Why Diets For Weight Loss Fail pt 3
Understanding how metabolism works is important to understanding the next reason for why diets fail. The typical diet that restricts food intake and calories quickly leads to the body reacting to what it thinks is a time of famine. Our bodies don’t understand wanting to change body composition for aesthetic reasons. Fat is there as an insurance policy against starvation. Throughout history this was a very real threat and so the ability to store energy (fat) for the future was a much needed adaption. As a survival mechanism this is great. In today’s modern world, not so much. For those of you reading this the chance of you ever starving is exceptionally unlikely. You have the internet and time to read my blog, so unless your priorities are completely turned upside down I think it’s safe to say that you’re not starving. The other side of this is that not only are we not starving, but we’re surrounded by readily accessible food that takes no time for preparation and is highly processed and modified to make it convenient and tasty. The caloric density of today’s convenience foods is something that previous generations never had to deal with. Everything today is modified with exorbitant amounts of dietary fat and sugar to satisfy the sweetness and “mouth feel” that people have become accustomed to. This creates an environment that’s ideal for building that insurance policy.
Here’s what happens then when you start a diet where you’re eating less and taking in drastically fewer calories. It takes the body a little while to figure out what’s going on, so initially you’re losing weight. Yes weight, not necessarily fat, because the body has another form of energy storage; glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the muscles and liver and is the more immediate form of energy available. Fat is the long term insurance policy, glycogen is the gas in the tank; it’s depleted and replenished constantly throughout the day. The weight lost is primarily in the form of glycogen depletion and each gram of glycogen that’s stored also has about 3 grams of water attached to it. That’s why in the beginning weight drops easily and fast, but one bad day can put those 5-6 pounds right back on. Very little, if any fat has been lost so far. Stick with it and the fat will begin to come off, but soon the body’s defense mechanism kicks in because it senses a state of food shortage. In response the metabolism slows to get by on the new caloric intake. Weight and fat loss slows and eventually stops. So calories are cut again and food is restricted even more severely. The number on the scale declines some more, until the body slows further. This cycle continues until eventually the dieter is truly starving on perhaps 1000 calories per day or less, always tired, feeling awful and actually has little in the way of results to show for it. Finally the diet is given up and the former eating habits return. Caloric intake increases dramatically, maybe doubling or tripling while the metabolism is still set at the lowest point. From the body’s perspective it has just managed to survive a famine and once again food is plentiful, so to insure survival during the next time of food shortage fat is stored quickly and will even surpass pre-diet levels. This leads to what we know as yo-yo dieting and actually results in weight gain because the body is being trained to preferentially store fat for the inevitable upcoming famine.
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