Experts: Can someone please explain this to me?!
Question: You eat to much and gain weight. You eat to little and gain weight.
So lets say your Resting metabolic rate equals around 1880 calories a day, you cut 500 calories to lose 1 lb a week. All the experts say to find your resting metabolic rate and the calories needed and reduce it by 500.... but if you reduce it by too much more your body goes into starvation mode... why doesnt it go into starvation mode from the 500 calories that have been cut out?
It just doesnt make sense!
Eat carbs.. no eat protein.. no eat 20 billion times a day... just eat when you're hungry... eat subway... take hoodia... ahhhhh!!! I now see why the diet industry pulls in its quadroopatrillians!
Answers: You eat to much and gain weight. You eat to little and gain weight.
So lets say your Resting metabolic rate equals around 1880 calories a day, you cut 500 calories to lose 1 lb a week. All the experts say to find your resting metabolic rate and the calories needed and reduce it by 500.... but if you reduce it by too much more your body goes into starvation mode... why doesnt it go into starvation mode from the 500 calories that have been cut out?
It just doesnt make sense!
Eat carbs.. no eat protein.. no eat 20 billion times a day... just eat when you're hungry... eat subway... take hoodia... ahhhhh!!! I now see why the diet industry pulls in its quadroopatrillians!
You're trying to trick your body into burning off the calories without reducing your metabolism. Millions of years of evolution have trained the body not to overreact to small changes in daily calorie intake.
Franco Columbu's "the bodybuilders nutrition book" is probably the best book I have read with advice on how to stay lean and you don't have to be a bodybuilder to use his advice. It's only 10 bucks and you can get it on amazon. It worked great for me and I have given copies to many people since... The diets listed in the back of the book work great too.
You just need to find what works for you, and don't think about it so much. Generally, when you have a healthy diet and you eat bad food in moderation, you will lose weight with exercize.
The best diet is one you can stick with forever.
When you're in the "starvation mode" your BMR goes down as well. You feel tired all the time and just want to sleep. This is a way for your body to preserve energy. The trick is not to try to do it too much. Instead of cutting 1000 calories from your normal daily diet, cut only 500.
Metabolism is a funny thing. And you're right. Overeating packs on pounds, but undereating does as well.
So, here's what my psychopharmacology professor had to say on the topic and it makes sense:
We evolved from starving animals. If you think about it, all animals in the wild are constantly looking for food. As a result, humans have these leftover quirks.
Our bodies have a set point where our metabolism and weight stabilize. These set points are determined by calorie intake, exercise levels, etc... They are easy to increase, but really hard to decrease because of the way we evolved.
Fat stores are meant to prevent starvation in times of famine. The more fat stores you have, the better equiped you are to survive starvation. Evolutionally speaking, fat is a good thing. But too much of it is unhealthy.
When we go into starvation mode, i.e. diet, we are trying to trick our bodies into using its stores. However, if we go too far into starvation mode, our body will hold onto every calorie it gets because it thinks there may not be more tomorrow and we may need it for later. If we stop eating altogether, it starts using the body stores first, then starts eating muscle, which is never good.
The tricky part is finding a balance. Most people who constantly gain weight only overeat by about 150 calories per day. So, cutting 500 calories would be a safe bet. Loosing weight is all about your caloric intake.
Remember, carbs are easiest to process, so your body will process them first. Proteins and fiber are not as easy, and take longer. Your 1380 calories should be a nice happy balance between the three for the best result.
It's not so much a question of eat to much/eat to little. It's more a question of how much you eat, when you eat, and what you eat. There's also the exercise factor. If you don't do anything, your metabolism will slow down to preserve its fat stores for energy to run your internal organs, brain, and the like. If you eat 5-6 meals a day, this helps keep your "furnace" running. Your body burns calories to digest food, the more complex, the more calories it takes to digest. This is why a high protein diet is good. It takes approximately 300 cals to burn 1000 cals of protein. If the rest is absorbed as "food" for the muscles (which is unlikely) then those calories are used and not stored as fat. 6 small meals of healthy food (proteins, complex carbs such as broccoli, and healthy fats, like vinegar and oil dressing) will be better than 6 small meals of Mc Donald's, which is loaded with saturated fats, simple carbs, and salt. Put the healthy foods with an exercise program, which will raise your metabolism, and your body will rely on its fat stores for energy once your metabolism goes up.