Weight Loss

You have to get healthy to lose weight, not lose weight to get healthy.

I know it seems obvious and seems to makes sense but calorie counting does not work.  This is what the science says but people still think we are calories in, calories out, machines.

A six-year study conducted on the US weight-loss reality TV show, The Biggest Loser found that most of the 16 contestants have regained much if not all the weight they lost so arduously. Some are even heavier now. “What was surprising was what a coordinated effect it is. The body puts multiple mechanisms in place to get back to your (pre-diet) weight. The only way to maintain weight is to be hungry all the time.” Dr Joseph Proietto (University of Melbourne)

The human body has been designed for times of food scarcity. Through evolution, in times of famine the body had to defend its weight fiercely. If we reduce the amount of food we consume, our bodies perceive this as a famine and slow down our metabolic rate accordingly. Even minimal weight loss of a pound a week will trigger this response. Reducing calories makes us lethargic, reduces our metabolic rate and makes our bodies retain fat stores (losing muscle and water instead) because it thinks we’re going to starve in the future. 

“In other words, the less you eat, the less you need to eat before you start putting on weight again.” Robert Winston

Also, exercise can make you fat!

Exercise causes a stress response in the body. Cortisol is released and blood sugars are mobilised. Elevated blood sugars signal a release of insulin and over time lead to insulin resistance that causes fat storage and hypertension. So poorly structured exercise routines can make us fat.

So, reducing calories:

• impairs cellular regeneration, essential for health
• decreases energy, lethargy
• changes the body’s biochemistry at a cellular level to store more fat
• scientifically proven not to result in long-term weight loss/optimisation

Instead, healthy weight loss:

• eat fat, it gives you a sustained source energy
• reduce sugar, insulin release activate fat storage in your body
• de-tox., toxins in your body are stored in your fat 
• hydrate properly
• eat real food, not processed food (better energy and less toxins)
• eat the rainbow (colour = diverse nutrients for the gut microbiome)
• eat proactively (before you’re hungry) to balance blood sugars and make choosing slow release energy foods, such as fat, protein and vegetable easier
• don’t carbo. load when exercising, it just trains your body to use sugar as fuel rather than fat stores
• don’t overdo cardio, the stress response elevates blood sugar levels 
• choose weight bearing exercise such as an obstacle course rather than a spin bike 

Work with the body, not against it:

Stand naked in front of the mirror and just notice all the criticisms and self-judgements. Don’t attempt to quell them. Just let them run on, observing them. Underneath the criticisms though, let there grow a warm and wonder-filled appreciation for your body, which has done its best, its heroic best, under the circumstances thrust upon it. Think of all your body has undergone…yet he/she is still alive, breathing and adapting. Allow a sense of grateful awe to develop. If your body condition causes you physical pain, let that add to to the heroic effort your body is making.