Forget the starvation, exercise, and over 400 dieting book strategies. If you haven’t already surrendered at least $500 to the “phantom weight loss” industry it would be a refreshing surprise. Put every weight loss and dieting program on a scale and weigh them together. What do you come up with?
Every single dieting program in history comes down to one bottom line fact.
Calories taken in verses calories burned off.
Or, the energy provided by food products we eat must equal the amount of body energy burned off by the body metabolism daily—if we don’t want to gain or lose weight. If the caloric energy your body uses is more than that amount in the food you eat—you lose weight—clear and simple.
If you know how many calories you eat daily (they are listed and available practically everywhere), and you know what medical research has established as the usual and normal levels of calories of energy that a person uses up in daily activities, You can’t fail to lose weight, or for that matter, gain weight. And keep it off!
Problems with nearly all other programs:
1. Exercise Dieting: If you are dieting using exercise as a calorie burner, what happens when you reach your chosen weight goal? Right, you regain the weight.
Answer: You can never for any reason stop exercising or you gain it all back again—assuming you continue eating the same number of calories.
Challenge: To keep the weight off after stopping exercise then, you must reduce even further your food (caloric) intake enough to compensate for what exercise used to burn off for you—and that’s known as “starvation.”
2. Fad Dieting: Did you ever consider that you have the ability to pick and choose every food you put into your mouth that you like and want. Every fad diet selects the foods for you. Are you that lazy? Fad diets add up all the calories they think you need and tell you what to eat that equals that calorie energy level. Do you want to save money? Fad diets aren’t cheap!
Answer: You can easily add up the calories in the foods you eat and make your
own rules on what you eat and what not to.
Challenge: Your job is uncomplicated and has to be persistent! It may be hard to quit the fad food and resume a normal food intake. If you haven’t been doing any calorie counting—it’s a sure thing you’ll regain the weight you lost.
3. Binge Dieting: It’s usually done with a special purpose in mind—like got to get in to my wedding gown. Or, if I don’t lose a few pounds, I’ll have to buy all new clothes. Sudden severe binge diets where you may eat or drink nothing for a few days is a shock to your body. It’s a message for the body to shut down all the systems to conserve energy.
Once the body shuts down…..guess what? You can’t lose weight. The body will fight giving up every ounce of fat because it is now in survival mode.
Answer: The weight you do lose in a short few days time is nothing but
dehydration, loss of water. Do you actually believe that the body can do the work
of dissolving fat that fast? Hope not.
Challenge: The only difference between binge dieting and starvation is the length of time involved. One has to understand that “fasting” for a few days doesn’t involve avoiding water intake—only food products. But even fasting can evolve into starvation after a period of time—probably a week.
4. Calorie Counting Dieting: You determine the rules you will follow, the speed you want to lose the weight, and the goal you have set up. Count the number of calories going into your stomach each day knowing that if you remain motionless for 24 hours the body still needs about 1500 calories for maintenance.
If you are up and doing regular usual daily chores, studies show us that women burn off about 3000 calories and men about 3500 calories. So if you want to lose weight, all you need to do is reduce your food to a level of calories below these figures every day.
Remember, that reducing your calories just a little below these figures means you lose just a little bit of weight that day. Then you probably will quit the program when you don’t see the body changes happening…..way too slow.
Answer: Using this method saves lots of money you can put to better use, doesn’t
require buying and sticking to fad foods, doesn’t involve exercise unless you want
to speed up the weight loss, and you can eat any food you like.
Challenge: Being patient with a slower weight loss that your body can handle.
Also, continuing the habit of calorie counting mentally each day the rest of your
life to keep your weight stable.
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Keywords: weight loss, dieting, calories, calorie counting, fad diets, binge diets, weight loss diets, exercise in dieting.
Word Count: 857
The author, Curt Graham, is a retired medical doctor who has written extensively on many topics over his 35 plus years in active medical practice. He is a published author in Modern Physician, and is credited as a “Platinum Expert Author” by EzineArticles.com web directory.
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