Why You Cannot Keep The Weight Off
Monday, July 14, 2008
Image via WikipediaI have been a regular customer at a certain pub here. When it closed last year, I became a "nomad" searching for a new watering hole to call "home".Recently a friend told me the guys there had opened a new place at a different location, and I headed there.
When the guys saw me (after 1 year) they commented "Wow you lost so much weight! You look fighting fit and trim now!".
Ok that's nothing much new there since I have shared similar comments from people who've seen me after an absence of a few weeks.
Now the interesting thing is that while they might have commented on how slim I am right now, they also mentioned that they have tried in vain to "lose weight and keep it off". From what they tell me, everybody had the same "flaw".
They all "went on a diet and an exercise regime".
The problem is, when you keep thinking that it's a diet and exercise routine to get rid of your "excess baggage", you're expecting it to be temporary. Whatever "diet" you're on will not be a permanent feature. Whatever exercises you do to "get rid of the flab" will never become part of your lifestyle.
The moment you achieve the desired results, you stop. Once you stop, it all comes back. You go back to eating your unhealthy mix of foods. You go back to lazing around.
The trick is to change your diet permanently. Don't just "go on a diet". Change it. Pretty soon, once you've gotten used to your new, healthier, more balanced eating habits, you'll find you no longer eat cakes, candies, sweets, ice cream etc as often as before. Even when you DO "binge" on the odd occasion that calls for it, it will "impact harmlessly against your metabolic shield". Ok that's not quite true in that you have a "shield" but when you do work out, your metabolism increases naturally. When you do "pig out" on junk food and desserts, they won't immediately collect as fats. Chances are they'll be burnt off by your metabolism.
I sometimes spend a whole WEEKEND eating junk food, ice cream, and fatty foods. I still don't "put it on" immediately. The body has already become accustomed to burning whatever comes in as fuel.
But, changing your diet is only the first step. The second step is to have regular exercise. You need to condition your body to always burn the calories that come in. Sitting around just eating healthy doesn't really do the trick. Some people might achieve "weight loss" by just changing their diets (especially true for women who go on "crash diets") but even if they do, it'll be just temporary. I have a few female friends who always try a new fad diet. After a few weeks, they'll be slim and sexy. A month or so later, they're back where they were (not "fat" but "not slim"), simply because they stopped their "crash diets", and they never coupled it with exercise.
So, forget pills that promise you they'll absorb the fats in your food. Forget the pills that tell you they'll increase your metabolic rate. You can do it all FOR FREE. Just work out and eat right, permanently.
Labels: diet, Weightloss
Things You Probably Didn't Know
Friday, July 11, 2008
I received the following in an email yesterday. I thought it was just one more of those useless jokes or fake virus warnings until I read it. Now, I'll admit that it doesn't really have much to do with losing weight or bodybuilding, but it still relates to your health and well-being in one way or another.
So without further ado, here they are:
1. When You're Stressed...
Eat This:
1 Cup of Low-Fat Yogurt or 2 Tbsp of Mixed Nuts
Scientists in Slovakia gave people 3 grams each of two amino acids — lysine and arginine — or a placebo and asked them to deliver a speech. Blood measurements of stress hormones revealed that the amino acid–fortified public speakers were half as anxious during and after the speech as those who took the placebo. Yogurt is one of the best food sources of lysine; nuts pack tons of arginine.
Not That!
A Can of Soda
A study from the American Journal of Public Health found that people who drink 20 ounces of soda daily are three times more likely to be depressed and anxious, compared with those who drink less.
2. When You Want to Increase Your Metabolism...
Drink This:
Green Tea
Catechins, the powerful antioxidants found in green tea, are known to stoke your metabolism, making it burn hotter and torch more calories. A study by Japanese researchers found that participants who consumed 690 milligrams of catechins from green tea daily had significantly lower body-mass indexes and smaller waist measurements than tea-totalers (i.e., they avoid the stuff).
Not That!
Nothing
Skipping meals lets your body's calorie-burning furnace go cold. Spread out snacks throughout the day. Try a cup of yogurt with fresh fruit or almonds between breakfast and lunch, and a hard-boiled egg or hummus with vegetables in the afternoon.
