After A Diet, Why Does The Weight Come Back?

Before many Australians recently, a devastating story unfolded on a popular current affairs program. We watched with compassion as the fattest man in Australia told of his most recent, serious attempt to lose weight. Approximately 12 months earlier and weighing close to 300 kilos, he under went life threatening surgery to lose weight.

I doubt there would have been one person watching not moved by this man's depression and plight. Despite undergoing the surgery, today he could barely get through each day, both physically and mentally. He shared with us his sense of hopelessness and wanting to end it all.

It was not only his size that was causing his depression. He had to deal with a heart broken by disappointment.

You see, the surgery had been a success.

He soon lost well over 50 kilos post operation and he and his family rejoiced. But then the unthinkable happened.

The weight came back. Today he weighs well <i>over</i> 300 kilos - more than before the surgery.

This is an extreme case, but nonetheless raises a question that so many people continue to battle with.

After a diet, why does the weight come back so quickly?

To answer this we need to understand how much energy a body requires. For each pound you weigh, each day you need 12 calories to maintain your body weight. If you weigh 120 pounds you will need 120 x 12 calories, that is, 1440 calories per day to maintain that body weight. If you eat or drink more calories than your body requires, the excess energy is stored as fat. It takes 3,600 excess calories to make one pound of fat.

In this example, if your typical daily calorific intake is 2000 calories, in around 30 days you would put on between 4-5 pounds of fat!

Let's say, you then decide to go on a restrictive diet and halve your calorific consumption to 1,000 calories per day. You stay on this diet for around a month and lose 10 pounds and now weigh 110 pounds. You feel fantastic about losing the weight but can't keep up such a restrictive regime because you are irritable and have no energy.

So you go off your diet and go back to your usual routine of 2,000 calories a day. Remember you are lighter now and your body requires less energy to maintain its new weight. You would now require 110 x 12, that is, 1320 calories per day.

In this instance, by consuming 2000 calories daily, because you are lighter than before, you would put the weight back on in just 24-25 days!

If you want to keep the weight off you must develop a consistent change in eating habits to ensure you do not consume more than your body requires. You cannot continue to eat the same quantities and/or combinations of foods that caused you to be overweight in the first place. This will require developing an understanding of the nutritional content of food and raising your body's metabolism through increased muscle mass and exercise.

Feeling Tired? No Pep? No Zing? Tap Into Breakfast Smoothies

I'm 40-something years old, and for 40-something years breakfast has been a pain. Some of my earliest memories are getting ready for school with my mother insisting I eat a bowl of cereal. It just never interested me. Once high school started I was skipping breakfast and grabbing two apples on the run for lunch. All my life breakfast simply wasn't something I got interested in or thought about until I made this discovery...

Someone introduced me to the most amazing concept for breakfast. By now I was well entrenched in not taking time over the first meal of the day (and sometimes the second meal), so anything that captured my attention was going to have to be fast, no fuss and delicious to warrant any of my attention.

Instead of cardboard cereal and bland milk, it's possible to start the day with power packed, nutritious, energizing and best of all, yummy smoothies. Smoothies have been around for ages, but I had never twigged they make a great start to the day. Imagine the delight of selecting from a range such as Chocolate Strawberry, Hazelnut Coffee, Peach Almond, Banana Bread & Apple Pie Surprise. Kid you not! You can make an endless variety to suit your own taste. Now this was interesting to me.

Not only did I start regularly eating breakfast, my energy shot through the roof! This changed my whole perspective on being 40-something. A period where I thought as a mother, wife, and corporate executive I was supposed to be tired all the time. Not true.

Here is one of my favorite recipes.

<i>Strawberry Parfait</i>

3 tablespoons vanilla flavored soy/whey protein powder
250g (6oz) strawberry flavoured fat free yoghurt
1 cup strawberries
4 ice cubes

Blend in hand-held or benchtop blender. Pour into your favorite glassware and enjoy.

Are You Really Overweight?

