YES DIETING DOES MAKE YOU FAT!... AND SOME REALLY GREAT WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT PERMANENTLY!!

I have mentioned in some of my previous posts that I am a Dietitian/Nutritionist by profession, the maximum number of people I meet in my practice are overweight and want to lose weight "fast" even to the extent of near starvation!, they tell me about the pathetically low number of nutrient deficient calories they are consuming, and in a desperate voice tell me that they are -"still not losing a single pound", another frequent visitor is that person who has invariably managed to lose some pounds but after a few months has regained the lost pounds and added some more!!I have been seeing an alarming number of these kind of cases so was prompted to write down this post today, now most of us are fighting a forever going on battle with weight loss, some have expressed their thoughts very lucidly like Lynn, and some of us just continue silently with a yo-yo like pattern picking up snippets from magazines, the net, newspapers anything which gives a shortcut to weight loss.To understand why these people are not losing weight we first need to understand that why eating less doesn't always work-If you cut out 1000 calories per day from your maintenance level, that will add to a 7000 calorie deficit in a week, there are 3500 calories in a pound of stored fat so cutting out 7000 calories should give you a weight loss of 2 pounds per week, Right ?, No wrong! It rarely happens that way!!There is a very simple explanation to this- The body has a survival mechanism that kicks in the minute it senses that the number of calories it is getting is lesser than normal, since the human body cannot distinguish between "dieting" and "starvation", it naturally thinks that you are starving and will hold onto it's reserve of calories, thus dieting actually makes you "fat"!
So I guess it makes sense to stay away from very low-calorie diets as these affect your life in many ways like-

• maybe initially you will lose weight but it will become progressively more and more difficult
• binging and cravings will go up
• your metabolic rate will slow down
• you will feel weak and tired all the time
• chances of rebound weight gain are high

BEST WAYS YOU CAN PERMANENTLY AND EFFECTIVELY LOSE WEIGHT-

• Decrease only a small number of calories (for your RDA see here).
• Start exercising a lot more to burn that fat, weight training is highly effective.
• Divide your meals into 6 smaller meals so that your metabolism is high throughout the day, increase intake of protein(calculate the number of calories and macro-nutrients in your diet here).
• Refrain from both fasting and feasting.
• Remember it is more important to be fit and healthy.
• Be patient!.

If you thought that "Nutritious" and "delicious" don't go together then you are in for a happy surprise!It is often thought that Healthy food is bland and boring and if you think so too then these recipes are just for you :)

• Healthy wholewheat (atta) soft bread
• Tangy pineapple rasam
• Homegrown turmeric and a healthy burfi
• Peach Upside down vegan cake
• Healthy Sugarfree Cookies
• High protein dal ke kebab
• Double protein Besan cheelas with swiss chard
• Tomato Soup
  

ENJOY!