such as walking, swimming, or hiking. Besides not burning you out, it can also prevent you from those after workout cravings.
Whew! That was A LOT to take in! But before I leave you to your day, here is one more piece of advice. We’ve talked about the importance of exercising ad controlling our diet and how the two go hand-in-hand. But the single most important ingredient to this weight-loss recipe is to just have patience. Losing weight the right way takes time. In fact, studies show that those who lose weight slowly, are more likely to keep it off. People don’t change overnight so it would be unfair to expect our bodies to. If you are not losing weight immediately, don’t quit. Give it time and just keep working at it and you will see results, guaranteed!
References:
http://www.time.com/time/ magazine/article/0,9171, 1914974,00.html
http://www.shapefit.com/why- cardio-alone-does-not-work. html
http://www.sciencedaily. com/releases/2007/04/ 070404162428.htm