3. When You're Low on Energy...
Eat This:
A Handful of Trail Mix
Raisins provide potassium, which your body uses to convert sugar into energy. Nuts stock your body with magnesium, which boosts metabolism and improves nerve and muscle function. (When magnesium levels are low, your body produces more lactic acid — the same fatigue-byproduct that makes your muscles ache at the end of a workout.)
Not That!
Espresso-Based Drinks
Sure, the caffeine will perk you up, but the spike in blood sugar that follows — with anywhere from 16 grams (latte) to 59 grams (white chocolate mocha) of sugar coursing through your veins — will ultimately launch your own personal energy crisis. Stick to brewed coffee with one packet of sugar, max.
4. When You Need a Brain Boost...
Eat This:
Blueberries
Antioxidants in blueberries help protect the brain from free-radical damage, which could decrease your risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and improve cognitive processing. Wild blueberries, if you can find them (or grow them!), have even more brain-boosting antioxidants than the cultivated variety.
Not That!
Ice Cream
Sugary foods incite sudden surges of blood glucose that, in the long term, cause sugar highs and lows, and make you as distractable as a toddler in the Disney store. And foods high in saturated fat can clog blood vessels and slow the flow of nutrients and blood to the brain.
5. When You're Under the Weather...
Drink This:
Ginseng Tea, Hot or Iced
In a Canadian study, people who took 400 milligrams of ginseng a day had 25 percent fewer colds than people who popped a placebo. Ginseng helps kill invading viruses by increasing the body's production of key immune cells.
Not That!
Caffeinated Beverages and Energy Drinks
Excessive caffeine messes with your sleep schedule and sabotages key immune agents. And insufficient sleep opens the door to colds, upper respiratory infections, and other ills. What's more, caffeine can dehydrate you, and hydration is vital during illness: Fluids not only transport nutrients to the problem zones, but also carry away toxins.
6. When You Need to Wake Up and Go...
Eat This:
Eggs and Whole-Wheat Toast
Eggs are a great source of protein, and having them for breakfast sets you up for a perfect day of eating. Saint Louis University researchers found that people who eat eggs for breakfast consume 264 fewer calories the rest of the day than those who eat bagels and cream cheese.
Not That!
Bagel and Cream Cheese
At 500 calories and 20 grams of fat, this deli disaster is one of the worst ways to start your day. Sixty grams of fast-burning carbohydrates will cause a dip in energy and a spike in hunger, long before lunchtime. The same goes for croissants, danish, donuts, and pancakes.
7. When You Want to Get ''In the Mood''...
Eat This:
Dark Chocolate
The cocoa in chocolate contains stimulants that increase your body's sensitivity. Chocolate also contains phenylethylamine, a chemical that can give you a slight natural high. And Italian researchers found that women who often eat chocolate have a higher sex drive than those who don't. Make sure your chocolate has at least 60 percent cacao.
Not That!
The Third Glass of Wine
The alcohol in wine affects your prefrontal cortex, which can decrease inhibition and up your sexual appetite. But only for the first glass or two. Beyond that, the toxic affects of alcohol in your system take over and are as likely to make you sleepy as they are to make you sexy. The more pouring, the more snoring.
So without further ado, here they are:
1. When You're Stressed...
Eat This:
1 Cup of Low-Fat Yogurt or 2 Tbsp of Mixed Nuts
Scientists in Slovakia gave people 3 grams each of two amino acids — lysine and arginine — or a placebo and asked them to deliver a speech. Blood measurements of stress hormones revealed that the amino acid–fortified public speakers were half as anxious during and after the speech as those who took the placebo. Yogurt is one of the best food sources of lysine; nuts pack tons of arginine.
Not That!
A Can of Soda
A study from the American Journal of Public Health found that people who drink 20 ounces of soda daily are three times more likely to be depressed and anxious, compared with those who drink less.
2. When You Want to Increase Your Metabolism...
Drink This:
Green Tea
Catechins, the powerful antioxidants found in green tea, are known to stoke your metabolism, making it burn hotter and torch more calories. A study by Japanese researchers found that participants who consumed 690 milligrams of catechins from green tea daily had significantly lower body-mass indexes and smaller waist measurements than tea-totalers (i.e., they avoid the stuff).
Not That!
Nothing
Skipping meals lets your body's calorie-burning furnace go cold. Spread out snacks throughout the day. Try a cup of yogurt with fresh fruit or almonds between breakfast and lunch, and a hard-boiled egg or hummus with vegetables in the afternoon.
