Is Your Goal Really Weight Loss?

Written by Nathan Latvaitis


Are you ashamed of your weight? Do you have a goal weight that you want to reach through weight loss? I’d say so, it’s been pushed into our brains many times over and over again that “weight loss” is what we want to accomplish. There are weight loss guides, weight loss supplements, and many other things that push “weight loss”. Many people even set their goals to be at a certain weight. Additionally,repparttar medical community has developed an “ideal weight” chart, which can further add torepparttar 131205 confusion about weight loss.

Now, let me ask you a question. Is your goal really weight loss? Unless you are trying to make a weight class for wrestling or some other sport with weight classes, you may think that your goal is weight loss, but it really isn’t. You are trying to lose that flubbery stuff attached to your body called FAT. Correct?

So then, why do we measure our progress by how much we weigh? Why do we step onrepparttar 131206 bathroom scale and hope that those numbers will be lower than before? You see, our weight is affected by more than just how much fat is on our body. Some other factors include water, muscle, glycogen, and obviously if we have eaten anything earlier or usedrepparttar 131207 bathroom lately.

Our water weight fluctuates constantly. For instance, when we exhale water vapor comes out. When we sweat, we are sweating out water. There are also many more factors that can affectrepparttar 131208 amount of water in our body. Water is what usually causes those random gains or losses of a pound or two in weight that can make you happy or sad. It is almost physiologically impossible to lose a pound of fat in one day.

One reasonrepparttar 131209 low-carb or no-carb (also called ketogenic) diets are so attractive is because ofrepparttar 131210 large initial loss of weight. However, this weight is not necessarily fat. When carbohydrates are restrictedrepparttar 131211 body has a backup store of them located inrepparttar 131212 liver and muscles inrepparttar 131213 form of something called glycogen. The human body can store approximately 400 grams of glycogen. In larger individuals this number can increase. In addition to this, for each gram of glycogen stored inrepparttar 131214 human body, 3 grams of water are also stored. If you figure it out, this would equate to about 1600 grams (3.5 pounds) of glycogen and water.

When you stop or limit your consumption of carbohydrates, your body starts using its glycogen stores. After a couple of days that 1600 grams (3.5 pounds) of glycogen and water are gone. Also, as an adaptation torepparttar 131215 restriction of carbohydrates, your body produces these things called ketones. Ketones also appear to have a diuretic effect, which would mean an even greater loss of water.

The Big FAT Lie

Written by Ray Gebauer


The Big FAT Lie

Over two thirds of Americans are over weight, and half of them are considered obese. Most ofrepparttar remaining third of Americans are concerned about becoming overweight! While we are obsessed with avoiding food that is high in fat, America hasrepparttar 131203 dubious distinction of its population havingrepparttar 131204 highest percentage of overweight people of any nation inrepparttar 131205 world! England is number two!

One ofrepparttar 131206 most common and harmful misunderstandings isrepparttar 131207 misinformation (lie) that we are fat because we eat too much fat. Though eating excess fat can contribute,repparttar 131208 primary culprit for excess body fat and many degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes is NOT eating foods high in fat, but eating too much carbohydrates and sugar, and especially in combination with fat, such as French Fries and corn or potato chips. People on a high carbohydrate and low fat diet tend to be more unhealthy, carry more excess body fat and don’t live as long.

Puttingrepparttar 131209 Brakes to Your Metabolism!

What creates excess body fat, more than anything else, is a high RATIO ofrepparttar 131210 carbohydrates to protein and fat, and especially certain types of carbohydrates that have a high conversion rate to fat. Whenrepparttar 131211 percentage of a meal (not just forrepparttar 131212 day) is higher in sugar or carbohydrates (a long chain of sugar molecules), much more of that food will be converted to fat instead of being burned as energy (calories). The effect of this is puttingrepparttar 131213 brakes on your metabolism, which results in lower energy and greater storage of fat. Obviously, this is NOT what you want!

Plus this sets up a vicious cycle of over eating. Oncerepparttar 131214 carbohydrates are converted to fat, you get a blood sugar drop, which makes you hungry for more carbohydrates. So you eat more to raise your blood sugar, andrepparttar 131215 whole vicious cycle repeats! Soon, you’ve gained weight, and feel even more like a failure.

According torepparttar 131216 Glycemic Research Institute, many ofrepparttar 131217 “fat-free” foods are much more fattening than they were beforerepparttar 131218 fat was removed, because sugar has been added (and often disguised) to compensate forrepparttar 131219 low fat!

This is because carbohydrates and sugar, and especially certain carbohydrates, stimulate insulin production. Insulin directs your body to convertrepparttar 131220 food to fat and store it as fat instead of just burning it as energy. To measure this fat conversion and storage effect, foods are rated by what is calledrepparttar 131221 glycemic index. The higherrepparttar 131222 index,repparttar 131223 higher percentage of that food andrepparttar 131224 other foods eaten with it, will be converted to fat, regardless ofrepparttar 131225 fat content ofrepparttar 131226 food.

So for an example, eating high glycemic foods like baked potato, rice cakes, corn flakes or cooked oatmeal which are low in fat, is more fattening than eating a juicy beef steak or a bowl of ice cream!

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