Thursday, November 18, 2010

Eat Less to lose weight?

I was talking with some girls in the office this morning about how I really want to set a timeframe goal for myself to be at my goal weight by my birthday, May 19th. I was saying that my weight loss has slowed down a bit and I need to kick it up a notch in order to achieve this goal.

They asked, "what are you planning to do to kick it up a knotch?" I said, "Increase my exercise and eat less." At the mention of "eat less" their heads started shaking and they blurted out "NO!" You already don't eat enough, don't cut back on your food!

HUH? People really don't get it. You have to eat less to lose weight. That is a fact. I had to explain to them that even though they may see me eat only one meal a day, that I do eat well over my daily recommended calories in that one meal. That counting calories or trying to decrease the amount I eat in that window is my best option for losing weight.

They both thought that I should eat more and eat often and just exercise like mad. That sounds much harder to me. Why would I want to sweat my ass off to try to get my ass off? Why, when I can just try to eat less instead, much easier. I can exercise to try to help me along, to try to tone some muscle, to try to get healthy but doing extreme amounts of exercise doesn't seem practical.

How can we change the public's perception that eating more is what will get you thin? It doesn't even make sense when you say it but everyone believes it!

8 comments:

  1. You are a Taurus [taurus horoscope ], no wonder you are very determined! You're doing great!

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  2. I couldn't agree more!!! The idea of moderation is almost scary to way too many people. I also agree that exercise is necessary for health but weight loss depends on your food intake! Half an hour on the treadmill won't even sweat off a single Starbucks cookie. Best of luck with your May goal! I'm cheering for you! :)

    Be

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  3. Bravo!! So true...I want to say "duh" to those people, "give me a break". It's crazy they can't see how illogical they are, lol. Love ya!

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  4. Great post! Good luck meeting your May 19th goal! I'm rooting for you!

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  5. Jenna,

    Your progress is awesome and your blog is fun to read. I know you are going to reach your goal!

    Found your blog from reading the comments on the Fast-5 site. I've found that fast-5 is not only great for weight loss (I dropped 35 pounds), but gives me extra energy and gets rid of numerous health problems -- just as you have noticed, with no colds or acne.

    I think that the reason for these health benefits is that IF turns on a process called "hormesis", a kind of controlled physiological stress, that activates defense and repair processes in your body and brain. The end result is that it makes you more resistant to stress. I've written on my blog "Getting Stronger" about how fasting and other types of hormesis can deliberately increase your resilience and stress tolerance.

    You might find the blog (and forum) interesting -- here is a link to one recent post I wrote to help people learn how to get started with fasting:

    http://gettingstronger.org/2010/11/learning-to-fast/

    Good luck with Thanksgiving coming!

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  6. Yesterday I went back to the gym (I had been working out with a PT since Sept 2009 - Apr 2010 with no weight loss). They hadn't seen me since I've started with Fast 5 (I've gone from 201 - 161 since July 1st) and of course were shocked to see my progress.
    One of the first things out of there mouths were "HOW?" and of course I told them a teeny tiny bit about Fast 5 (knowing it wasn't apart of their mentality). They asked "do you eat breakfast" and I replied "not normally". Thus began the onslaught of .....well you can imagine. Here are the highlights:
    -I MUST eat 6+ meals a day
    -I have ruined my metabolism
    -I have lost my muscle
    -When you don't eat your body feeds muscle first THEN fat (my favourite)
    -You will have no energy
    -YOU ARE RUINING YOUR LIFE!!! :)

    Ok seriously, at some point during this i wanted to cry a little bit. I don't get it. I paid thousands in training sessions and although probably gained a lot of muscle I didn't really shed any weight. I have dropped 40 POUNDS and they are telling me how horribly unhealthy I am. Are they kidding? They want me to start eating 6+ times a day????? MORE FOOD MORE CALORIES but of course I will magically lose the weight.
    I don't understand this.

    Jenna, sorry for the rant. I love your blog. I agree wholeheartedly with you about changing the public's perception. There are SO MANY poor people out there that need help and are being given answers that don't work.

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  7. Please, RANT AWAY! I totally agree with you. It seems like common sense yet the "professionals" just don't get it. How in the world would it make sense that our bodies would burn muscle first? HELLO?!

    Our bodies store fat specifically for the purpose of using it as energy later. I am no scientist but doesn't it make sense that our bodies would do this if burning off fat was a difficult thing for it to do?

    Check out this post from Brad Pilon http://bradpilon.com/healthy-ramblings/preventing-muscle-loss-while-dieting/

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