There is a negative condition that our body is subject to which is common during and after many popular weight loss diets. You may have heard of it – ‘metabolic damage’ or sometimes it is referred to as ‘starvation mode’. It is a series of hormonal and chemical responses to prolonged calorie restriction.
The World Health Organization states that any food intake of 1800 calories for woman or 2200 for men is a starvation situation yet most weight loss plans advocate food intakes of far less than this. Diets of 1200 – 1600 are common.
Since your body cannot recognize the difference between you wanting to fit into your skinny jeans better or a real famine it responds as if starvation is a serious threat. Protective mechanisms are activated to hold on to body fat stores for dear life, including a reduction in energy output, increased appetite and less desire to be active.
Your metabolic motor has slowed down and if you recognize any of the following symptoms you are or have been in this ‘fat conservation’ mode. Low energy…can’t stop thinking about food….hungry all the time….weight loss on the scales has slowed or reached a plateau…..seems like you are not losing much for how little you are eating.
If (rather when) you fall off the ‘diet’ as it is too hard to continue and you return to normal eating, you seem to gain the weight back easier and faster than you have ever gained it before. You will likely even end up heavier and with more body fat than before you started the crazy diet as your body takes matters into its own hands to protect itself from this event happening again.
You have in fact; worked against the very mechanism that can help you lose excess fat weight but to be successful you will need to work with it. This means doing things to boost the metabolic rate – not slow it down to a crawl.
The first and most influential way to boost the metabolism is to rebuild and re-tone weak flabby muscles caused by not doing enough muscle building and maintaining activity. Most of us do not get anywhere near enough of this in our ‘easy’ and ‘convenient’ inactive and sedentary world. It should be no surprise that two thirds of us are overweight to some degree or another and that number is climbing.
A proper strength training exercise program is so easy to implement. Just 2-3 sessions are needed each week to rev up the metabolism and keep it revved up. No other type of exercise will do this so forget low intensity, long duration activity as that will not kick your metabolism up a notch or two.
Support your exercise program with a healthy eating plan which means ditching as much processed food as possible and getting yourself back into the kitchen cooking natural whole foods from scratch.
While you are eating the wrong types of foods (processed ones) and too much of them and not doing enough proper exercise you will not have a hope in hell of ever losing weight for the long haul. The chemicals and additives in these so called foods mess up your metabolism and hinder even the most valiant weight loss efforts.
You don’t have to do much to get your body back in the fat burning mode, but it has to be the right things otherwise you will be disappointed. Think about the quality of your food and work at getting that better. Think about the amount of proper muscle toning activity you do (or don’t do). Fix those two things up and you will be well on the way to that slim, trim, firm shapely (and healthy) body you want to reclaim.
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