How to Lose Weight and Keep it off Permanently

I’ve heard it before many times and I’m sure you have too, “A calorie is a calorie is a calorie”. You simply must burn more calories day in, day out than you take in, and you are guaranteed to lose weight. Is this true? Yes it is, but it’s not quite as simple as that. There is a distinction that if learned and applied will allow you to achieve weight loss in a fast, easy and consistent manner. I know you are tired of going on diets, being hungry, taking pills(!!), only to return to your old weight again at a later date. I promise you now, it needn’t be like this.

My Experience

From being a bodybuilding and fitness enthusiast for a few years now, I have become somewhat of an expert at stripping fat off my body at will. I can decide that I’m going to have a certain level of body fat, then have it a few weeks later. I’m not saying this to boast but to show you what’s possible. Hey, I’m your buddy, I’m here to help you and I wouldn’t write an article filled with unrealistic nonsense because I want you to keep coming back, and maybe even tell your friends about my site. ;)

It would seem from the literature that I see, from the internet, magazines and TV that this information is a secret of sorts, in that not many people seem to know it. Either that, or they don’t believe it. The majority of people are endlessly going on and off diets, their weight constantly fluctuating up and down in a sincere attempt to rid their bodies of the fat they feel is holding them back and preventing them from experiencing life the way they want. Is this you? Let’s end this struggle once and for all!

Here’s what you will get from implementing the advice in this article:

  • A metabolism that won’t slow down as you lose weight and halt your progress
  • Ongoing weight loss as you eat until you are satisfied
  • Knowledge of what foods speed up your metabolism
  • Knowledge of why low-calorie and low-fat diets only provide temporary change
  • An understanding of the diet that we humans are genetically engineered to eat and why ignoring it makes you fat!

Let me set the tone for this article by borrowing a few lines from a website about the paleolithic diet (paleo for short)

There are races of people who are all slim, who are stronger and faster than us. They all have straight teeth and perfect eyesight. Arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, depression, schizophrenia and cancer are absolute rarities for them. These people are the last 84 tribes of hunter-gatherers in the world. They share a secret that is over 2 million years old. Their secret is their diet- a diet that has changed little from that of the first humans 2 million years ago, and their predecessors up to 7 million years ago. Theirs is the diet that man evolved on, the diet that is coded for in our genes. It has some major differences to the diet of “civilization”. You are in for a few big surprises.

The diet is usually referred to as the “Paleolithic Diet” referring to the Paleolithic or Stone Age era. It is also referred to as the “Stone Age Diet”, “Cave Man Diet” or the “Hunter-Gatherer Diet”. More romantic souls like to think of it as the diet that was eaten in the “Garden of Eden” and they are correct in thinking so.

I find that extremely interesting, don’t you? What sort of foods would our ancestors have eaten? What would their diet have looked like? I believe it would have looked something like this:

atkins_pyramid_english.jpg

  • Meats
  • Seafood
  • Eggs
  • Vegetables
  • Nuts
  • Fruits
  • Seeds

This diet reveals some interesting points. Notice the small quantity of carbohydrates and especially refined carbohydrates - no pasta, white bread, pastries or cereals here. Note the high protein content and relatively high levels of dietary fats/oils. If you’ve believed for some time that eating fat makes you fat, this will seem somewhat strange to you. Dietary fat will not make you fat. Fat is broken down by the body and used for energy, as are carbohydrates and protein. An excess of calories from all three of these macronutrients in the diet will make you fat. Keep reading though, for the major distinction that will change the way you look at this fact.

A Low-Carb Approach is Best

Yes, this is a carbohydrate-controlled approach to eating. The reason is that, for the majority of us, our bodies are designed for a diet that is low in carbs and moderate to high in protein and fats. (We are talking here about mostly unsaturated fats, some saturated and NO trans fats whatsoever). Some people today can get away with a high carbohydrate diet. I personally know some that eat a diet consisting mostly of carbs all day long and never gain an ounce. If you can do this, fair play to you, munch away! This, however, is not true for most of us. Bear in mind that you can still eat carbs, this isn’t a no-carbohydrate diet, it’s a low one. Also, as time goes on and you reach your goal weight, the amount of carbs eaten increases to a level that maintains the weight that you are happy with. This can be any where from 30 grams to 100 grams per day depending on your metabolism and the amount of exercise you do.

