subject: Quality or Quantity when losing weight? [print this page] Guest article submitted with permission from author Ed Ley - Absolute Health Personal Trainer
Visit a dietician and they will have you trading in your food for organic vegetables, fresh fruits, nuts and seeds, free range eggs and meat, and wild fish.
Visit one of the nationally recognised brands like weight watchers, Rosemary Connelly, Slim fast, Slimmer's World and they will all tell you to cut your food and your fat in take.
They can't both be right can they?
Well with out trying to let my opinion slip out, what has led me to write this is something I am noticing more and more with my client's They just won't eat enough food!
It sounds insane I know; but it has become so ingrained in our culture that it is one of the hardest things to get someone to change. The biggest problem is it does make sense.
If you put a cake in a bag, the bag will become heavier and larger if you put two cakes in a bag it gets even biggersimples. Yes if you were a bag. Unfortunately that is not quite how it works.
When we eat something our body ask a question can I use this?' if the answer is yes then it will take what it can use and send the rest on its way. If the answer is no then it really doesn't know what to do with it, the body will take what it can for energy and store the rest as fat. (a very simplified explanation)
So what does the body recognise? It recognises those things it has been eating for thousand and thousands of years fresh real foods that grow. You can eat any food that falls into this categories (protein and carbs always together) until the cows come home. Your body will burn 85% of it just to stay alive. Exercise and a healthy lifestyle will take care of the rest.
Running Scared
The problem is that we are so desperate to lose weight that we try both methods to bring results quicker. We try and eat healthily but we skip breakfast, we have a snack in the day and a larger meal in the evening.
Meanwhile our bodies have no idea what is going on, all it knows is it is not being fed very often. How does it cope with this problem?
It provides you with less energy
It stores fat every time you eat to prepare for famine
It stops making you feel hunger
So what is the result of this?
You are low on energy, your body has taught its self to store fat rather than burn it and you are struggling to change this because you are just not hungry any more.
So how do I escape this vicious circle?
1. Eat only fresh foods that grow (I imagine you were doing this)
2. Eat little and often, you won't be hungry but you need to train your body, you must tell it that the famine is over and it is safe to feel hungry again.
3. Exercise a little bit every day and help to shock your body into hunger.
4. Always eat proteins with carbohydrates, it will slow the conversion of carbs to fat storage.
If you liked the article, why not sign up for our FREE 30 day weight loss programme, all online so you can lose weight in the comfort of your own home! Check it out here
