A professor at New York’s Columbia University who monitored dieters for several years found that after they shed 10% of their body weight, they needed to eat at least 300 fewer calories every day in order to keep the weight off.
Visualize someone who weighed 165 lbs and reduced her weight to 148.5 lbs.
Professor Michael Rosenbaum found that dieting changes the number of calories muscles require to do their work compared to someone else of a similar weight who has not dieted.
Changes in hormones, metabolism and appetite also play a role.
Many dieters struggle with having to eat more to feel satisfied.
Professor Rosenbaum’s studies also showed that after dieting, the areas of the brain that perceive food as rewarding are more active, while those that generate feelings of restraint are less so.
“Weight loss is a relatively brief therapeutic intervention, but trying to keep the weight off requires a lifetime of diligent attention,” he added. Rosenbaum spoke about his findings in Lyons, France recently at the European Congress on Obesity.
There was no mention of whether or not people who reduced their body weight by more than 10% had to eat proportionately fewer calories a day. And let’s not forget that the calories in a diet Coke or a chocolate bar are not the same as the calories in a serving of broccoli. In order to stay at a healthy weight, you’ve got to eat healthy food and stay away from the junk food. After all you can be skinny by starving yourself, but no one would consider your body to be healthy or likely to live a long life.
Weight loss can be a complicated proposition. As strange as this may seem, there are many people who do not want to reduce their weight even if they know they are obese! They hold onto their fat as protection from unwanted attention from the opposite sex or it keeps them from having to work or take charge of their own lives. Many are terrified of who they’ll be if they lose the weight. They fear friends and family rejecting them if they get thin and healthy. Many have odd priorities – valuing hair and make-up over what they have to do to get and maintain a healthy body.
For those who are ready, weight loss and maintenance is not only possible, it’s a sure thing. At age 48 I felt fat and unhappy – I gave away all my old size 6 dresses thinking I’d never fit into them again. At 53 I am stronger, slimmer, more muscled and healthier than at any other time in my entire life!! I look many years younger than my age and I actually look in the mirror every morning for signs that I’m growing younger! It sounds fantastical, but it’s true.
Five years ago I did two 30-day nutritional cleanses and I reduced two dress sizes. As a result, I also handled stress better, slept deeper, and felt tons more energy. Since that time I have not put the weight back on. Why? Three times a year I do another cleanse, and in between cleanses, I’ve been following a maintenance program of healthy 240 calorie whey protein meal replacement shakes and periodic cleanse days. To look and feel younger, I use a healthy aging supplement that
240 calorie meal replacement shake - less than $3
promotes the growth of a substance on my DNA called telomerase. ‘Product B’ is turning back the clock for me and thousands of others who’ve been using this all natural product.
To find out more about these products by Isagenix, take a look at the video in the column to the right of this blog – ‘What’s Aging You?’ If you want to talk to me about this, send me a comment and I’ll get back to you to set up a time to talk via phone or Skype.