Get The Metabolic Edge

This diet will give you a supercharged metabolism i.e. you will be burning more calories all day long and even in your sleep. Protein and fats require the body to work harder to convert them to energy. Carbohydrates are converted to glucose fairly rapidly and result in a quick rise in blood sugar levels. In order to deal with this fast increase in blood sugar, the body releases a hormone called insulin, which is the fattening hormone! The following is from the best-selling ‘Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution’

In the early 1950s, the two researchers were struck by the many studies that suggested diets of different compositions of fat, protein and carbohydrate provided differing rates of weight loss. Their subsequent study on obese subjects found that those on a 1,000-calorie diet, comprised of ninety percent protein-and especially those on a diet comprised of ninety percent fat-lost weight (0.6 pound and 0.9 pound per day, respectively). However, when the same subjects were given a diet with the same number of calories, but comprised of ninety percent carbohydrate, they did not lose any weight, but in fact gained a little.

Professor Kekwick and Dr. Pawan then replicated a study they had previously done on animals and found the same phenomenon with humans: A diet of 1,000 calories worked well for weight loss so long as carbohydrate intake was low, while a high-carbohydrate 1,000-calorie regimen took off very little weight.’ They then showed that their subjects did not lose at all on a so-called “balanced” diet of 2,000 calories. But, when their diet contained primarily fat and very little carbohydrate, these same obese subjects could lose, even when they ate as many as 2,600 calories a day. The difference in weight loss between the two programs comes close to being one-half pound per day. Despite the Middlesex doctors’ impeccable reputations, the majority of their colleagues remained skeptical, given their “calorie-is-a-calorie” mind set.

…. Now let’s look at some other research that supports the fat-burning theory, this time from the Oakland Naval Hospital. Impressed with the Kekwick and Pawan success, Frederick Benoit and his associates decided to compare a 1,000calorie, 10-grams-of-carbohydrate, high-fat diet with fasting (the same principle that Kekwick and Pawan found most effective), using seven men weighing between 230 and 290 pounds. They used state-of-the-art body composition technology. After ten days, the fasting subjects lost 21 pounds on average, but most of that was lean body weight; only 7.5 pounds was body fat. However, on the controlled carbohydrate regimen over the same period of time, 14 of the 14.5 pounds lost was body fat. Think of it. By eating foods low in carbohydrate and high in dietary fat, subjects burned their fat stores almost twice as fast as when they ate nothing at all!

…. Charlotte Young, professor of clinical nutrition at Cornell University, compared the results of overweight young men placed on three diets, all providing 1,800 calories, but with varying degrees of carbohydrate restriction. The regimens contained 30, 60, and 104 grams of carbohydrate, and subjects followed them for nine weeks. Young and her colleagues calculated body fat through a widely accepted technique involving immersion underwater. Those on 104 grams of carbs lost slightly better than 2 pounds of fat per week, out of 2.73 pounds of total weight loss-not bad for 1,800 calories. Those on 60 grams of carbs lost nearly 2.5 pounds of fat per week, out of 3 pounds of actual weight loss-better.
But those on 30 grams of carbs, the only situation that produced lipolysis and the secondary process of ketosis, lost 3.73 pounds of fat per week-approximately one hundred percent of their total weight loss. These results are a perfect example of the benefits the metabolic advantage provides. That’s what has enabled most of my patients to succeed. And it will make you a success, too.