If you are overweight, you know it by how you feel, how your clothes fit or how you look.  But, by how much are you really overweight? And how much weight do you need to lose? One measure of how much you should weight is by determining your Body Mass Index, BMI. This index gives you the relationship of your weight to your height. Here is the formula:

Your BMI = [(yourWeight)/(your Height x your Height)] x 705

If you weight 143 lbs and are 64 in tall, then

your BMI = [(143) / (64 x 64)] x 705 = 26.2.  Based on the chart below a BMI of 26.2 is overweight.

·    underweight, BMI = 18.5
·    normal weight BMI = 18.5 - 24.9
·    overweight BMI = 25 - 29.9
·    slight obesity BMI = 30 - 34.9
·    obese BMI = 35 - 39.9
·    excess obese = BMI = greater than 40

If we consider the normal BMI number to be 21.5 then you can compute approximately how much weight you should lose using the same BMI formula but by changing things around in the formula,
(your ideal Weight) = [(normal BMI / 705) x (your Height x your Height)]

For the example above if you have a BMI = 26.2 and the normal BMI number = 21.5, then,

(your ideal Weight) = [(21.5/705) x (64 x 64)] = 124.91

 you should weight 124.91 lbs. That means you need to lose (143 -124.9) lbs = 18.1 lbs.

Try to get your BMI below 25. Under this number, you can expect to have good heath if you are eating the right kinds of food and exercising regularly. If your BMI is greater than 28, you are more likely to have cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and many other diseases related to a toxic colon.

Keep track of your waistline. Your waistline, if you are a man, should be less than 35 ". For women it should be less than 30". As your waistline get larger you become more susceptible to diseases. Of course, waistlines are going to vary because people have different shapes. But you know if your waistline to big for your shape.

Now you should know how much weight you need to lose. Beside your waistline, you should also measure bust/chest, hips, and thighs.. This gives you an indication how your body is changing. As you lose fat you may not lose weight for a while. Your body will become toned as you exercise. The weight scale does not always tell you that your body is changing and losing weight.

Count Colors Not Calores to Lose Weight!

If you need to drop and few kilos and don’t know where to get started, stop counting calories and start counting colours. When it comes to losing weight, make sure your plate is piled high with a range of colourful fruit and vegetables. You’ll naturally create more balance and health-filled menus.

Why? Colour not only brightens your mood – but also your diet. Load your plate with fruit and veges like a box of crayons in colours such as red, yellow, orange, blue, purple, white and green and you’ll also be filling up on power packed phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are naturally occurring chemicals which combat disease, including cancer.

Go easy on the beige and brown foods such as pasta and startchy carbs. When there are too many of these drab colours on your plate, weight gain is almost certain. That's because these beige foods often are high in calories and can leave you feeling hungry later. A cup of beige or brown beans can be over 200 calories....but a cup of red or green vegetables is under a hundred! Add fresh greens, deep purple-reds and bright yellow-orange to a meal, and water the nutrient content go up, while calories go down! Plus, you'll get more enjoyment from eating when there's a variety of colours and flavours on your plate.

According to Dr David Heber, M.D., Ph.D. and author of “What Color Is Your Diet” the key to designing your colourful diet is to choose from a range of different colour groups:

Blue/purple fruits and vegetables contain varying amounts of health-promoting phytochemicals such as anthocyanins and phenolics. Choose from a range including blueberries, blackberries, eggplant, plums, raisins. These assist in memory function.

<b>Green group</b> includes broccoli; Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and bok choi. These foods stimulate the genes in your liver to turn on the production of enzymes that break down the cancer-causing chemicals in the body.

The <b>yellow/green group</b> includes green peas, avocado and honeydew melon. These promote eye health.

The <b>yellow/orange group</b> includes carrots, mangoes, apricots, rock melon and pumpkin. These contain carotenoids (beta carotene is one), fierce antioxidants that help prevent cancer and assist to lower heart-attack risk.

The <b>white group</b> includes bananas, white peaches, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, mushrooms and are helpful to maintain heart health.

The <b>red group</b> includes tomatoes, pink grapefruit and watermelon all of which contain lycopene. Lycopene is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The <b>red/purple group</b> includes grapes, grape juice, prunes, cranberries, strawberries and red apples. These foods contain anthocyanins which have a beneficial effect on heart disease by inhibiting blood clot formation.

Your Tummy Fat Could Be Killing You!

