3 True beliefs that can keep you fat....

Today's Post:  Thursday, 8-9-2012

How can true statements that you believe keep you fat?

Because they are used to make totally false conclusions that will keep you fat reliably.

And, for people who haven’t learned better yet they do just that!

The format is: “If this is true, then the action I should chose is this.”

The true statement can be misleading or even damaging if the second part it leads to is false.

That’s true for each of these 3 true beliefs.

As stated, these 3 statements are true.  But if that’s ALL you know you will stay fat!

1. You have to find ways to cut the net calories you take in compared to what you use to lose excess fat.

2.  No matter what you eat, if you cut net calories you will lose weight.

3.  Exercise is not sufficient to cause fat loss.

Let’s take them one at a time.

1.  You have to find ways to cut the net calories you take in compared to what you use to lose excess fat.  This is quite true.

So people often just cut way back on how much they eat. 

Here’s the hidden if then: “If I cut way back on what I eat now, I’ll lose fat and keep it off.”

Oops!  THAT is false—it’s completely false in fact!

Because if that’s all they do and they overdo it, they will lose lean tissue such as muscle and bone besides fat.  Worse, then their fail safe famine response cuts in.  They get far hungrier and burn fewer calories.  They get too tired of being too hungry all the time to continue because most people can do unpleasant things for a short time but only for so long.  They can’t do it forever.

Result:  The weight lost comes roaring back and their motivation to try again drops even if they hate being fat.

But you can lose fat permanently just the same.

How? 

Do things that cut your calorie intake that make you LESS hungry!  Avoid eating or drinking things that make you hungry later and well before you have actually used the calories they gave you.  Eat MORE things that fill you up but have few calories and support your good health.  Eat health OK things that keep your muscles and bones strong and turn off your hunger until you use up the calories they gave you.  And, eat things research shows do NOT lower your metabolism.  Prune out everything in your food and drink that will make you sick if you eat or drink it. (Why waste your calorie intake on things that harm you?)  And, cut back more on calories only part of the time and not by that much each time.  When you are bit hungrier than unusual, it’s very short and most people can do it successfully.  Also, doing it that way avoids triggering your famine response too!

If you do that, you will take in fewer calories, in many cases far fewer calories.  But you will keep your bones and muscles and mostly lose ONLY fat.  And, you will be about as hungry as you are now or even less hungry most of the time.   

The weight loss will be less for most people than dramatic losses in two weeks.  BUT instead of the weight coming right back, their fat loss will continue until most or all of their excess fat is gone.

2.  No matter what you eat, if you cut net calories you will lose weight.

For a limited time, this is actually true. 

One man went a few weeks eating fewer calories than his usual and ate only junky commercial desserts during that time.  He lost the weight predicted by the calories he cut back.  Was all or almost all of that weight fat?  NO!  Did that weight stay off unless he upgraded his methods to what we just described above?  NO!!

Here’s the hidden if then: “If I cut back on what I eat now, I’ll lose fat and keep it off.  And, I can keep eating and drinking the same as I do now, just less of it”

Oops!  THAT is false—it’s completely false in fact!

In different words, this is the same issue we just covered.  And the methods to overcome it are the same.

If you permanently upgrade what you eat and drink and cut back more on calories just a little and only part of the time, it’s something you can keep doing!  In fact, if you do it in ways that fit you well, the longer you do it the easier and more automatic it gets to do.

If you want to lose FAT and not parts of you that you would prefer to keep -- and if you want that fat to stay off, it DOES make a HUGE difference WHAT you eat and drink 99% of the time.

Weight Watchers found that people who cut back just a little bit or a bit more than that and who had regular meetings with others doing the same and the support of a trained coach could last about 6 months and WOULD lose weight.

After that 6 months, half the people would quit and gain the weight back.

But until recently Weight Watchers did NOT teach that you should dump some foods and drinks totally or teach what you should eat and drink instead. 

Only the very most motivated people and those who analyzed the foods compared to their point system and ate better on their own succeeded.

Weight Watchers still isn’t as proactive in teaching people to dump some things completely as the facts suggest they should be.  BUT, they recently have become dramatically better at coaching people on what to eat MORE of!

3.  Exercise is not sufficient to cause fat loss.

This is quite true.  There are people who exercise who would like to be less fat and who stay fat.  I was one of them at one time myself.

Here’s the hidden if then: “So, if I just eat less and do no exercise, I can lose fat and keep it off.”

Oops!  THAT is false—it’s completely false in fact!

Here’s just a few of the reasons why that’s so. 

People who want to lose fat do so for many reasons.  They want to look better.  They want to improve or keep their health.  They want to feel better about themselves and more in control of their life.  People who begin to exercise and keep doing it, get ALL those benefits.  Even better, they get them fast enough it helps them keep doing their fat loss efforts and this is true well BEFORE all the fat comes off.  That early success enables them to keep making the extra effort to lose fat.

People who lose fat without also exercising tend to lose muscle and have their metabolism go down.  People who do the right exercises well avoid both of these problems. And even doing any kind of exercise every week, minimizes these two problems.

As long as you avoid eating fattening foods with more calories than the exercise burns off, by exercising, you can cut back LESS on calories and still net out enough net drop to lose fat but also eat more and avoid hunger while continuing to lose fat and keep it off.

People who do no exercise that builds or maintains muscle every week tend to lose several pounds of bone and muscle each decade they live.  Since they eat the same, people who don’t exercise gradually and relentless get fatter!

Put all this together and it turns out that if you want to lose FAT and keep it off, regular exercise is essential. 

Exercise is not sufficient to lose fat. True.

But regular exercise IS absolutely NECESSARY if you want to lose FAT instead of the rest of you and if you want to keep that fat off!