In my experience, I have seen people who want to lose weight go at it in a very extreme way. Generally, they will wait until the last minute thinking that they can diet themselves into losing weight. The result I see are minimal results, if any, and disappointment. Many people think that dramatically reducing the number of calories they consume is the way to go. I disagree with that approach based upon my experience and the science behind it. What you want to do is consume less calories than your burning, and to mix in strength/power workouts.
Eating too few calories will actually backfire and sabotage your weight-loss goals. The most effective way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than you burn. This formula will create a calorie deficit. The problem arises when your calorie intake is too low, your body will go into a self-preservation mode. Your body will start to store fat because it thinks it is not going to get anything. When your body goes into this starvation mode, your metabolism slows to a crawl. Your body will try to conserve its energy stores, and will burn calories as slow as possible. This is why people who cut out too many calories will reach a plateau and stop losing weight.
In addition to this physiological reaction, there are psychological reactions. A person who is putting themselves into starvation mode, will become frustrated that their extreme efforts are not paying off. This will lead to binge eating or overeating, that will ultimately end up in weight gain. Generally, these people will be disappointed and just stop trying to lose weight. In this post, I will not go through the potential health issues you can cause to your body by eating too little. They include the following: low blood pressure and slow heart rate, heart rhythm issues, electrolyte imbalances, gallstones, hair loss, etc….and the list goes on and on.
Therefore, the effective solution to losing weight is eating wisely—based on science/knowledge — and mixing in exercise to help burn off the calories. Calories aren’t bad. Calories are needed to help you replenish your energy and repair your body. However, too much of anything in life is bad. Therefore, you need to focus on getting a certain number of calories, but making sure that they are less than you expend (but not drastically so).
You also need to mix in an exercise plan that will help you burn away the calories, especially, the fat. Depending upon where you are, initially you want to start out losing from one-half to two pounds per week. Studies show that people who lose weight at this rate – by eating with intention and smaller portion sizes, and exercising – will have the best chance of keeping off the weight.
Working out is critical to weight loss. If you have a smart workout program you can focus on burning fat and building muscles. The more muscle you build will help you burn off fat during period even when you’re not exercising. The rationale behind this premise is simple. When you exercise, you use muscle. This will help build muscle mass. Muscle tissue burns more calories even when you’re at rest. According to one Wharton study, 10 pounds of muscle will burn 50 calories in a day spent at rest, while 10 pounds of fat will burn 20 calories.
