Extreme Weight Loss

Let me get back to this topic that seems to still be shrouded with myths, confusion and lack of basic knowledge. Diets, and in particular crash diets are unlikely to result in long-term weight loss. What they can guarantee you is a longer term weight gain. Why is that? This type of diet is too hard to maintain. You will be low on energy and you will crave high-sugar foods and when you finally give in (and you will give in!!) and eat those foods, I can promise you will eat more calories than you need and that will get you to gain weight. Is this clear enough? Ok, so you may say that a radical exercise regime will do the trick. Right? Not true. Long term weight loss involves making small changes that you can stick to for a long time. That is also true when it comes to getting regular physical activity into your daily routine. And it is just as simple as that: to lose weight you have to create a calorie deficit - that means more calories used than consumed. This can be achieved by eating less of the wrong food and moving more, but the best of all is a combination of both. Some may get the genius idea to down fat burners or slimming pills. Errr.... Fat burners and slimming pills alone will not help you keep the weight off long term. The other excuse I hear over and over is that eating healthily is expensive. Actually healthy foods are not necessarily more expensive because you pay more for a full of trans-fats, full of salt overly processed meal than you would if you had bought all the fresh ingredients and made it yourself. The other bullshit is feeding on 'low fat' and 'reduced calories' alternatives. How many times do I have to bang on about this? A reduced-fat food should contain less fat than the full-fat version, but that doesn`t automatically make it a healthy choice as to make it palatable the manufactures resort to add flavouring that are usually full of sugar or other stuff. When I see all the low fat or even worse vegetable spread, my heart sinks. Margarine and butter contain different types of fat. Margarine is usually lower in saturated fat than butter, true but it`s very likely to contain hydrogenated fats. Hydrogenated fats, also known as trans fats are more harmful to health than saturated fats. And here comes the other best seller: carbs!! Don't get me wrong; eaten in the right ratios, carbohydrates will not cause weight gain. The problem with carbs is that it is very easy to overeat of that class of food whilst under eat on protein. Carbs have a specific function and that is to get transformed into glycogen and stored in muscles and the liver. Problem is depending on the amount of 'storage' each and every one has which also determines the rate of metabolic consumption, the amount of excessive glucose that doesn't get converted into glycogen and used as energy, gets stored as fat. And finally my favourite ever: skipping meals and fasting. Skipping meals is never a good idea as neither is fasting. To lose weight and keep it off, you have to reduce the amount of calories you consume and/or increase the calories you burn. Not eating altogether can result in under nourishing your system and when you add excessive cardiovascular exercise that's a sure recipe for failure. Besides, when you eat randomly you become more likely to snack on high-sugar foods, which then results in weight gain and most of all in metabolic damage.