3. When You're Low on Energy...
Eat This:
A Handful of Trail Mix
Raisins provide potassium, which your body uses to convert sugar into energy. Nuts stock your body with magnesium, which boosts metabolism and improves nerve and muscle function. (When magnesium levels are low, your body produces more lactic acid — the same fatigue-byproduct that makes your muscles ache at the end of a workout.)
Not That!
Espresso-Based Drinks
Sure, the caffeine will perk you up, but the spike in blood sugar that follows — with anywhere from 16 grams (latte) to 59 grams (white chocolate mocha) of sugar coursing through your veins — will ultimately launch your own personal energy crisis. Stick to brewed coffee with one packet of sugar, max.
4. When You Need a Brain Boost...
Eat This:
Blueberries
Antioxidants in blueberries help protect the brain from free-radical damage, which could decrease your risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and improve cognitive processing. Wild blueberries, if you can find them (or grow them!), have even more brain-boosting antioxidants than the cultivated variety.
Not That!
Ice Cream
Sugary foods incite sudden surges of blood glucose that, in the long term, cause sugar highs and lows, and make you as distractable as a toddler in the Disney store. And foods high in saturated fat can clog blood vessels and slow the flow of nutrients and blood to the brain.
5. When You're Under the Weather...
Drink This:
Ginseng Tea, Hot or Iced
In a Canadian study, people who took 400 milligrams of ginseng a day had 25 percent fewer colds than people who popped a placebo. Ginseng helps kill invading viruses by increasing the body's production of key immune cells.
Not That!
Caffeinated Beverages and Energy Drinks
Excessive caffeine messes with your sleep schedule and sabotages key immune agents. And insufficient sleep opens the door to colds, upper respiratory infections, and other ills. What's more, caffeine can dehydrate you, and hydration is vital during illness: Fluids not only transport nutrients to the problem zones, but also carry away toxins.
6. When You Need to Wake Up and Go...
Eat This:
Eggs and Whole-Wheat Toast
Eggs are a great source of protein, and having them for breakfast sets you up for a perfect day of eating. Saint Louis University researchers found that people who eat eggs for breakfast consume 264 fewer calories the rest of the day than those who eat bagels and cream cheese.
Not That!
Bagel and Cream Cheese
At 500 calories and 20 grams of fat, this deli disaster is one of the worst ways to start your day. Sixty grams of fast-burning carbohydrates will cause a dip in energy and a spike in hunger, long before lunchtime. The same goes for croissants, danish, donuts, and pancakes.
7. When You Want to Get ''In the Mood''...
Eat This:
Dark Chocolate
The cocoa in chocolate contains stimulants that increase your body's sensitivity. Chocolate also contains phenylethylamine, a chemical that can give you a slight natural high. And Italian researchers found that women who often eat chocolate have a higher sex drive than those who don't. Make sure your chocolate has at least 60 percent cacao.
Not That!
The Third Glass of Wine
The alcohol in wine affects your prefrontal cortex, which can decrease inhibition and up your sexual appetite. But only for the first glass or two. Beyond that, the toxic affects of alcohol in your system take over and are as likely to make you sleepy as they are to make you sexy. The more pouring, the more snoring.
Labels: diet
It Is All In Your Mind
Friday, June 13, 2008
One of the most important driving force for personal development is actually your willpower, your mind. Conversely, your greatest pitfall is the same too - your mind.
If you keep thinking you're fat (even if you really aren't), you are going to do destructive things to your body, like missing meals, eating very little, or to induce purging after eating. This usually happens in women.
As mentioned before in this blog, as well as in other health and fitness blogs, missing meals is really a BAD thing to do. Even if you're losing weight, you should not skip any meals. Your body has built-in mechanisms to trigger you to do something. You become thirsty when your body needs water. You get hungry when the body needs food. Depriving yourself of these when your body tells you it needs those, just makes the body go into survival mode.
While in survival mode the body does burn fat, but once you get to the weight you want, and start eating again, the food you eat goes right back into your fat stores - you are back to square one.
You have to have the right frame of mind, not just for this, but for everything else. Fearing to see your weight doesn't help you lose weight. It just gives you a false sense of relief, for want of a better word, that you aren't "fat" yet. Without having a baseline, you have nothing to work towards. Without regular weigh-ins, you'll never know if you're on the right track on losing weight.
