The Year of The Monster Is Coming

• Understand drinking water consistently is crucial to weight loss
  

The human body is made up of 55 to 75 percent water. The blood is 83 percent water, muscles are 75 percent water, the brain is 74 percent water and bone is 22 percent water. The leaner you are the more water you have in your body because muscle holds more water than fat. Water is an essential nutrient. All chemical reactions in the body need water. If you want to lose weight, this can not be ignored. Water is needed to flush out the by-products of fat breakdown. Water helps your metabolism work 3-5percent better by keeping everything running optimally. Another main benefit of water is it prevents dehydration. When the body is dehydrated it can not work to full capacity. Even worst from a diet standpoint, when a body is dehydrated it tends to hold water. Dehydration is very similar to being in starvation mode. The body will hold all the water it has fearing it may not get any more. This will cause an adverse effect on the scale. A person will get on the scale and say “I did all my exercises this week and ate properly so why have I gained weight?” What was your water intake like? This is one reason why drinking enough water and drinking it consistently is crucial. Water should only be substituted by water for thirst. Sodas and juices contain sugars and extra calories that are detrimental to weight loss. Even some diet sodas are detrimental because they have caffeine in them. Caffeine is not only dehydrating but the caffeine will raise the blood sugar of some individuals. The same goes for some “sugar free” drinks. Although they may not contain sugar directly they may have things like maltodextrin and aspartame. Both are rapidly absorbed by the body like sugar and can keep the blood sugar levels high. In small doses it should not be a problem but if you drink a lot be advised. Coffee is another drink to watch out for due to the caffeine. For every extra cup of coffee a person drinks, they should have an extra cup and one half of water. Learning to drink plenty of water and to do it consistently can do wonders for your weight loss.

• Understand that going off your diet sometimes is a good thing

You hear it countless times a person will have been dieting for weeks or months  and all of a sudden they begin to stop loosing weight. They become frustrated and binge. They then get more frustrated because they cheated on their diet and then begin to overeat. Next thing they know they have given up on their diet all because of one little slip. What most people do not realize is the mistake they have made is not the cheating but not accepting the cheating. What most people do not realize is even the strickest dieter sometimes cheat and that is okay. Now I am not talking about the person who diets for a week and then hordes junk food. I am talking about the person who has been dieting for weeks and or months and their response to weight loss starts to slow down. After a few weeks or months of doing things so regimented, a few extra calories are actually good for the body. The body is very adaptable. Eventually on any diet the metabolism of a person will slow down and weight loss begins to slow or halt. A person’s metabolism always burns calories on the basis of the eating habits of the past few days. If your eating the same way for weeks or months with little change the body does little adapting. Here is where cheating is not such a bad thing. When you cheat you are changing your eating patterns. Because it takes a few days for the body to adjust the metabolism, things start firing up again. Where people run into problems is they cheat for a day and stop. The body usually takes two to three days to adjust to the new eating patterns. By cheating for 2-3 days the body says “Huh? I better get to work!” A good way to make sure your not going overboard is to keep your surplus calories between 500-600 grams. The important thing is for a person not to beat themselves up too much. Cheating is often signs of what the body is missing. If your cravings things like sugars, or various other foods check your macronutrient intake. It may be a matter of adjusting the amounts of certain foods a person is eating. Be sure to also check if your blood sugars are in order if they are out of order people tend to crave the quick sugars.
I am not giving people an excuse to cheat on their diets but if you do cheat AFTER A GOOD BIT OF DIETING, here is a way it can be beneficial.

(part 5 coming soon…)

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• Understand patience is a virtue-
  

One reason people give up on diets is they don’t see results overnight. What people often forget is usually it took them some time to put their excess weight on. It also is going to take some time to take the weight off.  The quicker a person takes off excess weight the more likely they are to pack it back on.  A person needs to burn 3500 calories to loose one pound of weight.  A good steady weight loss program usually is 1-2 pounds per week, so if you have a lot of weight to loose it will take a lot of time and focus.

•  Understand there are no bad macronutrients
  

Weather it is protein, carbohydrates, or fat they all have their usefulness in a diet. Too many times people go on “low carb” diets eliminating too many carbs from their diets. The fact of the matter is carbs are not bad. Where people get into trouble is the amount of carbs they eat. Eat an excess of the amount of carbs you need and you will gain weight. Do not eat enough carbs and your weight loss may stagnate. Given the right parameters all types of carbs can be useful in a diet. Carbs supply the body with many vitamins and minerals. Carbs are an easily available source of energy for the body. Carbs also help the body hold water. This is why sometimes when people go on very low carb diets they feel so badly. Not only are you eliminating an easily converted source of energy but you are putting your body in a state of dehydration from excess water loss. What people must understand is “low carb” is a relative term. If a person is used to eating 500 grams of carbs a day and wants to go low carb, this does not cut their carbs down to 25 grams a day. You always want to keep your nutrient intake in a range that is in your caloric needs. People also need to remember if you cut one nutrient down very low then you need to up one or both of the other macro nutrients. It is all about keeping a nutritional balance.
A second no no is eliminating fat from a diet. Fat is one of the most important things that can be utilized in a diet. I’m not talking trans fat and saturated fats but healthy fats like omega 3’s omega 6’s omega 9’s, flax, fish, and borage oils. Fats tend to get a bad rap because people hear the word fat and immediately think all fats are the same. Healthy fats are great for your skin joints and most importantly feed the brain. Fat also takes more calories to burn off than any other macronutrient. This means fats stay in your stomach longer keeping you fuller longer. On a restricted calorie diet a little fat can help you feel fuller longer. Having fats like fish and or flax seed oil with meals help metabolize carbs better and cause less blood sugar spikes. Omega 3 fats are thought to make fat cell receptors more sensitive to norepinephrine, a main fat burning hormone. Omega 3 fats also tend to to promote the storage of carbohydrates in muscles as muscle glycogen. If carbs are making glycogen they can’t aid in the fat storing process.
Protein is another must in any diet. Protein helps maintain lean muscle tissue while burning fat for fuel. Like I stated earlier the more lean tissue you have the more effectively you will be able to burn excess fat.
In a balanced healthy diet all macro nutrients have their place. Protein, carbs and fats can all equally have their place and not one has to be better than the other. The true key is to learn how to balance your macro nutrients for best diet results. ©

part 4 coming soon…

You can find more helpful articles like this one at taylorednutrition.tripod.com