Weight Control Diet & Exercise - Weight Loss's Little Known Secret
Sunday, 07.01.2007, 11:33am (GMT)
So you've lost some weight recently, eh? Big deal! I don't mean to be
harsh, but I'd like to issue a strong warning to you. Why? Simply put,
and more often than not, people who lose weight gain it back fast and
then some. That is indeed a disturbing fact about weight loss.
How and why does this happen? I'm going to tell you exactly what you
need to know to keep the fat off once you've lost it. This is a piece
of the weight loss puzzle that many people don't pay much attention to.
And it's called weight control. Or as I like to call it, weight loss's
big brother.
If you've ever lost weight before, chances are you've gained it back.
And before you knew it, you were even heavier than before you started
that weight loss diet or exercise program. All of that hard work and
restrictive dieting with nothing to show for it. It's enough to drive a
person right to the donut shop! But relax, there's a reason this
happens so often to dieters around the globe, and there's a simple
solution to ensure it never happens to you again.
There are basically two reasons why most people who've lost weight put
it right back on. The primary reason is that most people who lose
weight lose it because of following a diet. That's right, simply trying
to adhere to a popular fad diet plan can actually prove
counterproductive. Why?
Most diets, especially the most popular ones, are quite frankly overly
restrictive ways of dictating your calorie intake. They typically call
for deleting various essential foods from your daily eating habits, and
almost always included severe calorie reduction.
These typical diet components can create fast weight loss to be sure,
as you're taking in less calories than you're expending each day. But,
no one in their right mind, or body, will stay on most popular diets
for very long. They're not natural and your body knows this. When we go
off of the diet that created the fast weight loss for us, and revert
back to our old ways (including increased caloric intake) we gain the
weight back fast. Surprise, surprise.
We also unfortunately add a bit of extra fat when coming off of that
diet because our bodies are attempting to make up for the deprivation
that was at hand during that dieting phase. It makes perfect sense,
doesn't it? This calls to attention the second reason we gain our
weight back, and more, after going off of a diet. You body doesn't want
to be deprived of certain food types. I'm talking about nutrient rich
foods that our bodies were designed to thrive on, including quality
whole grain based carbohydrates.
Perfect evidence of this are the tens of thousands (several of my own
acquaintances included) who have become low carbohydrate yo-yo dieters.
They can lose 10-15 pounds in just a few days, but when they can no
longer stand the food deprivation, they return to their old eating
habits and bodies.
It should be obvious that this method of weight loss (typical fad
dieting) is ineffective, because it doesn't last. What is required for
permanent weight loss is a not a weight loss diet, but a proper weight
control diet and exercise program. These are two very different things.
I'm talking about a lifestyle change, where you adopt healthy eating
and exercise habits into your life. This is the only true path to
permanent fat loss.
This can be accomplished on the diet side of things by:
-Eating smaller meals more frequently
-Counting portions instead of worrying about exact calories
-Focusing on plant based foods like fruits and vegetables
-Drinking plenty of water throughout the day (64oz. minimum)
Taking this a step further, you can combine this healthy eating
lifestyle with proper exercise to create a perpetual fat burning
furnace in your body that continues to mobilize your stored body fat
for energy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Now this is true weight
control, where you're literally burning fat while sleeping.
You'd be wise to heed this exercise advice when creating this weight control diet and exercise lifestyle:
-Ignore long and frequent cardio workouts. They actually encourage your body to store fat.
-Incorporate high intensity resistance training 2-3 times per week for
about 15-25 minutes per session. You'll be building lean muscle and
teaching your body to ignore fat as an energy source...the exact
opposite of traditional cardio workouts.
When you make these changes in your life, you're no longer dieting.
You're no longer restricting the body of the nutrients it needs to
succeed and as a result you lose weight naturally. You've created you
own weight control diet, but it's not really a diet at all!
Can you see how this will make a huge difference in your health and
fitness and put an end to the lose some/gain more madness experienced
by masses of dieters around the world today?
Getting that lean and healthy body can be as simple as saying no to
dieting and saying hello to a healthy eating lifestyle you can call
your own. That's something any big brother would be proud of.
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