Understanding How Weight Loss Works
A big part of the process of losing weight that makes it more successful for people who are determined to do it is actually understanding how the weight loss process works. Now, most dieters will tell you that as long as you are consuming fewer calories than your body burns, then you will lose weight.
But that's not the whole story and if you want some tips that work, then this article will give them to you by describing the whole process and why it works the way it does.
Calories!
While it is true that you need fewer calories in than out for the process to work, there are better or worse ways of masking that happen. The worse way is to just restrict your calorie intake through what you eat and drink while sitting around waiting for it to happen.
Chances are, you will lose some of those excess pounds to start with but the pace of the fat loss will slow down and you'll get to a place where your body is once again in equilibrium with the number of calories out and in and the process of weight loss will halt.
To make the process more efficient and indeed, to ensure that it works in the long term while improving the way your body looks, you should really combine a healthy, low calorie diet with a manageable exercise program. Now, that may sound like a lot of hard work to many people who would prefer to watch TV and hope their tiny meals will cause their bodies to do all the work for them, but that just won't cut the mustard!
Exercise is needed for two especial reasons.
Need Exercise
The first is that it causes your muscles to work and the longer and harder they work for, the more energy they will burn. This energy must be provided by your body, if we put it into simple terms.
That energy is derived from the calories you consume in your food.
The second is that is causes muscle mass and density to increase. This creates a more efficient and energy-hungry powerhouse that is working all the time, even when the body is at rest.
When the immediate supply of calories is used up by your muscles as energy, they still need more and the body provides it by taking from its store of fat. That is how excess body mass is lost.
Sure, without any exercise, your body still needs to use energy just doing its regular things like breathing, digestion, pumping the blood around etc. But it doesn't need so much to do these things.
And when you restrict the in-flow of calories through a restrictive diet, the body starts to slow down its natural processes in order to compensate for the reduction in energy it can use.
Yes, your body will take some energy from your store of fat. But it will limit that and indeed will actually begin to store more fat because you are placing it into what it believes is starvation mode, where it will do everything it can to store energy in order to keep the most important functions going.
In that state, if prolonged for long enough, the body will begin to reduce muscle tissue to conserve energy. This is disastrous for your health as it weakens the body and makes it even harder to lose weight because there is far less muscle tissue with which to burn energy.
Eating More?
So by actually eating more and exercising regularly, you will not only reduce your body's mass more efficiently, but ensure your body is constantly burning more energy than you are consuming. That's because the muscles get stronger and in turn need to use more energy to work.
This is self increasing because by needing more energy to work, the muscles draw more from your fat store until you are actually forced to eat more in order to keep them fueled.
Your body, in this state will look great because all the muscles will be toned and strong, tightening up that flabby belly and arms and legs and anywhere else fat was accumulating and making you look slim and toned overall.
And this, my friends is the result that all dieters are really looking to achieve. It's just a shame that it is almost impossible to achieve this look through a great diet alone. Some exercise is necessary to get that slim, toned look and to make the body strong so that it keeps the weight off in the long term.
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Posted on Tue, Apr 27 2010 in Weight Loss | 0 Comments
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