READY SET GO!
Do not believe that you have to starve yourself to lose fat. Your body needs food. There are 3500 calories in one pound of fat. Some people so impatiently desire to lose the excess fat that they cut their calorie consumption to starvation.
If one needs 3000 calories to maintain its weight, one might choose to cut 2000 calories from their diet. He would then starve on 1000 calories a day for weeks.
At three weeks, he finds a loss of 30 pounds. Some fat, a lot of lean mass because the body has eaten tissues of muscle ,destroying contour and form. a LOT of fluid loss also because the body has to excrete nitrogen by protein breakdown due to starvation. He is sick and tired but he thinks “great job”.
He begins to eat as he had done just before starving. The weight explosion begins. In no time he balloons. Frustrated, he gives up.
There are 3500 calories in one pound of fat
He was unaware that the body has a ”SET POINT”. It tries to conserve a certain amount of fat and weight. When he tries to survive on such a meagre diet , his metabolic rate responded by decreasing its activity. He fooled his body into answering to a starvation diet. His body now required less calories to cope with maintenance and went into fat storage mode.
It resolved that, whenever it obtains food, it will store it. Eating 3000 calories again, emergency storage begins.
One must gradually wean oneself off the old set point by regular exercise and proper eating. The substances, Ghrelin, Leptin and Insulin also play a part.
The following article published by MealEnders, and written by Tami Lyon, MPH, RD, explains the set point theory and how to gradually break into healthy eating patterns. The link is: https://www.mealenders.com/set-point-weight-theory/