Having a driving force, your motivation, helps you succeed. You will surely have come across numerous stories when reading about people who have been successful at losing weight the right way - they had motivation. Their mindset was right. They had a goal. They worked towards the goal, and if they ever strayed from the goal, they took corrective actions.
By not wanting to look at the numbers on the weighing scales, you are just fooling yourself.
Having a defeatist attitude, like "What's the use? It'll never happen" is the most destructive thought you can ever have. It doesn't necessarily have to do with losing weight, but doing anything. Business, weight loss, it's all the same. Your mindset is very important.
The moment you tell yourself, "I can do it", you're already halfway there. The other half, is of course, the action you need to take to achieve the results. Start eating healthy (not "go on a diet"). Start working out - run, swim, do weights.
And ladies, working out with weights won't "bulk you up". Don't keep having the misconception of having "unsightly muscles" when you touch weights. In fact I'll tell you something interesting, something you probably never thought of.
When you carry your infant child, you're already "carrying weights". The baby will weigh something like 2kg or so at birth, and steadily grow heavier as the year goes on. In this couple of years that you've been carrying him/her (before he/she can walk), you've been carrying "weights". Do you see "muscles" on you?
Similarly, when you do train with weights, train with light ones. They are there to tone your body when you do lose the fats. By toning, I mean to give your underlying muscles (ie those that were covered by fats) definition. You work them so they are defined and not flabby-looking.
Also, by eating healthy, you don't even need to "eat less" to lose weight. More often than not, you can eat your normal portions of HEALTHY food and still lose weight (instead of junk food like potato chips, tortillas etc). "Going on a diet" for ladies usually means "eat less, skip meals", which I have explained before, is actually BAD for you.
If you keep thinking you're fat (even if you really aren't), you are going to do destructive things to your body, like missing meals, eating very little, or to induce purging after eating. This usually happens in women.
As mentioned before in this blog, as well as in other health and fitness blogs, missing meals is really a BAD thing to do. Even if you're losing weight, you should not skip any meals. Your body has built-in mechanisms to trigger you to do something. You become thirsty when your body needs water. You get hungry when the body needs food. Depriving yourself of these when your body tells you it needs those, just makes the body go into survival mode.
While in survival mode the body does burn fat, but once you get to the weight you want, and start eating again, the food you eat goes right back into your fat stores - you are back to square one.
You have to have the right frame of mind, not just for this, but for everything else. Fearing to see your weight doesn't help you lose weight. It just gives you a false sense of relief, for want of a better word, that you aren't "fat" yet. Without having a baseline, you have nothing to work towards. Without regular weigh-ins, you'll never know if you're on the right track on losing weight.
Having a driving force, your motivation, helps you succeed. You will surely have come across numerous stories when reading about people who have been successful at losing weight the right way - they had motivation. Their mindset was right. They had a goal. They worked towards the goal, and if they ever strayed from the goal, they took corrective actions.
By not wanting to look at the numbers on the weighing scales, you are just fooling yourself.
Having a defeatist attitude, like "What's the use? It'll never happen" is the most destructive thought you can ever have. It doesn't necessarily have to do with losing weight, but doing anything. Business, weight loss, it's all the same. Your mindset is very important.
The moment you tell yourself, "I can do it", you're already halfway there. The other half, is of course, the action you need to take to achieve the results. Start eating healthy (not "go on a diet"). Start working out - run, swim, do weights.
And ladies, working out with weights won't "bulk you up". Don't keep having the misconception of having "unsightly muscles" when you touch weights. In fact I'll tell you something interesting, something you probably never thought of.
When you carry your infant child, you're already "carrying weights". The baby will weigh something like 2kg or so at birth, and steadily grow heavier as the year goes on. In this couple of years that you've been carrying him/her (before he/she can walk), you've been carrying "weights". Do you see "muscles" on you?
Similarly, when you do train with weights, train with light ones. They are there to tone your body when you do lose the fats. By toning, I mean to give your underlying muscles (ie those that were covered by fats) definition. You work them so they are defined and not flabby-looking.
Also, by eating healthy, you don't even need to "eat less" to lose weight. More often than not, you can eat your normal portions of HEALTHY food and still lose weight (instead of junk food like potato chips, tortillas etc). "Going on a diet" for ladies usually means "eat less, skip meals", which I have explained before, is actually BAD for you.
Labels: dieting, mindset, weight loss
