A lot of people get despondent when they have been working out for a couple of months, because they get on the scale (despite being told not to) and they say the training is not working because they still weigh the same OR they are heavier than before. My immediate response is, "How do your jeans feel on you?" The response is always, "Well, they FEEL looser... but I WEIGH more!" This obsession with scales and weight goes back to the early Jane Fonda days where exercise was suddenly fashionable and everyone wanted to slim down as much as possible so that they could fit into their high cut leotards. They didn't give much thought to what it actually did to your body.
If you are exercising correctly then you are building muscle WHILE you are burning body fat. Muscle is actually heavier than body fat. THAT is why you will probably weigh more when you get on that scale. If I had my way I would banish all conventional scales. All they do is make you feel bad about yourself and distort things completely so that your personal trainer wants to tear their hair out and you feel like eating an entire litre of rocky road ice-cream all the while thinking, "What is the point?!"
A common problem when people first start training is that they use it as an excuse to eat more and specifically, to eat more of whatever they want. Tell me you haven't said this to yourself before, "I can eat this slice of chocolate cake/apple crumble/cheesecake as long as I go to gym tomorrow and run for 30 minutes." That's never going to work. A slice of chocolate cake probably has about 550 calories. It would take a run at full tilt for about an hour to work a portion of that off and you WOULDN'T be better off than when you started. You'd be right BACK where you started. So you've gained nothing really.
The key to losing body fat is that you need to be putting in less than you are using up. You will never achieve that as long as you are using exercise as an excuse to eat and drink whatever you want. So THAT is your starting point. You need to lower your caloric intake.
I've said before that each person has their own basal metabolic rate (BMR). That is how much energy your body uses when it's resting. You are burning energy even at rest because your body continues to function. Your cells are busy rebuilding themselves, or trying to keep you cool, or warm, or you're digesting food etc. Something is always going on. Your BMR depends on your size, shape, age, lean mass, body fat, exercise etc. If you are not exercising much but you are eating a 500 calorie slice of chocolate cake twice a day, you are going to gain body fat. That's not rocket science.
What about the person who is religiously gymming every day, running hell for leather for 30 minutes and then doing some intense weight training, and watching everything they eat, and NOT losing weight? When you first started gymming and dieting, the weight literally melted off you! You're doing all the same things, religiously, and yet it's all come to a screeching halt.
It's demoralising, isn't it? It makes you want to run out and try every fad diet on the planet, swallow diet pills and get major surgery because you are getting no joy out of doing things the right way. But what is the right way, really?
For DECADES, we have been told that, in order to lose weight (and here, weight HAS been the focus which is why I use that word) you need to add more grains to your diet and eat loads of fruit and vegetables and lean meat and skinny cappucinos and low fat this and skim milk that. Basically you need to cut all fat from your diet and pile on the grains and starches (read: sugar).
It's frightening how many people still subscribe to this way of eating. Even now, in 2015, it's the common way of thinking: To lose body fat, you need to stop eating fat. Nothing could be more incorrect or more damaging to your body, than depriving it of fat. I did it for years and my body fat fluctuated all over the place, my energy levels were completely inconsistent and my health was a mess. I was permanently sick.
Did you know that the cells of your body are comprised mostly of fat? That doesn't make them "fat cells". The cells that CONTAIN fat are just that: fat cells. But the walls of the cells in your body are made of fat. If you think about it, it makes sense. Water and oil don't mix. The inside of a cell is made up of a lot of water. If the membrane is made of fats, that means nothing will be escaping that shouldn't be, and nothing is getting in that shouldn't be. The fat membrane protects the cell.
Considering that we are made up of hundreds of thousands of cells, which use fat to build themselves, it seems a bit dangerous to cut out a macronutrient that is so widely used, and needed, doesn't it? That's not all that fat is used for but it's a very good starting point. Without cells, we simply wouldn't exist. Don't you feel that you should be giving your body all the tools it needs to function properly?
Here's another kicker: you will NOT burn fat without eating fat. As long as you are following your low fat diet full of grains and fruits, your body will be forced to make it's OWN fat so that it can still function. Isn't that a slap in the face? You are cutting out fat and your body is using what you are forcing it to eat, to make more fat anyway.
Fat is a great source of energy. Most people have this idea that carbohydrates are the best source of energy. They may be a good source of IMMEDIATE energy and the only people who should really be utilising them for that are elite athletes who are running marathons or doing triathlons. They will use it to get them through the race but it should never be a long term solution.
Longterm, your diet should be a good combination of ALL the macronutrients. In case you aren't sure what those are, they are protein, fat and carbohydrates. You shouldn't be cutting out any ONE of those at all. If you are, you are causing your body some kind of damage and you are sabotaging your ability to maintain a healthy amount of body fat. Even vegetarians and vegans need to get protein in their diets and it takes some very careful balancing to make sure they get all the necessary amino acids which are so readily available in meat, and not so readily available in plants.
Fruit is another thing that has been given far too much credit. Yes, it's very good for you. You need all the vitamins and minerals it supplies you with. But fruit is full of sugar as well and people tend to forget that. At the end of the day, the only differences between a slab of chocolate and a piece of fruit is that the fruit has vitamins and, obviously, it's real food. Real food should always be first choice. But having a meal comprised ONLY of fruit is going to raise your sugar levels just as the chocolate would. Then it will encourage a release of insulin. You will crash and you will be starving within the next hour or so and probably more than a little grumpy.
Don't eat fruit on its own as a snack. Have it with something that will slow down the release of sugar into your bloodstream. For example, have a banana with some plain yogurt, or nibble on a piece of biltong after having the apple. And always include some fat in that meal as well. Eat full fat yogurt or nice fatty biltong. GASP! It's ok to do that. Stop subscribing to the masses. Make your decisions based on well informed, well thought out reasoning.
If you want to lose body fat, here's what to do:
- Include ALL three macronutrients in your diet: protein, fat and carbs
- Include ALL three marcronutrients in EVERY meal (even the snacks)
- Lower your caloric intake to less than the amount of energy you are actually burning. (most women only need about 1 200 calories a day unless they are exercising a lot. Make sure you eat less than that)
- It's hard to go wrong if you cut all processed foods out of your life. Eat only real food and makes sure that includes LOTS of vegetables. They are very low in calories so you can eat LOADS of them and they fill you up.
- Minimise the amount of fruit you eat. Stick to eating fruit in your morning smoothie (making sure it contains some vegetables, fat and protein as well) That's enough.
- Cut out grains OR make sure they are properly prepared before eating them. Remember that grains are heavy in calories. That means you need to cut down the amount you eat, considerably.
- Do everything in moderation. If you drink alcohol, don't over indulge, if you must have chocolate, only have a few blocks, if you have to have that slice of cheesecake then don't eat the potatoes or rice with dinner. That way you take in fewer calories and you don't have to deal with the guilt. Don't do it too often because cheese cake is not nutritious at all.
- Stop the fad dieting. They may work for a while, but your body will eventually be so out of balance that it will scramble to get some order back and it will start to hoard everything. That will end up as body fat. You will struggle to get rid of that fat.
- Move, move, move!
Happiness is the first step to sorting out your body issues. You'd be amazed how quickly everything will fall into place when you stop subscribing to the masses who tell you you should be thin. Listen to your body and it will treat you kindly in return.
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