A great analogy I heard to explain this was found at ‘Livin’ La Vida Low Carb‘, a blog dedicated to the low-carb lifestyle. A commenter said this:

“On calories in/calories out, try this one too: Take a four ounce block of balsa wood and a four ounce block of African hardwood. Add a box of matches. Calorific value of the two blocks is about the same.

Strike a match and light the balsa. It will burn away all by itself. Now use the rest of the matches trying to light the hardwood. You’ll be lucky if it catches.

So the calories you used to “metabolise” (burn) the balsa were vastly fewer than for the hardwood. For balsa, say carbs. For hardwood, say fat. Get it?”

Burn Fat, Not Muscle

For those on calorie-restricted diets or low-fat diets, you have tbody.jpgo know that a lot of weight that you lose (if you lose any at all) will be muscle tissue. On a carbohydrate controlled diet, however, your body will be getting its energy requirements (after your food is burnt) from the fat stored on your body, so almost all, if not all the weight you lose, will be fat (apart from water weight in the initial few days of the diet). The health benefits of having less fat on your body aside, you’ll also look great as your newly revealed muscle tissue will leave you with that ‘toned’ look. I know people who have lost some weight but it most certainly was mostly muscle tissue, as their actual body shape remained the same. If they had a beer belly before, they still had a beer belly. If they had a huge butt, they still had a huge butt - obviously you want better results. You don’t just want to see the scales move, but your body actually changing shape.

Ketosis

When the body burns fat for energy, you are in a state called ketosis. Now this is very different from something called ketoacidosis. Sometimes, unfortunately, people get the 2 confused. Ketosis is a hugely misunderstood concept in nutrition. Ketoacidosis, which is a life-threatening condition most often associated with uncontrolled insulin-deficient Type 1 diabetes, is completely different. Remember that.

When your body deposits fat on your body as a means of storing energy, what could be more natural than coming back at a later date and burning this fat for energy? That’s precisely why it was put there in the first place! This should be realised by anyone claiming ketosis is somehow dangerous. Bear in mind, also, that this state is only experienced for as long as you are in the weight loss phase of the diet. Maintaining your goal body weight doesn’t require you to be in ketosis.

There are Many Carbohydrate-Controlled Diets

You can take your pick from the many low carb diets. Some of them are:

The Atkins Nutritional Approach
The Paleo Diet
Neanderthin
South Beach Diet

I can tell you that when I started eating this way, I had never had so many vegetables, healthy fats/oils, and nuts in my life. Aside from eating a more healthy diet, your cholesterol and triglyceride levels will drop. A recent study by the highly respected Journal Of The American Medical Association confirmed that the Atkins diet came out on top in terms of most weight loss and improvements in cholesterol and triglycerides.

Celebrities who Low-Carb

This is a little list of celebrities that low-carb or who have low-carbed (just for fun).

  • Brad Pitt - In training for the movie ‘Troy’
  • Jennifer Aniston
  • Bill Clinton
  • Renee Zellweger (To lose excess pounds after Bridget Jones’ Diary)
  • Minnie Driver
  • Nigella Lawson
  • Kylikylie-minogue.jpge Minoguejennifer-aniston-sits.jpg

    troy-pitt.jpg

 

 

Plenty More to Come

I will, of course, publish more diet-related articles in the future, as there is more to talk about than I can fit into this article. I would encourage you to do your own independent research on this type of diet and then, if you need to lose weight, to actually do it. See for yourself the health benefits, the increased energy levels and the better body. At the moment I am planning to write an ebook detailing the exact method to attaining six-pack abs i.e. the diet and the exercise. It will be very specific and leave no room for guesswork, just a program for total success in this area.

Other Great Resources on this Nutritional Approach

There is so much more that could be covered but this, I believe, is sufficient for at least a good introduction to this nutritional approach. I will talk about this more in future articles so please feel free to make suggestions. As this is a lengthy article you could print it out to read it at your leisure. I would also appreciate hearing your comments. There is a better way to a better body, and a healthier body too. You just have to choose it!

Mark McManus

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 and is filed under diet, fitness/muscle.

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