May 22
Why Most People Don’t Lose Weight and How To Avoid Making The Same Mistakes
One of the biggest myths that seems to be around at the minute is that in order to lose weight (or more specifically lose body fat) you have to eat less and exercise more.
If this really was the case then I probably wouldn’t get so many clients, because the number 1 reason that most people hire me to get them into shape is because they have been dieting and exercising but still can’t seem to get any noticeable results.
If you go on a calorie diet and starve yourself you are going to play havoc with your metabolism in the long run by ensuring that your body uses up valuable muscle for fuel and instead hold onto body-fat instead of burning it. This will give you the appearance that you are losing weight on the scales short term but it will only be a matter of time before this catches up with you and you end up heavier that you where when you started. This is reason number 1 why we never ask anyone to count calories. It just doesn’t work in the long term.
If you go jogging or spend hours in the gym every week on the treadmill doing long slow boring and continuous cardio or move from the treadmill to the cross trainer then the bike then on to the stepper then you are going to get the same results. In fact any calories that you will have used up during the session you are going to pretty much instantly replace due to increased hunger after your session has finished.
Having worked in a commercial gym for over 2 years, I used to see it every day. The people who were on the treadmills, walking on an incline (and sometimes holding on at the same time) were the people who’s body shape never changed and they couldn’t work it out, because they “exercised” for 4 hours per week
If this resonates with you will have probably have tried the above and after weeks or months of frustration you will have finally given in, thinking that the reason why it wasn’t working was due to your genes.
What if you could lose weight by eating more and exercising less?
It may sound a little crazy to you but that’s exactly what you need to do to get results. You see the thing about nutrition and weight loss is that it’s more about the types of food you eat rather than the amounts. There is no point in starving yourself all day so that you can have your “weight watchers” branded bottle of wine at the end of the night or counting calories if it is the wrong type of calories you are eating.
Equally as bad, I saw a pull out in a newspaper last week for “Slimming World” that said you could lose weight by eating unlimited pasta. I don’t normally get pissed off by things but that really annoyed the hell out of me. These companies are misleading people (albeit unknowingly) about how to lose body fat effectively. The same goes for Kelloggs and their Special K adverts. Maybe the government needs to put legislation in place to make these companies publish what the woman in the red dress actually eats? I bet it isn’t cereal twice a day and a “proper meal” at night.
The types of foods that you eat can massively affect the way fat is stored and burned by releasing hormones such as insulin into your blood steam. These hormones basically tell your body what to do with the glucose (sugar) in your blood and either store them as fat on you belly or send them to the muscle to be used as fuel. Not only can you manipulate these hormones through food, you can also manipulate them through the type of exercise you do and when you eat certain types of foods.
Its all about nutrition.
Nutrition wise its better to eat nutritious foods that are not processed and don’t have added sugars and also avoid wheat, while at the same time increaing consumption of lean meats and fish as well as green vegetables. This is a far more effective fat loss strategy than calorie counting and has been shown time and again to work on all of my personal training and boot camp clients.
Do Less Exercise But Work Harder When you Do
Performing long continuous bouts of cardio also creates massive amounts of stress on your body and even forces your body to release a stress hormone called cortisol. The job of cortisol is to switch off fat burning and to use muscle for fuel. This is the same thing that happens when your body is in starvation mode as well due to prolonged calorie deficit through extreme dieting. This is the exact reason why the people you see doing cardio all the time in the gym never get anywhere.
The fastest way to fat loss (not weight loss) through exercise is metabolic resistance training that creates an after-burn effect and means that your body is burning fat for calories even when you are not exercising. This mean that you can exercise a lot less. In fact I only recommend that people exercise for 2.5 hours per week split over 3 sessions.
I know it sounds crazy but in this case less definitely does mean more at least when it comes to exercise.
Article is by Liam Thompson a Personal Trainer specialising in fat loss based in in Manchester City Centre. Feel Free to Check out my new site for my Weight Loss Boot Camp Manchester . You can even get a 7 Day Free Trial
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