To really understand how to lose weight you need to learn a little bit about the human body, the mind and nutrition. Weight loss really is not a complex task – you really do just need to eat less and exercise more. The real challenge is overcoming the mind to control your appetite and combat lethargy.
Here we cover the main topics on weight loss. First we look at dieting and attempt to dispel a few myths and explain that although it is difficult to lose weight by dieting alone, it is certainly possible. We also look at the role of human biology in weight loss. We then review the “10 Scientific Ways To Lose Weight” which is based on the research published by the BBC in 2011. We then briefly look at “spot reduction”, which is another classic myth of losing weight.
After the information on how to lose weight we review some weight loss books. All of these books have been hand-picked and individually reviewed – they all provide a healthy and sustainable way to lose weight and get
Dieting For Weight Loss
Combining regular exercise with a healthy diet really is the best way to lose weight, however, often people are unable to exercise on a regular basis for various reasons. So if you are not able to exercise you have to adopt a healthy weight loss diet plan to help you to lose weight and then manage your weight.
To lose weight all we need to do is ensure that our daily calorie intake is less than our daily calorie requirements. So why is exercise thought to be so important for weight loss? Regular exercise makes this easier for four main reasons:
When we eat carbohydrates, especially high GI carbs such as bread, blood sugar levels rise. This increase triggers a release of insulin from the pancreas. The role off insulin is to reduce blood sugar levels (prolonged raised levels leads to health problems). It does this by aiding the uptake of glucose into fat storage (adipose tissue). The glucose is actually converted to glycerol and combined with fatty acids for TAGs (triacylglycerides) and this is what we call “fat”.
So, in a nutshell, when we consume sugary foods our bodies release insulin that causes that sugar to be stored as fat. Understanding this is key to understanding how diet can help lose weight.
So glucagon’s prime objective is to ensure that the brain is supplied with sugar. It does this by breaking down the fat tissue to extract the sugars locked up in the TAGs (glycerol and fatty acids). This is what we call fat burning.
It is not easy to get the body to release glucagon though. You have to allow your blood sugar levels to fall to very low levels. As soon as you eat a sugary food, such as some bread, pasta, high GI vegetable like parsnips and pumpkin, processed breakfast cereals, rice, any junk food (cakes, cookies, donuts), you blood sugar rises and therefore glucagon production stops and insulin takes over, so you quickly go from a fat burning situation back to a fat storing one.
This is why unhealthy diets are so likely to lead to weight gain – most of what is unhealthy is also high on the glycemic index (high GI) which means it causes blood sugar spikes, insulin and fat accumulation. So by limiting high GI foods you can help to lose weight with diet alone.
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Dieting For Weight Loss
Combining regular exercise with a healthy diet really is the best way to lose weight, however, often people are unable to exercise on a regular basis for various reasons. So if you are not able to exercise you have to adopt a healthy weight loss diet plan to help you to lose weight and then manage your weight.
To lose weight all we need to do is ensure that our daily calorie intake is less than our daily calorie requirements. So why is exercise thought to be so important for weight loss? Regular exercise makes this easier for four main reasons:
- It increases the amount of calories you burn while you are exercising
- It increases your metabolism as your body builds new muscle tissue
- It helps to manage appetite by releasing hormones that suppress hunger
- It helps to use up glycogen reserves which triggers the fat burning hormone called glucagon.
How To Lose The Right Sort Of Weight?
Where things become more complex is ensuring that you lose the right sort of weight. Everyone asks “how do I lose weight?” but the real question should be “how do I lose body fat while maintaining lean muscle tissue?“. Muscles are vital for good health. Not only do they make us stronger and fitter, they also help keep metabolism raised. Muscle tissue is very “hungry”, it needs proteins and carbohydrates for growth, repair and function, and needs much more energy that fat tissue. Another way to explain it is that muscles are the body’s engines, fat cells are the fuel tanks. When someone wants to “lose weight”, they actually want to lose fat.The Problem of Very Low Calorie Diets
The problem is that when people attempt to lose weight with diet alone they generally throw themselves into a low-calorie diet, or sometimes a very low-calorie diet (VLCD) which is defined by being below 1000 calories a day. Often these diets do not provide the body with enough protein to sustain muscle tissue and so muscle wastage occurs. The body simply breaks downs its own muscle tissue to provide energy for other parts of the body. Fat loss will also occur, but not in isolationSome Biology: The Relationship of Food, Fat Storage and Hormones
To understand why this happens we need to explain a little about how the body stores and then burns fat. There are two hormones at play in the body that control fat storage – insulin and glucagon. Both are triggered by changing levels of glucose in the blood (blood sugar).When we eat carbohydrates, especially high GI carbs such as bread, blood sugar levels rise. This increase triggers a release of insulin from the pancreas. The role off insulin is to reduce blood sugar levels (prolonged raised levels leads to health problems). It does this by aiding the uptake of glucose into fat storage (adipose tissue). The glucose is actually converted to glycerol and combined with fatty acids for TAGs (triacylglycerides) and this is what we call “fat”.
So, in a nutshell, when we consume sugary foods our bodies release insulin that causes that sugar to be stored as fat. Understanding this is key to understanding how diet can help lose weight.
When Does the Body Burn Fat?
When glucose levels fall the pancreas then releases glucagon. The role of this hormone is simply the opposite of insulin, it causes blood sugar levels to rise again. Glucose is the prime energy source of the brain which is our prime organ as it controls the functions of all other parts of the body.So glucagon’s prime objective is to ensure that the brain is supplied with sugar. It does this by breaking down the fat tissue to extract the sugars locked up in the TAGs (glycerol and fatty acids). This is what we call fat burning.
It is not easy to get the body to release glucagon though. You have to allow your blood sugar levels to fall to very low levels. As soon as you eat a sugary food, such as some bread, pasta, high GI vegetable like parsnips and pumpkin, processed breakfast cereals, rice, any junk food (cakes, cookies, donuts), you blood sugar rises and therefore glucagon production stops and insulin takes over, so you quickly go from a fat burning situation back to a fat storing one.
This is why unhealthy diets are so likely to lead to weight gain – most of what is unhealthy is also high on the glycemic index (high GI) which means it causes blood sugar spikes, insulin and fat accumulation. So by limiting high GI foods you can help to lose weight with diet alone.
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