For lack of a better word to adequately describe the action, I've been on my diet for 46 days and have lost a total of 16.5 pounds and 3% body fat. I don't like to use the term “diet” anymore because I think most people understand diets make people fat instead of thin.
Diets are by nature, a temporary change in behavior; if they were anything more, so many people wouldn't name weight loss as the top New Years resolution. The fact we as a nation keep finding our collective waistbands expanding instead of shrinking should validate dieting makes a person fat.
Stop and think about every diet you've ever been on as well as the ones you've created. You cut your calories so low, you make parakeets look in their cage mirrors and ask, “Does my butt look big in these feathers?” You experience palpitations and nausea as you pop the latest and greatest “NEW!” diet pill that will give you the resistance and discipline of a Tibetan monk, but all you can think about is that dirty four letter word: F-O-O-D. You crave cake, ice cream, burgers, French fries, and everything else under the sun – and your pet begins to look tasty. Lastly, your mood swings could get you a guest shot in any horror flick as your spouse screams, “Who are you and what have you done with my mate?!”
If you really, truly, HONESTLY want to change your body image, you need to admit to yourself, “I am fat. I did this by myself, and only I can get myself healthy.” I will admit to walking around with a mental image of a skinny woman with perfect abdominal muscles and a drum tight booty. Sometimes, it's much easier to pretend than it does to actually come to terms with the reality because when you do, you are faced with taking action.
Next thing you need to do is to put aside your concepts about weight – unlearn what you've been taught and start fresh. Weight is an overall measurement of the body; it contains bones, skin, organs, fluids (blood, water), waste products, muscles, and fat.
The more I watch TV these days, the angrier I become with the diet pill industry. Almost every single advertisement created makes the same claims: “lose weight now the fast and easy way!” My brow furrows in frustration as I see through the obvious flaw that's so simple, I often why I never asked the question myself: “What KIND of weight will I lose?” If the American public demanded to know the answer, they would be surprised to learn the obvious answer: muscle tissue and fluids, and very little fat.
Unmasking the diet industry is the big challenge because people are still emotionally attached to the idea of a quick fix pill, but you've heard it said a million times before there are no magic bullets to solve an obesity issue. It's time you admitted this to yourself!
Ok, many will stop and ask, “What's the difference if I lose mostly fat, or mostly muscle and water weight? Ten pounds off is still ten pounds lighter!” Yes…and no – what registers on the scale isn't necessarily a good thing.
- A pound of water lost will register on the scale, but will it help you to fit into your clothes? Maybe for that day, but not much past that point as fluid retention is a sign of a different problem. Plus it always returns.
- When you diet, you lose necessary fluids that help your body to perform cellular level tasks, which result in waste product production. If you dehydrate, you may hinder the vital processes as well as store wastes.
- Diet plans often set up a strict low caloric eating plan, and in some cases, go below the critical energy production required to survive; your body needs energy to pump blood, to expand and contract your lungs, and to move. You go below these requirements and you will find not only your thinking slows down and daily tasks become muddled, but also you will encounter the starvation shakes and heart palpitations.
- Low caloric diets cannibalize muscle tissue to meet protein needs. This means you're losing lean muscle tissue and endangering other muscles – like your heart. NO muscle tissue is immune when your body's hungry!
- Low amounts of lean muscle means you will have an even greater challenge in losing those extra pounds. Muscle tissue his a higher energy demand to “feed” it, versus fat tissue. If you want to slim down, don't trade away your best weapon!
- Lose fat tissue and you'll fit into your clothes much better and for a longer period of time. Most people understand one pound of weight is equal to 3,600 ingested calories. Fat cells never go away, but they can shrink. Water weight that's lost returns as soon as you consume the slightest amount of sodium! It's a lot easier to lose water weight, but water weight returns exceptionally fast and will disappoint you if you worship at the altar of the “almighty scale”.
- You can be skinny on the scale and still carry a large percentage of body fat; it simply means you're weak as a cat (because you have no muscle strength) and carrying a layer of fat. These are the people who can eat a pizza by themselves and then the largest ice cream sundae they can find and “never seem to gain an ounce”. Truth is they're probably fatter than you are (percentage-wise), but notice their bodies – there's no definition, no muscle tone, and rather plain. If you're eating fat, you're going to store it somewhere, and most likely at the expense of lean muscle tissue.
