As a personal trainer, the biggest challenge I face is normally people who don't eat enough. Weight loss is a funny game because on the face of it, losing weight should be fairly simple. If you visit a doctor, chances are they will tell you to eat less and exercise more. Of course this "diagnosis" has merit but if it was that simple we wouldn't be staring down the barrel of a global obesity crisis.
As I mentioned, as a personal fitness trainer I normally find that people take this advice too literally and seriously restrict calories in an attempt to lose weight. In truth, the body will use excess fat if it doesn't have the fuel (food) to sustain itself. So why isn't calorie restriction effective and sustainable? I will give you a few reasons:
1) The biggest one is mental. Constantly eating less is not an enjoyable experience for most people. The concept of a diet conjures up fear and struggle in most people's minds. This is a never ending cycle of ups and downs which normally result in failure. Weight loss and exercise can become enjoyable but only when the initial challenges are overcome. If these challenges are too hard at the start, the process will never be followed through.
2) The other major factor is the body, when it comes to weight loss, the body loves fat! It's warm and a great source of energy, the body stores it because its preparing for famine. When we eat too much, the body uses what it needs and then stores the rest. When we don't enough (consistently) the body stores fat because it believes that it is starving and needs to keep a fuel source. Whilst short term calorie restriction may work (and in cases encouraged) the longer term effects on metabolism which prove counter productive. The loss of muscle mass will result in a slower metabolism and the only way to restore this to eat more. If you are constantly eating far less than you should, you will struggle for energy, which means you will reduce your chances of going to the gym. This is why many crash diets don't allow exercise. It is neither practical or advisable to stop exercising for the sake of a weeks worth of weight loss results.
I am only a personal fitness trainer not a nutritionist so I have kept it fairly simple here but I do strongly feel that by eating the right amounts of the right foods at the right times is far better than just not eating enough. I have never seen long term weight loss results from short term methods such as consistent calorie restriction.
Hi I'm John, I am a mobile personal trainer covering Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Solihull. If you tired of not fitting into those jeans or getting our of breath too easily, I can help you with my unique training experience. I have successfully lost five stone and kept it off as well so I understand how difficult weight loss can be.
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