Countless are the times, no doubt, that you've heard women complain that they cant lose weight. As fast as they lose a kilo or two, do they put the weight back on?
" I starve myself and I get nowhere fast," they might say.
These fluctuations are not only frustrating, make you look and feel grotty half the time and necessitate two or more sizes in your wardrobe - they are positively bad for your health!
What adds to a woman's frustration is her observance of men (always) and women (less often) who keep their figures in spite of not watching their diet at all. "I look at a potato," they say, "and I pick up a kilo. It's just not fair!" No, it isn't fair. But we're not entirely blameless either.
Recent research has at least provided a glimmer of hope for fatties in two ways. One is in the form of a reason for their 'lazy (or slow) metabolism' - the favorite scapegoat of many. It often helps just to know the reason for something. The second is a simple solution to overcome the worst of the effects of such a 'sluggish' metabolism.
Contrary to what most people think, obesity is due in almost every instant to poor eating habits, eating too much food too few times a day and crash diets followed inevitably by bingeing, coupled with insufficient exercise. In other words, eating more than we can convert into energy.
The word 'thermogenesis' is probably not new to you. A thousand examples of it exist in the world around us. It simply means 'the generation or production of heat'.
Now diet-induced thermogenesis has hit the dieting world. This is the heat created by the simple act of eating, which, something like a boiling kettle steaming its head off and evaporating its water content at the same time, burns up kilojoules to keep our weight stable, within a reasonable margin.
If this little mechanism didn't exist or packed up completely, all that 'heat' would be stored, as fat and we'd end up the size of houses in no time.
It goes without saying that the opposite holds true. No or little heat radiated equals no or little kilojoules burnt up.
Result: Obesity.
If we were to be stranded on the top of a mountain or in a life raft out at sea, this side of thermogenesis would prevent our starving to death until we were rescued, again within reason. In such desire straits it is a life-safer.
But in the easy-come, easy-gobble world most of us live in where all we have to do to get food is to open a refrigerator door, it can spell disaster.
Everyone has a probably inherited resting metabolic rate. Eating elevates this rate to keep your weight down. Fasting or consuming too few kilojoules drops the rate to keep your weight up. This has been called the yo-yo system. Thus we remain basically recognizable as the same person throughout life, size-wise.
Unless we are in tune with our body's needs and heed their call, it isn't difficult to upset the balance by this fasting/bingeing cycle. Many of us do this unwittingly much of the time.
Themogenesis was designed to be our friend, but consistently poor eating behavior turns it into an enemy. It cannot cope with consumption that it was never designed to cope with.
Cutting down on fats and consuming more complex carbohydrates helps the system, as does regular physical activity. A moderate intake of caffeine also gives it a boost.
So we see that to lose any weight at all we must eat, but not overeat. To get the metabolic rate to rise frequently we must eat frequently. We don't find obese birds and animals in the wild, no matter how freely available food is. They graze or hunt almost constantly, keeping their metabolic rate ticking over steadily all the time. Humans probably followed this pattern thousands of years ago, but changing social customs eventually evolved the 'three-square-meals-day' habit.
Eat a little six or seven times a day and the kilojoules consumed are burned up with no problem. This snacking also prevents our eating more than we need to satisfy our hunger, which happens easily when restricted to two or three big meals.
Stuff yourself on a couple of heavy meals a day and the little digestive enzymes don't even get to meet up with most of the meal, let alone burn it efficiently to keep you looking and feeling good.
The nutrients from small amounts of food at a time have a better chance also of being utilized to the fullest.
So all around, our metabolism, size and ultimate health are in our own hands. Or is between our own teeth?
Eat, drink, be merry (*and take your fat burners/fat binders) for tomorrow you will weigh less!
by Kathryn Robinson
