Article: 5 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight

[bwana devil]

i enjoyed this article. maybe you will too.

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5 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight

Adapted from The TNT Diet, the revolutionary guide to transforming your body — and your life.

By Jeff Volek, PH.D., R.D., & Adam Campbell, M.S., C.S.C.S., Men's Health

Still struggling to lose weight? Here are five mistakes that many people make — and advice to help you shed pounds.

1. You're Following Bad Advice

Sometimes the government goofs. In late 1970s, the United States began advocating a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. In the early 1970s, the average daily energy intake was 2,450 calories. By the year 2000, that number had risen to 2,618. Almost all of those extra calories came from carbohydrates, according to the Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES).

Do this: Eat fewer carbs. People are overeating carbohydrates, not protein and fat. So if you want to lose fat, start by cutting back on carbs. Ask nutritionists what the main purpose of carbohydrates is and they'll say, "Energy." Trouble is, most people are consuming more energy than they can burn.

2. You Eat Fat-Free Foods

Warning: Low-fat foods may make you fat. Cornell University researchers reported that when overweight men and women were told they were eating low-fat M&Ms, they consumed 47 percent more calories than those who were given regular M&Ms (the M&Ms were actually all the same). On average, low-fat foods contain 59 percent less fat, but only 15 percent fewer calories than full-fat products.

Do this: Go ahead and eat full-fat foods — for instance, cheese, sour cream, and a nice, marbled steak. They have slightly more calories than their lower-fat counterparts, but they'll help you feel full longer after you eat. And that'll reduce the number of calories you eat at your meal. In our lab at the University of Connecticut, we've found that people who eat 60 percent of their calories from fat lose weight faster than those who eat just 20 percent of their calories from fat.

Moreover, many of your concerns about saturated fat may be overstated.

3. You (Still) Don't Eat Breakfast

Sure, you've heard this one before. But it's important: Researchers at the University of Massachusetts found that people who don't eat breakfast are nearly five times more likely to be obese than those who make it an everyday habit. That's because if you sleep for 6 to 8 hours, and then skip breakfast, your body is running on fumes by the time you get to work. And that sends you desperately seeking sugar, which happens to be easy to find.

Do this: Eat your first meal within 90 minutes of waking. The UMass scientists determined that people who waited longer increased the likelihood that they'd become heavyweights by 147 percent; those that didn't eat breakfast within 3 hours of waking elevated their risk by 173 percent.

4. You're Eating Too Much Sugar

You've stopped drinking regular soda? Great, but your diet is probably still filled with the sweet stuff. Check the label of your breakfast cereal. Some products marketed as healthy are packed with sugar. Case in point: Kellogg's Smart Start Health Heart cereal contains more sugar per serving — 17 grams — than a serving of Froot Loops. The problem: Sugar raises your blood levels of insulin, a hormone that signals your body to stop burning — and start storing fat.

Do this: Carefully read labels — especially when it comes to cereal. Or even better, trade your morning bowl for an omelet. Saint Louis University scientists found that people who have eggs as part of their breakfast eat fewer calories the rest of the day than those who ate bagels instead. Even though both breakfasts contained the same number of calories, the egg eaters consumed 264 fewer calories for the entire day.

5. You Don't Lift Weights

In a study at the University of Connecticut, we put overweight men on a 1,500-calorie-a-day diet, and divided them into three groups — one that didn't exercise, another that performed aerobic exercise 3 days a week, and a third that did both aerobic exercise and weight training. Each group lost almost the same amount of weight — about 21 pounds. But the lifters shed 5 more pounds of fat than those who didn't pump iron. Why? Their weight loss was almost pure fat, while the other two groups lost just 15 pounds of lard, along with several pounds of muscle.

Do this: Make three total-body weight training sessions a week a non-negotiable part of your weight loss plan. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that lost muscle is replaced by fat over time. This not only makes you look flabby, but it also increases your pants size — even if you somehow manage to keep your scale-weight the same. The reason: Each pound of fat takes up 18 percent more space on your body than each pound of muscle.

[Yobz]

Good article, I follow all the principles in it and have felt better since I started. :-)

[Blarg]

Good stuff.

