It happens to everyone. You are flying along on your diet, workout routine or both and all of a sudden life becomes too busy or stressful and something has give. For many the first thing on their list is being healthy. It is unfortunate but as I said it happens to everyone from time to time.
It is never a liner path from point A to B. It is more of a pendulum. You swing towards your goal but then you swing back away from it. The best you can hope for is that your forward swings have more momentum than your backward ones, and over the long run you continue to make progress.
I see it all the time. People go to the gym and kill themselves for an hour or more then as a reward to themselves they stop for ice cream on the way home. You might as well save yourself the time and money and just skip both. this is why weight loss = diet + exercise.
There have been several studies in the last few years stating that exercise isn’t effective for losing weight. Then came a flood of articles analyzing those studies and concluding that people’s body size is predestined (meaning if you are fat, then you are just meant to be fat). This obviously isn’t true. You only have to watch a season of “The Bigest Loser” to see that people can change their body types, and can make drastic changes with the help of exercise. Diet and exercise and weight loss are all connected.
The Studies weren’t wrong
The Studies didn’t get it wrong, they just had a very narrow focus.
This will probably turn into a series of articles. I don’t know if myth is a good work since starvation mode does actually exist. Like most of these there is a grain of truth to the claims, but for most people in most situations Starvation Mode is a myth. Do you need to worry about Starvation Mode? The short answer is no. For anyone who is overweight or even a healthy weight starvation mode will not be a factor. If you are underweight starvation mode could affect you but you shouldn’t be dieting anyway.
I've got nothing related to this topic, so here's a picture of my puppy.
What people think starvation mode is
It isn’t hammered down, but people think starvation mode kicks in if you consume less than 1200 calories per day. It causes your metabolism to slow to a crawl. Your body stops burning calories, and you stop losing weight, some people even believe you can begin gaining weight if you eat few enough calories (something that violates the laws of physics).
What starvation mode actually is
Starvation mode is what happens when your body runs out of fuel to burn. Your body will feed on 2 things as long as they are available: food you eat and your fat reserves. If these 2 calorie sources are depleted then your body has no choice but to slow down. People become lethargic. They have trouble concentrating, They are laterally running on empty. With no where else to get energy the body will consume muscle and organ tissue to keep going. Body temperature is no longer regulated properly and people can get very cold. Their metabolism does slow to a crawl but that is because there is no more fuel for the fire. I want to hammer this point home. The body doesn’t choose to slow metabolism to conserve energy. Energy is depleted so the body is forced to slow down. This is real starvation and it is probably hell to go through.
So I’d like to tell you a story. This happened to me the other day and it really bothered me. As the weather is getting nicer I am wearing less bulky clothes. One of the ladies in the office asked me if I lost weight. That didn’t bother me obviously. I said yes, I dropped 20 lbs in 12 weeks. She then asked how I did it. I walked her through all the aspects of my diet plan and my exercise regiment. At the end of this long description she looked at me and said “Well you have a fast metabolism…” What!? In 5 words she discounted everything I explained, as well as belittled my 12 weeks of hard work. Now I’ know she didn’t mean anything by it, but it seems like such a dismissive statement.
Weight loss is all about the numbers. In fact it is all about a single diet equation.
Calories in – Calories out = Weight Change
This equation is responsible for every single weight loss product that works. Its simple, elegant, and free. It can be understood by anyone, but is overlooked by nearly everyone these days. The fact that it is free is why no one promotes it. No one can make money off just telling your to eat less and move more. So they talk about other things. Hormones, specific exercise routines, diet plans, avoid these food and eat these foods. These all may play some part in weight loss but not nearly as big a role as Ci – Co = WC. So lets break it down so you can get started.
Less Calories in, and More Calories Out will tip the balance in your favor
In the immortal words of Henry Ford “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” on a similar vein if you think weight loss is difficult then it will be, if you think it’ll be easy then you are on your way to results.
No real relation to the post (except the name of the song is My Own Wrost Enemy).
I”m not into new age crap, but I know from experience that YOU are your worst enemy when it comes to making any change. A mindset is the first and most important thing you need to concentrate on. The good news is that it gets easier as you see results. Weight loss is like any other long term project, it looks too difficult and not worth the effort at the start. If you jump in and start the work after a while you will see that the destination is getting closer and your starting point is getting further away.
So jump in and believe you can get the results you want.
The Dead Simple Advice: Weight Loss and getting fit starts with a mindset, believe its easy and it will be.
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