Do you know anyone who has struggled with weight loss despite eating a very low calorie diet and performing hours of exercise? There are lots of individuals out there who seemingly can't lose weight and don't know why.
In fact, when you begin to understand the breakdown of the science behind this issue you will start seeing noticeable results in a very short space of time, starting with feeling better and eventually resulting in consistent fat loss. []
If you know someone who seems to try very hard with their diet but cannot shift any more weight no matter what they do, the issue is usually something known as metabolic damage. Metabolic damage is a condition associated with a growing number of people in today's society due to the every increasing pressure to find a quick fix solution. The symptoms are usually associated with individuals who do the following two things:
1. A drastically low calorie intake.
2. An exhausting, long cardiovascular workout plan involving many hours on treadmills and elliptical trainers.
There are more, but these two things are common in almost everybody who has damaged their metabolism in their attempts to lose body fat. Let's look at both aspects in a little bit more detail now.
The main problem which causes metabolic damage is a poorly structured diet. If you follow a very restrictive, low calorie diet for a long period of time your body begins to adapt by slowing it's metabolism in a bid to prevent you from burning off what little nutrients it has available to use. It's not bothered about losing body fat, it simply wants to keep you alive. So despite eating very little, you will find it near impossible to shed any more fat. This particular issue affects many people, particularly women, who buy into the myths promoted by celebrity fad diets and glossy magazines.
Also, you'll usually see these individuals then following an intense workout program which involves many hours of cardiovascular exercise each week. If you are spending hours of your time in the gym each day running and cycling while following a very low calorie diet you are not helping yourself.
Of course, this only adds to the problems and forces the body to work even harder to slow down the metabolism and hang onto it's vital fat stores. So despite working very hard, you physically cannot lose anything. If this sounds like a situation you have been in at some point, you are not alone.
The lack of results then tends to make the person quit on themselves. When they quit they go back to eating junk food and drinking alcohol but their metabolism is still damaged during this time, so it cannot handle the sudden influx in food and results in a very quick gaining of weight.
After gaining this fat quite quickly following their binge eating phase, people usually get quite hard on themselves and make a decision to get things back on track. There is nothing wrong with that. The only problem is, of course, that they jump back on the restrictive diet which wasn't working for them last time and then they place even more restriction on it second time around.
So how do you fix this issue?
It's a simple case of eating more food. That might sound too simple, and perhaps it is. You need to teach your body how to maintain it's weight while eating more food and to do this you should increase your daily calorie intake. Of course, this doesn't mean simply doubling your food as this would do just as much damage to your metabolism as suddenly cutting food down. Instead, try increasing your calorie intake by around 5% per week until you feel you are at a level where you can maintain your present weight despite eating considerably more food.
The worst thing you can do if you are suffering from metabolic damage is to continue dieting. You can't lose weight because your body is preventing you, so if you truly want to enjoy permanent weight loss then you need to correct this very important issue before you can move on.
In fact, when you begin to understand the breakdown of the science behind this issue you will start seeing noticeable results in a very short space of time, starting with feeling better and eventually resulting in consistent fat loss. []
If you know someone who seems to try very hard with their diet but cannot shift any more weight no matter what they do, the issue is usually something known as metabolic damage. Metabolic damage is a condition associated with a growing number of people in today's society due to the every increasing pressure to find a quick fix solution. The symptoms are usually associated with individuals who do the following two things:
1. A drastically low calorie intake.
2. An exhausting, long cardiovascular workout plan involving many hours on treadmills and elliptical trainers.
There are more, but these two things are common in almost everybody who has damaged their metabolism in their attempts to lose body fat. Let's look at both aspects in a little bit more detail now.
The main problem which causes metabolic damage is a poorly structured diet. If you follow a very restrictive, low calorie diet for a long period of time your body begins to adapt by slowing it's metabolism in a bid to prevent you from burning off what little nutrients it has available to use. It's not bothered about losing body fat, it simply wants to keep you alive. So despite eating very little, you will find it near impossible to shed any more fat. This particular issue affects many people, particularly women, who buy into the myths promoted by celebrity fad diets and glossy magazines.
Also, you'll usually see these individuals then following an intense workout program which involves many hours of cardiovascular exercise each week. If you are spending hours of your time in the gym each day running and cycling while following a very low calorie diet you are not helping yourself.
Of course, this only adds to the problems and forces the body to work even harder to slow down the metabolism and hang onto it's vital fat stores. So despite working very hard, you physically cannot lose anything. If this sounds like a situation you have been in at some point, you are not alone.
The lack of results then tends to make the person quit on themselves. When they quit they go back to eating junk food and drinking alcohol but their metabolism is still damaged during this time, so it cannot handle the sudden influx in food and results in a very quick gaining of weight.
After gaining this fat quite quickly following their binge eating phase, people usually get quite hard on themselves and make a decision to get things back on track. There is nothing wrong with that. The only problem is, of course, that they jump back on the restrictive diet which wasn't working for them last time and then they place even more restriction on it second time around.
So how do you fix this issue?
It's a simple case of eating more food. That might sound too simple, and perhaps it is. You need to teach your body how to maintain it's weight while eating more food and to do this you should increase your daily calorie intake. Of course, this doesn't mean simply doubling your food as this would do just as much damage to your metabolism as suddenly cutting food down. Instead, try increasing your calorie intake by around 5% per week until you feel you are at a level where you can maintain your present weight despite eating considerably more food.
The worst thing you can do if you are suffering from metabolic damage is to continue dieting. You can't lose weight because your body is preventing you, so if you truly want to enjoy permanent weight loss then you need to correct this very important issue before you can move on.
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About the author: So, you believe you just can't lose weight? Personal coach Russ Howe PTI shall teach you five simple and effective weight loss strategies which simply work.