Why Most Diets Fail

Ever thought of, known someone, or gone on a diet? You probably
have. The word diet seems like a common word for someone who is
unsatisfied with their current physical condition. The problem
is that most diets usually end up failing…in the long run. Going
on a “diet” usually refers to eating alot less food, in the hope
that it will make us lose those unwanted pounds of fat. Although
there are different types of diets, 90% of them stress a strong
reduction in calories one way or another.

Everyone has a certain amount of calories that they require per
day to keep themselves alive and to perform bodily processes.
This requirement of calories is known as Resting Metabolic Rate
or RMR for short. For the purpose of this article, we will use
my body as an example. My RMR is about 2500 calories/day. I will
eat about 2500 calories to just keep myself alive. Note: You can
calculate your RMR at

http://www.weight-loss-resources.com/calculators/rmr.html

On another note, our bodies adapt to the stimuli that they are
exposed to. For instance, when one lifts weights their body
adapts by growing muscle, when one runs long distances their
bodies adapt by building more capillaries to enhance blood flow,
when one is exposed to cold temperatures their body begins to
shiver in an attempt to create heat through muscle contractions,
etc. The point is our bodies adapt to essentially everything
that they are exposed to, including how many calories we eat per
day.

So, when our bodies are exposed to a calorie deficit (a lower
number of calories than our RMR) they must adapt. Let’s say that
I want to go on a diet and I begin to eat 1000 calories a day
instead of the normal 2500 (Actually, I eat more than 2500
calories because I exercise and perform daily activities. 2500
only accounts for the calories needed to keep my body alive.
Although for the sake of simplicity, we are only using the RMR.
If the message within these parentheses confused you, simply
ignore it.) One of the first ways my body is going to adapt is
by using up my fat stores to make up for the lack of calories.
This is why most diets seem to work in the beginning. The thing
is, the body does not want to keep using its precious fat stores
for energy. The human body does not see fat as a bad thing; it
is a backup mechanism for when a calorie deficit is introduced.

Now here’s the kicker. Since my body is not going to want to
keep using up its fat stores, it is going to adapt by lowering
how many calories my body needs per day to keep itself running
(RMR). One of the main ways it accomplishes this is by eating
away at it’s own muscle. Instead of requiring 2500 calories a
day to keep my body running, my body will eventually adapt over
a period of time and only require 1000 calories to keep running.
Back when our ancestors lived they needed this calorie
adaptation to survive when food was short and they were
starving. The trouble is, the body cannot tell the difference
between starvation and dieting. Now that my body’s RMR has
adjusted to the new number of calories that I’m are eating, it
no longer needs to use its emergency fat stores to keep itself
alive. This is when your fat loss stops from a diet. In addition
to this, if I decide that I want to go off of my 1000 calories a
day diet and begin to eat 2500 calories a day again then there
is a calorie surplus. The body does not need these extra
calories so it will store them as fat. The exception to storing
them as fat is when the body needs to build muscle because it
has been exposed to some type of exercise or weight lifting, and
even then all of the calories are not used for muscle growth.

Now that I have changed my RMR to 1000 calories per day, I have
really wrecked my metabolism and it’s going to be harder to get
to my goal of actually losing fat. That is, unless of course If
I want to stay on my diet forever.

So what is the best way to lose fat without messing up my
metabolism (RMR)?

A calorie deficit is required to lose weight, but eating less is
not the only way to create a calorie deficit. Another safer way
is to exercise. More detail can be found on this in Tom Venuto’s
book “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle”, which is located at
http://www.weight-loss-resources.com. You can also calculate
your RMR at

http://www.weight-loss-resources.com/calculators/rmr.html

Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only
and is not intended to replace medical advice from you’re a
physician or your health care provider.

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