What really happens to the body when we subject it to diets.
I'm going to be up front and pull no punches when I say it annoys but saddens me when I hear people say œI'm going to go on the such and such diet starting Monday because it worked for me last time.? Excuse me! Do you have any idea how crazy that statement is? How could it have worked for you if you now have to go back on it again?
Second to the above, I get frustrated when people ask me what I think about such and such a diet compared to so and so diet? I personally believe that all diets should be renamed the œPurge and Binge Concept of Weight Loss.? Then there's no beating about the bush. Stealing from Fox news it's a 'fair and unbiased' observation of what you are doing to yourself. And the same goes for the prepared meals from Nutriwhatsit. In a nutshell, not one of these programs is..drum roll please...MAINTAINABLE AND SUSTAINABLE.
When an individual goes on a diet I'd love to say that the worst thing they are doing is forcing themselves to eat stuff they don't like and depriving themselves of the stuff they do like. Vis-Ã -vis purging and binging. Studies show, statistics tell and our own experiences demonstrate the truth that at some stage you are going to get sick and tired of eating cabbage soup or high protein or low carb or whatever the P&B du jour is and revert back to your original ways “ a bucket of Miller Lite and 15 Lemon Pepper wings while you watch Monday Night Football.
And if you didn't notice I said forcing yourself not to eat those beers and wings isn't the worst thing you're doing. Oh no, there's something that I personally believe is far worse than that. Every time you B&P you compound your weight problem. And there are two very simple words that you NEED to keep in the forefront of your mind every time you think about the newest, latest and greatest B&P. They are dirty little words that people (especially women) hate to discuss in mixed company. BODY FAT. There you go, I said it. We can all stop ignoring the elephant in the room.
So why am I so dogmatic about the importance of body fat? Hopefully the next section will shed some light on the subject. But first of all, I'd love to hear from somebody who has heard a claim from a B&P company that they can assist in body fat loss. You won't, because they can't. And here's the reason why. It's a scientific fact that the human body can not shed more than 2 pounds of body fat per week! And that is an extreme. Most of the people that read through this article will be limited to a body fat loss of approximately a pound per week. I'd hate to be the account executive from the advertising agency on that account. YES, FOLKS YOU TOO CAN LOSE IN THE REGION OF 1.5 POUNDS OF BODY FAT PER WEEK!!!!
So let's take a look at what happens to the human body when we diet. Let's take a typical male “ ME (not too many years ago). I weigh 200 pounds and wear a 36/38 pants. I decide that I'm going to get back to my fighting weight of 180 with a 33/34 waist. But instead of merely looking at my weight, I buy a body fat scale and determine my body composition. I have a 25% body fat ratio. Which means that of my body, 50 pounds is fat. The other 150 pounds is a combination of water, muscle, bone and 'other stuff' “ heart, lungs, kidneys etc. This breakdown is vital “ as you'll see.
I throw a dart at a magazine and come up with the South Beach Diet as my form of B&P. And the circus act begins. I drag myself out of bed a little earlier so I can cook my turkey bacon and eggs with tomatoes. I make my turkey wraps and oriental cabbage salad for lunch. Which I eat at my desk because everyone else went down to McGregors to watch Manchester United play Juventus in the EUFA Cup. Dinner was something I forget because the noise of my stomach growling gave me a migraine!!
But to my credit, I suck it up and become a boring fart for about 6 weeks and drop 20 pounds. Yes, I can fit into my 'skinny' jeans, even though my wife hates the fact that I wore them back in the 80'ies! Trend setter I'm not! But let's look at what has happened over the last 6 weeks. Where has that 20 pounds come from? When I step on the scales it shows that I've lost a grand total of 2.5 % of my body fat. Which amounts to 5 pounds. More or less what I said what the body was able to lose earlier in the article. It's a safe bet that 10 pounds of the loss is from water “ 70 per cent of our body is made up of water. Subsequently then the other 5 pounds that I've lost is from my muscles. You've heard about people being bedridden through illness and suffering from muscle atrophy because of a lack of exercise. That's exactly what I did. But so what! I'm down to 180.
So what's next? Well, I've suffered through the P, that means it's time for the B...wooohoooo...No more lite beer for me. I'm hitting the micro brew. Which obviously come with nachos. Or queso. Hm, hm, good. Yes indeedy..I'm going to have some fun for a while so I can make up for lost time!!!
Et voila, a month later I'm back to 200 pounds. So before I throw a dart again I step on the body fat scales to see what the damage is and....HOLY SHIT! That can't be right. Can it? The scales tell me that I've managed to put back the 10 pounds of water that was lost during my diet. But the other 10 pounds I've regained is EXCLUSIVELY FAT. So now I consist of 145 pounds of other and 55 pounds of fat. Or 27.5 per cent of my body weight is now fat.
And as long as I subject myself to a litany of diets that growth in fat will go on and on ad nauseum until I keel over from a heart attack or die from weight induced diabetes.
The moral of the story is please give it up with the diets. Talk to me about how to create a maintainable and sustainable healthy and active lifestyle that will allow you to enjoy this short time you have on earth.
Mel
Ps. If this was the only downside to dieting I can almost understand you ignoring what I've said and carrying on merrily B'ing and P'ing. But it's not. So now you have to read why the fatter you get the fatter you're going to get “ article link. While you're at it, check out how you're also reducing your bone density at a horrific pace that's going to end up killing you!! - article link.