[AZK]

I prefer this one: 6 reasons why you aren't eating healthier... excellent blog also... http://www.modernforager.com/blog/20...ing-healthier/

Here is WebMD’s 6 Reasons Americans Aren’t Eating Healthier:

1. Calories
2. Diet and Exercise
3. Breakfast
4. Fats
5. Carbohydrates
6. “Functional” Foods

I’d like to offer my own 6 reasons why we’re not healthier, basing them on those from WebMD.
1. We focus on calories, instead of food: 1000 calories from Twinkies is not the same as 1000 calories from lettuce, which isn’t the same as 1000 calories from chicken. If you think it is, I suggest some reading on the role of insulin in fat storage.
2. We consider walking to be exercise: One day, less than a century ago, walking was transportation. Now it’s exercise. People walk around the block and call it being “physically active”. Walking is a great start for those that are inactive, but lets stop acting like walking is going to keep people healthy. Your heart rate should go up to where there is some difficulty talking.
3. We are convinced that breakfast is different from the other meals: Post and General Mills have convinced us that breakfast needs to be sweet. We feed our kids enriched Sugar Bombs and Pop Tarts before stopping off at Starbucks for a Sugar-ccino and sugarberry muffin. Eat a real breakfast of eggs and bacon. Or eat last night’s leftovers. Breakfast doesn’t have to be a grainy, sugary mess that sends your blood sugar skyrocketing so that you’re starving again 2 hours before lunchtime.
4. We are convinced that some types of fat are bad for us: Especially that dastardly saturated fat. Get your fat from nuts and olive, coconut, and palm oils. And if you eat grassfed meats, dig into the fat in them too. Saturated fat isn’t a killer. The polyunsaturated fats that we’re told to eat just may be though (three cheers for immunosuppression!). I really love when some well-meaning, but misguided nutritionist lumps trans fats in with saturated fats, or worse says that trans fats are the same as saturated fats. But that is the nonsense that the American Heart Association continues to push, regardless of all evidence to the contrary.
5. Somehow, we listen to people that tell us to eat more grains than produce: Our government bases its Pyramid on grains. Dieticians are constantly touting the benefits of whole grains. Get your carbohydrates from unprocessed produce, like fruits, vegetables, tubers, and squashes. Grains are an alien food to the human body, having been consumed in quantity for about 10,000 years. There is absolutely nothing in a grain that isn’t found in a fruit or vegetable without all of the nastiness that comes with grains like lectins and phytates.
6. We expect food manufacturers to give us healthful foods: This whole “functional” foods craze drives me nuts. Real food is already functional. Meat, eggs, seafood, produce, and nuts are about as functional as it gets. And they don’t need a colorful package with Spongebob Squarepants on them and bright red banners telling us how good they are for us. Food manufacturers will add whatever they can to a product to make it a) cheaper and b) more attractive to your health-consciousness. Profit, profit, profit is the motivation of these companies.
7. We listen to the media rather than listening to our bodies: This one is a bonus. The media cares about stories, not truth. One day it’s “Low Fat Diet Cures Cancer” and the next we hear “Low Carb Diet Knows the Last Digit of Pi”. Stop changing your diet everytime Regis Philbin, Oprah, Kiran Chetry, or some other “news” host unveils the next big diet breakthrough. There is nothing new in the world of eating! People have been eating the right way for hundreds of thousands of years. If you eat real food, your body will tell you what, and how much, to eat. Cut the processed junk. Stick to food without nutrition labels.

It boils down to listening to your body. Ditch the food products. Eat real food, that which is grown, not manufactured. Stop dieting and just change your lifestyle. Eat the original low-carb diet, based on fresh fruits and vegetables and plenty of meat, eggs, and seafood. Ditch the grains and replace them with produce. Your body will thank you.

[Thremp]

Calories are still the most important thing. The thermic effect of food makes some difference. Produce has almost none. Grains have a ton. If you need more calories, you need to make some concessions and swapping some produce for grains is a very simple one.

[longbody]

Another good nutrition article.

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/...e-big-one.html

[Blarg]

Not a big fan of that "chow down on the animal fat" theory, nor wowed by the revelation that companies are in business to make money. That last article read more like a rant.

[AZK]

Most of his stuff is kind ranty, but the whole website is good... I don't see the problem in chowing down on grass-fed, organic animal fat. It has a better lipid profile than regular meat and doesn't have many of the other negative side effects. It's still animal fat, but if you subscribe to the whole theory it shouldn't be an issue. Most of the fat they are getting is still monounsaturated/plant derived...

[AZK]

[ QUOTE ]
Another good nutrition article.

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/...e-big-one.html

[/ QUOTE ]

again the problem is definition of healthy eating. Everyone has their opinion on what's healthy and what's not healthy... I can't say I'm surprised by what this study found.

[JammyDodga]

Eat less crap, exercise more...

The amazing new fad diet...