Tummy fat. Some of us have it, others don't. Is there anything special about a big belly compared to a large bottom? Well, surprisingly, not all body fat is created equal! According to a study carried out by researchers from MacMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario it seems that gauging your heart attack risk depends on where your fat is, rather that how much fat you have.

These types of findings are not unique to MacMasters. Dr David Heber, Ph.D., from UCLA’s Centre for Human Nutrition reports that distribution of body fat is a more important predictor of heart attack risk than the traditional measurement of Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a measurement based on the ratio between your height and weight.

It appears that a more accurate predictor of the impact body fat has on your health, is your overall body shape. You may be more like an apple or a pear, or evenly shaped top and bottom. You may have large thighs, fat hips and a huge bum and have a lower heart attack risk than someone with skinny legs and a big belly.

A more accurate and telling predictor of heart attack risk, is the waist-to-hip ratio.

What is your waist-to-hip ratio?

Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. For example, if your hips measurement is 40 inches and your waist is 34 inches your hip-to-waist ratio is 0.85. If you are a man, that's great, if you are a woman, that's OK (but you are right on the limit of healthy).

- A man's ratio should not be over 0.90

- A woman's ratio should not be over 0.85

Don’t fight nature

If you were born an apple you will stay an apple and if you were born a pear you will continue to be appear. Accepting your natural body shape is the first step in losing weight. In a study led by Glasgow, Scotland, psychologist Dorothy Hefferman, Ph.D., researchers concluded that women whose actual body shape differs from their desired one may find losing weight frustrating and have more trouble sticking to a weight-loss program as a result.

If this sounds like you, accept your overall shape as nature intended, but pay attention to reducing fat around your middle and tummy areas. Circumference is much more important to your health than how you look in relation to your bust and bottom.

Your Weight Loss Program in as Easy as a Week

The idea of the weight loss program is to be able for you to develop a consistent approach to weight loss as well as a healthy endurance when exercising.  The weight loss program’s objective is to get rid of the excesses in your body, the excess fat.  Not the healthy and lean muscle tissues and body fluids. 

The weight loss program first requires your focus and dedication, so therefore you need to be prepared in both mind and – of course – body.  It is highly advised that you first visit your doctor for a check-up before embarking on any weight loss program. 

It is important that when starting on any weight loss program, one should be positive enough to work for the results.  Some people get impatient easily but long term effects are assured as long as one sticks to the weight loss plan at hand. 

Stretch and stretch some more.  Before actually doing those exercises and working out those muscles, a little stretching is needed in order to avoid any injury or soreness in your body.

It is also not advisable for anyone to try too hard.  Everything should be done in moderation.  Find the level of exercise and training that suits you.  It should be enough for you to be comfortable in but not too convenient that it will not be much of a challenge. 
The first week

The first day of the weight loss program involves a long and steady walk in a little over twenty minutes.  After the walk, follow it up with a good stretch.  This takes so little of your time for the first day.  In less than an hour you have taken that first step to a weight loss program that could work to your advantage.

By the second day, it is good to focus on an upper body workout.  This maintains your strength to be able to go through the whole weight loss program for the week.  On the third day, a brisk walk or jog for ten minutes is in order.  For beginners, a lower body workout should be done in the evening.

In the fourth day, a good rest is in order, as well as a good stretch.  This lag time should be used wisely though to sort out any negatives in your mindset.  The fifth day starts with a good ten minute walk.  Exercise the lower body in four sessions of workouts, follow this up with another ten minute walk, and another four sessions of lower body workout.

The sixth day should be spent on a low impact exercise such as swimming.  To avoid boredom, do not be afraid to try something new.  The last day of the week is a time to solicit the support of the people you care about.  Spend time with them or get them to be with you in your long walk.  Again, follow up your walk with a light upper body workout. 

This is just the beginning though.  If by this first week you are able to stick to the weight loss program, you have a great chance to further boost your weight loss and stay with the program until you achieve your desired result.  Try as much as possible to be unlike the people who give up easily just because they could not see the result they want at the time they want – like this moment, today, now!   Patience is a virtue.  The same way it took your body time to gain all that weight, think about it as the time your body will have to exert just to get rid of it. Stick to the weight loss program and you will lose weight.