You know the feeling.. you’ve done really well on your latest diet. But then you cave in and BOOM – as if by magic you’ve put it all back on, AND MORE, in what seems like a few days. How is this even possible?? But anyone who’s on the yo yo diet treadmill know this is a reality.
A lot of diets are focused on low calorie and this is the very reason they do not work long term and end up making you fatter.
Our genes haven’t changed in 30,000 years. When you go on a low calorie diet your body perceives this as starvation and sends ‘BIG trouble’ signals to your body’s metabolism. This is a potential emergency and to see the body through this thin patch your metabolic rate is slowed to survival rate – hardly what you want if you want to lose weight.
What is my metabolic rate? = It’s to do with the speed you burn calories.
Worse still – starvation stimulates your fat forming enzymes so the food you do eat goes straight to your fat stores. Your body is going to hang on to everything you give it.
Another thing that happens is your muscle mass is reduced – it’s easier for your body to break this down than fat in a starvation situation.
But it gets EVEN WORSE – these effects are long lasting which means when you come off your diet you have primed your body for FAST and SIGNIFICANT fat gain.
Muscle to Fat Ratio
Your health and self image has a lot to do with the ratio of muscle to fat. There really is no sense in talking about one without the other. But this is exactly what most diets do – they focus on weight loss and rarely mention muscle mass.
Never think weight loss. Think fat loss.
The amount of muscle you have is directly related to the speed of your metabolism – the more muscle, the higher it is. Muscle burns up fat.
When you diet you lose muscle. You harm yourself when you lose muscle and it primes you for fat gain.
Muscle mass is essential for a fast metabolic rate long term fat loss.
Speeding up your metabolism
Have a look at this short blog about easy exercise..
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Until next week 🙂