My BIGGEST Joke Ever? (they said I'd NEVER do it!)
Friday, April 9, 2010
How To BREAKTHROUGH a Plateau!
Have you ever wondered why so many people “eat right and exercise” and still fail to get results? More often than not, the answer lies not in lack of effort, but rather lack of understanding. In other words, the effort can be there but if the environment isn’t suitable for fat release, results can be nil.
The science of fat loss is certainly a science. Although the concept seems easy, once you throw physiology, dietetics, and endocrinology into the mix – things can become quite complicated. The simplest advice is to eat less and exercise more. Although the advice holds some merit, it is not necessarily THE ANSWER. I say it is not the answer because an exercising body actually requires more nutrients, more fuel, and more energy (food) than a non-exercising body. Most people get into trouble, slow and eventually cease progress by applying this conventional thinking of eat less, weigh less. Combine high physical demands (exercise) with nutrient restriction and you have yourself a surefire recipe for disappointment and frustration.
Diets are all varieties of calorie restriction. When you take in fewer calories than your body needs to sustain metabolic demand, you lose weight. The scale tells you the diet’s “working” but the scale cannot distinguish between lean body mass, internal organs, bone, fat, or water. It simply tells you how many pounds you weigh under gravity at a given moment in time. Intellectually you believe it’s working, but physiologically your body is making changes by altering hormone production, enzyme production, and catabolizing muscle (the perfect recipe for a slower me
tabolism).
When caloric intake is too low, these built in mechanisms take action to serve and protect you.
When the body senses too little fuel coming in to support metabolic activity, (from starvation or dieting) it backs off on its production (slows down metabolism) to keep you alive.
The science of fat loss is certainly a science. Although the concept seems easy, once you throw physiology, dietetics, and endocrinology into the mix – things can become quite complicated. The simplest advice is to eat less and exercise more. Although the advice holds some merit, it is not necessarily THE ANSWER. I say it is not the answer because an exercising body actually requires more nutrients, more fuel, and more energy (food) than a non-exercising body. Most people get into trouble, slow and eventually cease progress by applying this conventional thinking of eat less, weigh less. Combine high physical demands (exercise) with nutrient restriction and you have yourself a surefire recipe for disappointment and frustration.
Diets are all varieties of calorie restriction. When you take in fewer calories than your body needs to sustain metabolic demand, you lose weight. The scale tells you the diet’s “working” but the scale cannot distinguish between lean body mass, internal organs, bone, fat, or water. It simply tells you how many pounds you weigh under gravity at a given moment in time. Intellectually you believe it’s working, but physiologically your body is making changes by altering hormone production, enzyme production, and catabolizing muscle (the perfect recipe for a slower me
tabolism).When caloric intake is too low, these built in mechanisms take action to serve and protect you.
When the body senses too little fuel coming in to support metabolic activity, (from starvation or dieting) it backs off on its production (slows down metabolism) to keep you alive.
Here are three specific physiological responses to severe calorie deprivation.
Before I continue understand that severe caloric deprivation is not only a result of cutting back on calories or erratic dieting, it is also the result of exercising excessively and failing to nutritionally support the effort.
Before I continue understand that severe caloric deprivation is not only a result of cutting back on calories or erratic dieting, it is also the result of exercising excessively and failing to nutritionally support the effort.
1. The thyroid gland located in the neck region, primarily acts to regulate and control metabolism. The thyroid is largely responsible for the regulation of you resting metabolic rate. Your resting metabolic rate is basically the amount of energy used to fuel essential functions such as temperature regulation, breathing, blood circulation, and so on. A big chunk of the daily calories that you eat is consumed by RMR (about 70%). Again, as living organisms, we need fuel to survive, function, grow, and repair. When the body goes into semi-starvation mode such as a calorie-restricted diet, the thyroid backs off on its production of the hormone T3. (T3 is a major heat producing, fat burning hormone). Ultimately your metabolism slows to a crawl and weight loss ceases (hence the plateau).
2. Very low calorie diets increase the activity of fat-storing enzymes. The chief fat storing enzyme is called lipoprotein lipase. During extended periods without nutrition the body increases its production of LPL. This enzyme is anxiously awaiting any food that may come across the lips so it can grab the energy and store it as fat. Anyone serious about losing fat must eat frequently throughout the day. The research and real world evidence backing this up is overwhelming. The bottom line, nutritious food must be consumed five to six times a day if fat loss is the goal.
3. Failure to adequately fuel and / or nourish the body, and you literally begin to cannibalize muscle tissue. When calories are severely restricted, up to 45 percent of the energy
deficit is derived from burning muscle for fuel – a fact that can account for as much as one pound a week of muscle loss. During stringent dieting, there is a tendency for your body to breakdown muscle tissue into glucose (though a process called gluconeogenesis) so that the brain and other tissues have adequate fuel. Since muscle tissue is metabolically active, its loss causes an associated drop in metabolic rate. Anyone interested in increasing their metabolism, losing fat, and keeping it off their frame must be concerned with maintaining muscle tissue.
2. Very low calorie diets increase the activity of fat-storing enzymes. The chief fat storing enzyme is called lipoprotein lipase. During extended periods without nutrition the body increases its production of LPL. This enzyme is anxiously awaiting any food that may come across the lips so it can grab the energy and store it as fat. Anyone serious about losing fat must eat frequently throughout the day. The research and real world evidence backing this up is overwhelming. The bottom line, nutritious food must be consumed five to six times a day if fat loss is the goal.
3. Failure to adequately fuel and / or nourish the body, and you literally begin to cannibalize muscle tissue. When calories are severely restricted, up to 45 percent of the energy
deficit is derived from burning muscle for fuel – a fact that can account for as much as one pound a week of muscle loss. During stringent dieting, there is a tendency for your body to breakdown muscle tissue into glucose (though a process called gluconeogenesis) so that the brain and other tissues have adequate fuel. Since muscle tissue is metabolically active, its loss causes an associated drop in metabolic rate. Anyone interested in increasing their metabolism, losing fat, and keeping it off their frame must be concerned with maintaining muscle tissue. Thursday, April 8, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
