In order to lose weight you must eat less calories than you
are currently burning off. This simple advice becomes
complicated by the commonly held misconception of
'starvation mode'.
The basic idea with 'starvation mode' is this:
If you don't eat enough calories in a day your metabolism
will slow down and end up storing most of what you eat as
fat. Or when you eat very low calories for too long, and
you go back to eating 'normally' you will store more fat
than before.
This is absolutely ridiculous and illogical. Let me explain.
For starters, I could not find any scientific research that
shows this happens at all.
Secondly; Your metabolism is mostly determined by your body
mass. The amount of food you eat in a day has a very small
impact on your metabolic rate and not enough to have any
real impact on weight gain or loss.
If you lose muscle mass while you are dieting then yes your
metabolism will decrease slightly. But a slightly decreased
metabolism doesn't mean you will somehow just magically
store more fat each time you eat. All it means is that you
now need to eat less to maintain your new lighter
bodyweight.
Third: "When you go back to eating 'normal' you will
experience a rebound effect and store more fat". This is
backwards thinking because there is no such thing as eating
'normal' For example: Lets say you weigh 200 pounds and you
eat 3500 calories per day...and this is what you call
eating 'Normal'
Now lets say you reduce your intake to 2000 calorie per day
for 10 weeks, and now weigh 180 pounds (that would be a
nice 20 pound weight loss!)
As soon as you go back to eating your 'normal' 3500
calories per day, you will eventually gain weight and weigh
200 pounds again.
This is not a rebound and has nothing to do with this idea
of 'starvation mode'. Your body isn't all of sudden storing
more fat, it is simply the amount of calories you need to
eat to keep you at 200 pounds, vs the amount of calories
you need to eat to keep you at 180 pounds.
The term 'starvation mode' is not even a scientific term,
it is a term created by the diet and fitness industry. You
can't even find this term written in nutrition or human
physiology research.
It is this false idea of 'starvation mode' that is scaring
people away from one of the most effective ways to lose
weight in our society of food and diet confusion. And that
new way to lose weight is fasting. Intermittent short term
fasting is a an effective and easy way to lose weight.
Short term fasting is an easy way to significantly reduce
your calorie intake without any negative side effects to
your metabolism. There is good research to indicate that is
also can contribute many other healthful benefits.
The bottom line is that there is no harm done to your
metabolism be reducing your calories intermittently mixed
with days of eating 'normally'. This style of dieting also
allows you to eat what you like, when you like, and helps
remove the guilt many people have associated with eating.
This may very well be one of the only true ways to lose
weight and enjoy food all at the same time.
----------------------------------------------------
John Barban is a professional strength and conditioning
coach and nutrition expert. He has extensive experience
designing nutritional supplements and has developed his
trademark workout for women 6 Minute Circuits. John is an
expert contributor to
http://www.efit-today.com/public/department59.cfm and
recomends the diet program http://www.eatstopeat.com , and
believes it is the best new diet for easy and effective
weight loss.
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