I really cannot help but notice that the majority of low carbohydrate, low fat, and low calorie dieters I come in contact with say that they rarely or never reach goal. Even some of the “experts” out there are still overweight. The obvious logical conclusion is that else their dietary and exercise approaches are flawed, or they simply set their goal weight too low.
While part of this perceived “lack of success” may partly be due to unrealistic goals and expectations, many factors influence weight including genetics, lifestyle, height, bone structure, and body type (endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph). If you have been seriously obese you probably have more fat cells than an average person who has never been obese. How many fat cells you have influences what weight and body size you can expect to reach. When we lose weight our fat cells shrink but they do not disappear. Also shrunken fat cells give off signals to “please refill”. So successful dieters have to battle our bodies’ biological imperative to refeed and replenish our “gas tanks”.
Article – “The secret life of fat cells”
While low carbers and low fatters who are visibly overweight or have high body fat percentages are probably in need of further weight loss for health reasons, they may be facing other causes for their “failures”. (If your desire to lose is for cosmetic reasons, maybe it’s time to rethink. Very few people have the genetics or build to look like a fitness model).
Some dieters may be sabotaging their results with lack of exercise, the wrong kind of exercise – namely aerobics alone – or eating too many or too few calories. No these two opposites are not contradictory, they’re about the negative effects of eating below your BMR / RMR versus the effects of eating above your daily caloric requirements, (this is positive if you're in a muscle mass building phase, and negative if you're inactive or trying to lose weight). Read about eating too much while on low carb here, and the dangers of eating too little here.
Another fact quite a few people overlook is weight fluctuations are normal. Nobody hits goal and then maintains that number indefinitely. Usually a range of five pounds over or under goal is quite acceptable. Only when we allow our weight to continually creep upward should we worry.
As for low fat and low calorie dieters, particularly long term yo yo dieters, they almost always have slowed metabolisms and lack of muscle mass. Repeated low calorie dieting is a big mistake as it chips away at your muscle mass thus lowering your metabolism. You will lose muscle mass while dieting unless you eat adequate protein while doing adequate resistance training. (Obese people usually have more muscle mass in order to carry their excess weight. But repeat yo yo dieters slowly lower muscle mass and store more fat over time). The lower your metabolism and muscle mass, the harder it will be to keep fat off. By repeated starvation and near starvation dieting that leads to less muscle mass you are turning your body into a fat making, fat storing machine.
Low fat diets almost never provide your body with enough essential fatty acids, let alone enough saturated fats crucial for hormone production, hormone balance, metabolism of vitamins and healthy skin and hair. Your body needs adequate dietary fat to function properly.
Reason Dieters Get Stuck Number Two: Slowed Metabolism & Less Daily Caloric Demand
Both low carb and low fat dieters may have slowed metabolisms due to dieting alone (despite the muscle-sparing nature of a high protein / low carb diet muscle may be lost due to reduction in body weight). Unfortunately this means they will need to eat less to maintain their new weights. Several other factors influence metabolism and how much food you can eat and not gain weight including activity level, sex, age, genetics, hormones, and of course muscle mass.
Solution Number Two: Raise Metabolism By Building Muscle Mass, Create A Greater Daily Caloric Demand Through Added Muscle, Increased Activity, and Themogenic Effect of Food
“The USDA has weighed in on the connection between aging and metabolism, muscle mass and weight gain. Dr. David Chauvin, who wrote the article on anti-aging medicine, reported on a comprehensive study funded by the Agricultural Research Service, the chief research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and conducted by researchers at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. The study provides strong support for a "Metabolism Myth." The decline in metabolism which usually occurs as we grow older is caused by inactivity, not aging. Your metabolism won’t slow down if you don’t. Older people typically burn fewer calories at rest, which leads to creeping obesity, but the reason is loss of high-energy-consuming muscle cells, not an aging metabolism.” Clarence Bass of RIPPED.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: muscle mass is one of the few elements of metabolism (and hence fat burning) you can control. The other factors you can influence are activity level, and the thermogenic effect of food. Many people are surprised to find out about the second factor. We all know moving more burns more calories. But eating the right foods MORE OFTEN in portion controlled amounts burns MORE calories than eating three bigger meals a day. Also our bodies can not efficiently use large amounts of food at one time, any excess is stored as fat. And when more comes in, that fat does not get “called up” for service. We maximize our utilization of food by eating many small balanced meals throughout the day. (An example would be 2 ounces protein, 1/2 cup of unrefined carbohydrates, and 1 cup of vegetables or fruits, and 1 teaspoon of flax oil eaten every 3 hours. More on this later).
"This phenomenon, known as the thermic effect of food (or diet-induced thermogenesis), accounts for about 10 percent of daily energy expenditure, varying somewhat with the composition of the diet and prior dietary practices." - Britannica
Read "Are All Calories Created Equal?" and "Thermogenic Effect of Food"
Eat More Often To Burn Fat & Gain Muscle – Diet & Timing by Charlie Poole
(There’s not much you can do about the influence of sex, genetics, and past dieting history on your metabolism but you can build muscle at any age). Remember, more muscle mass equals a faster metabolism and greater fat burning. So, weight train!
(If you're a non-exercising dieter you might want to check out Tom Venuto's "The Amazing Slimming Secrets Of Fitness And Figure Models -Ordinary Low Calorie Diets Give You A "Skinny Fat Person" Body At Best, And An Unhealthy, Anorexic "Waif Model" Body At Worst...
