Cleanse Yourself of Cleansing
I've been reading a lot lately about different fad diets because it's that time of the year when people go overboard and try to lose as much holiday weight as possible in the quickest amount of time. People ask me all the time which is the best diet to do. My answer is always "none of them." If it's something that you can't stick to for every day for the rest of your life, it's not a good idea. Really fit, healthy people eat "clean." That means fruits, vegetable, lean meat and NO SUGAR. That is something you can do everyday for the rest of your life. You can not do a cleanse everyday and Atkins is not smart either. Cut out sugar and you will lose 10 pounds quickly just from the shock your body is going through not storing sugar.
CLEANSES
Cleanses are one of the biggest rip-offs in the billion dollar weight-loss industry. Cleanses do nothing but make you pee alot. Your liver and kidneys do a good enough job screening out impurities in your body. When you drink a cleans you are basically starving yourself. You're losing water weight not fat. When you starve yourself you will lose weight but not body fat. If you're not feeding your body food, your body will hold onto it's fat stores for energy. In the mean time your muscle mass is slowing melting away because you're not feeding the muscle what it needs.
SKINNY FAT
"Skinny fat" is what I refer to people, mostly women, who look thin and beautiful on the outside. They can wear anything they want and it seems they just have great genetics. But if you squeeze an arm on one of those girls it will feel soft and squishy.
I had a close friend who was 5'2", 98 lbs, very petit and looked like a Barbie Doll. One of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. She was a size zero. She asked me one day to test her bodyfat percentage and it was 32%. For women, anything over 32% is considered clinically obese. From the outside she looks like she might be 13%. This goes to show you that the size of a person doesn't necessarily correspond to the bodyfat percentagte. Needless to say she started resistance training the next day.
The difference between losing weight and body fat is the key to losing unwanted pounds. The first problem is that we should never refer to losing weight as "losing weight!" We should be saying "bodyfat lose" or "losing bodyfat." Saying the word "weight" is deceiving.
You can change your physical body weight many times throught the day just as you can also gain it during the day. You can eat a huge lunch and gain physical weight, a pound or two. A few hours later you can use the toilet and poop out those same two pounds. Losing weight does not mean you're losing fat. It just means you are losing muscle mass and not fat.
Losing bodyfat is what you want to do. Sure you can weigh yourself if you want but if you are doing resistance training (weights) in your workouts then you will build muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. You can lose inches and bodyfat but may not change your physcial weight. The bodyfat coming off is negated by the muscle added to your body. A professional football player may weigh 220 pounds but he has 10% bodyfat. Building muscle burns fat.
So now that you're on that track to slim down, stop losing weight and start losing bodyfat instead. Don't even weigh yourself. When someone asks you how much weight you've lost, you say, " I've lost 5% bodyfat." It will make your feel great and sound like you know what the hell you're doing!!
YOUR SCALE IS LYING: the truth about BMI. Below the picture is a link to a great article on the BMI and your scale.
RECOGNIZING FAD DIETS
The except below is from an article in the "GIG HARBOR LIFE" publication.
Yes, losing weight can be a daunting task - which explains the appeal of programs that promise to make weight loss easy. But all too often, fad diets result not only in regaining lost pounds, but in putting on extra weight as well. That's because safe, effective and, most importantly, long-term weight loss requires two important things:
- permanent changes in the way you eat
- making exercise a habit, not just something you do on the rare occasion that the mood strikes
And these are two things that many quick fixes fail to incorporate.
Here are some tips for recognizing a fad diet or weight loss gimmick:
- It promises unrealistic results. Safe weight loss means no more than 2 pounds per week. If you lose weight any faster than that, your body could compensate by slowing down the rate at which it burns calories, thereby slowing weight loss and even making it easier to gain weight after you return to your normal eating habits.
- It requires you to purchase special products, supplements, or foods. The foods you need to lose weight sensibly - a balance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and lower-fat dairy products - are all available at the grocery store.
- It eliminates certain foods or even whole food groups entirely. By cutting out certain foods from your diet, you risk coming up short on all the vitamins and nutrients you need.
- It requires you to strictly follow a set plan. The less a diet plan takes into account your own personal likes and dislikes as well as your lifestyle, the less likely you are to stick to it. Any diet plan you follow should also account for your individual nutritional requirements, which can vary depending on age, activity level, and any medical conditions.
Here are some qualities of reliable diet plans:
- They incorporate exercise. Burning energy through exercise means you can achieve weight loss without having to cut the number of calories you consume as drastically. As well, studies have shown regular exercise is one of the biggest predictors of keeping the weight off.
- They make recommendations based on sound science. A safe weight-loss program makes its claims based on large-scale studies that have been reviewed by reputable health care professionals.
- They meet the USDA's daily recommended intakes. It's important to make sure you are getting all the protein, vitamins, and minerals you need. Because it can be difficult to meet your targets while restricting calories, your doctor or dietitian may recommend supplements.
- They include plans for maintenance. Your program should help you form the habits you need to make your weight-loss long term. Remember, healthy eating is a way of life - not just a two-week plan.
Read more: http://health.kitsapsun.com/healthfeature.aspx?id=1814#ixzz2ozjl2cwm
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