Weight Loss Programs - The Right and Wrong Way To Easy Weight Loss

Posted by Lorna on April 22nd, 2008 at 11:57am

The problem most of us trying to lose weight face can be stated briefly - regardless of whatever weight loss program we may be following: Body weight consists of two components: fat tissue and fat-free tissue. The fat-free components are made up of water, electrolytes (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium) sugar stores, muscle tissue, bones and so on.

The objective in any weight loss program is to lose body fat while fat-free tissue. Unfortunately, most weight loss diets do not solve this problem. Indeed many of them introduce other, more serious, disturbances of the body.

We’re all looking for the best way to lose weight, but there’s no point going through all that grief only to find that a few months down the line it all starts piling back on again. So by getting it right first time, we increase the odds of long term success, and that healthy diet will look after us well into old age. So here’s a few pointers you should definitley bear in mind when creating a weight loss diet plan:

Prolonged fasting and diet programs that severely restrict intake can be medically dangerous. The medical risks of such programs range from losing your hair to losing jour life. The once-popular liquid-protein diet, for instance, caused more than 50 deaths. The hormonal, muscular and cardiac complications seen in anorexia give us clear warning of what can happen in following these very-low calorie diets.
2. Fasting and severe diet programs result in the loss of large amounts of fat-free tissue. The classic onset of problems with this kind of diet program was demonstrated a long time ago. A university of Minnesota researcher showed a period of semi starvation resulted in an average weight loss of over 25 pounds per person in 12 weeks, but only 11 pounds of this weight loss was fat.

Adding another 12 weeks to this study reduced body weight another nine pounds, but only six of those pounds were fat. And there are many other studies that show the weight loss in these types of diets are anywhere from 50-75 percent muscle weight, not fat.

3. Mild caloric restriction (500 to 1,000 calories less than what you’re used to) results in a smaller loss of fat-free tissue. This is definitely the dietary route to take. Fat-free losses, however, do still occur. This means that you cannot lose fat and maintain fat-free weight on diet alone. This is a basic principle setting any weight loss program.

4. Dynamic exercise of large muscles helps to maintain fat-free tissue and results in losses of body fat. This is a second basic rule. Exercise reduces body fat while body muscle is increased. A caloric expenditure of 300 calories (from, for example, a three mile run or walk) three times a week appears to be the threshold for this effect. Raising this minimum requirement to 500 calories five days a week results in losses of up to seventh of a pound of fat per week. It may not seem like much, but it does add up and rather quickly.

5. A nutritionally sound diet with mild caloric restriction, coupled with an exercise program and perhaps a behavior modification program, is the best way to lose weight. If you want rapid weight loss, become ill. That’s actually the fastest way to lose weight. But, if you want to lose just body fat go at it realistically. The rate of your weight loss should not exceed two pounds per week. The solution of the fat-free tissue problem is the following weight-loss program:

Restriction of 500-800 calories below usual diet and three to five days per week of exercise.

6. Maintaining proper weight control and optimal body fat levels requires a lifetime commitment to a new set of eating habits and to regular physical activity.

So here’s the real problem with any weight loss program - it’s not the motivation… After all, we would all like to be a bit thinner and there’s plenty of incentives to help us get that way. The problem is adherence. Millions of people want to know the best way to lose weight fast and get it right so we don’t run the risk of gaining it all back again.

So, to sum it all up, the best way to lose weight is to create your own weight loss program that is built around a healthy diet all the time, and take more exercise. And here’s the good news - there is plenty of evidence to show that physical activity is addictive. The athletic experience can generate a lifetime compulsion to be the best you can be. Millions of low body fat runners, body builders and weight lifters can attest to that.

Tags: diets, weight loss programs