If You Would Like To Learn How To Lose Fat (Not Muscle) In A Healthy Way, Without Starving Yourself, And Get A Lean, Firm, Strong Body Like A Top Fitness Model, Then Here Is A 100% Guaranteed Way For You To Learn How In The Shortest Possible Time...")
And make sure you support your resistance training efforts and maximize your results by lifting heavy enough to stimulate muscles (number one mistake in resistance training is not lifting heavy enough). Get adequate protein (minimum of 1 gram of protein a day per pound of body weight), adequate sleep (you build muscle while at rest not in the gym), and control stress and stress hormones like cortisol that adversely affect muscle building and fat loss.
Lean, Sexy & Hard: Weight Training For Women by John Berardi -
I decided to write this article to show how a woman should train and at the same time dispel some of the common misconceptions regarding female trainees...
7 Reasons Why Heavy Lifting Won’t Bulk You (Women) Up
And NO, aerobics do NOT build muscle. Aerobic exercise has its time and place particularly for cardiovascular fitness and fat loss. But too much aerobics, like improper dieting, can rob you of valuable muscle. See “Are you doing too much cardio? How to balance aerobic exercise and weight training to meet your fitness goals” by Bob Cooper, Men’s Fitness Magazine (Same advice applies to you, ladies).
It amazes me how many excuses people will come up with to avoid resistance training. (And usually it’s the same people who say they’ll do anything to lose weight). Lack of time, money, energy, health, and equipment are usually on their list. These are all bullshit excuses. (Pardon my French). Self sabotage is as common as fad diets, folks.
There are affordable gyms in most cities. Callisthenic and isometric exercises are FREE and very effective. If you watch television for half an hour a day you can do your resistance workout while watching. Resistance bands are cheap and effective if the resistance is heavy enough. Resistance workout DVDs are plentiful and cheap. If you’re dead broke, do push ups, pull ups, standing calf raises, squats, lunges, etc.
There are bodybuilders and weight trainers out there who are disabled, wheel chair bound, diabetic, arthritic, have other auto-immune diseases, and are over 50. If they can resistance train it’s likely you can too. (I speak from experience having Cerebral Palsy, colitis, intermittent tendonitis, and osteo-arthritis. In 17 months I’ll be 50 and fit another of those categories). Muscle building is for every body at every age (excuses are planning to fail – excuses are just self sabotage manifested).
And frankly, for many of us “lifters” resistance training is addictive. We love the challenge, the endorphins, and most of all the results!
Now, drop and give me 50 push ups!
Health Benefits of Resistance Training
Reasons Dieters Get Stuck & Solutions - Number Two - Part Three Coming Soon!
Mistake Number Two: both groups, by continually doing the same thing over and over, are sabotaging their results. Cycle Baby! Carbohydrate Cycling, Calorie Cycling, Exercise Cycling, Rest Cycling. And we’re not taking about bicycle cycling.
Additional Links:
Clarence Bass – still RIPPED at 70!
Inspired To Live – As a teenager, Alexsey lost both hands and one arm from an accident. This is his inspirational and humbling story about where he is from, how he became disabled, how he trains, and more.
Bodybuilder Nino Savona has a dream body despite having to walk on crutches.
When people ask him where his inspiration comes from, he simply points upwards and says "God". He says he is where he is to be as a source of inspiration for others, which he definitely is.
His disabilities do not slow him down and his endurance is most of the time super-human.
Many people find him to be over training when they see him doing several workout sessions, for when he does he constantly pushes every session to the limit. Always pushing, if his mind is set towards something he will get it done without excuses, his muscles have no choice but to follow.
Instead of doing his training sitting down he finds every way possible to get it done standing up. His intense training is now giving birth even to the muscles that did not work in him, including his legs.
Nino dropped his crutches stepped up to the treadmill and ran like nothing else mattered, sometimes running faster then any fully functional person would.
Exercise & Autoimmune Disease - Written by Tammy Thomas. After being suddenly afflicted with an autoimmune disease, my most beloved pastime activity of weight training came to a screeching halt. Find out how I overcame it and made new gains!
Pati’s Body Blog - A little about me…May 16, 2008
I have always been into bodybuilding since I can remember. I use to post pictures of Shawn Ray and other pro bb all over my walls. It’s just something I love doing and transforming my body is gratifying.
I suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis in my arms and legs and deal with this everyday. I have high cholesterol, border line diabetes, PCOS, Hypothyroidism and don’t lose weight like normal woman. I have to work out twice as hard and eat very clean to lose a pound. I fight everyday to lose weight and gain muscle and my body fights against me to keep every oz of fat on me. Talk about having my work cut out for me. I started two years ago at 180 lbs had enough of being called morbidly obese. I’m down to 155-160 lbs. Yes, I went up from 147 a few months back but, I have gained a lot of muscle in my upper body since then.
I want people to know that it is possible to get healthy, to get fit. It’s hard and a struggle for me everyday but, it is worth it to live to see my daughter grow up and be able to take Active part in it. I have motivated many people to do what I have done and I feel very happy inside knowing that I have that affect on people. I haven’t given up and other people haven’t given up on me. I will fight to get that bodybuilder body I want and maintain it… Don’t give up!
Bodybuilding With Diabetes
Weight training can be therapeutic and is recommended for the prevention and treatment of many diseases and illnesses. For example, it is recommended that people with diabetes exercise regularly. This is true for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
The Schwarzbein Principle – Healing Your Metabolism
Heal Damaged Metabolism To Lose Weight
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