Categories
Uncategorized

Weight Loss is Not the Same as Fat Loss

 

The real problem with losing weight in general, is that the focus is on totally the wrong thing. You don’t actually want to lose weight, what you want to lose is fat. When you lose fat the weight takes care of itself. It truly doesn’t matter what you weigh, as long as your mirror reflects back to you a body that pleases you.

When you focus on losing fat rather than weight, the waistline takes care of itself. If you build muscle at the same time, then body-shape moves towards what looks attractive all by itself. Your body knows how to look good. It just can’t manage it when you cover it in fat.

Does that mean throw away the scales?

No, the scales can be a useful tool as long as you remember what they are measuring – total body weight. Pound for pound, muscle takes up one-fifth less space than fat. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it makes a huge difference. Muscle tissue is also smoother and less ‘lumpy’ than fat so replacing fat with muscle gives the body a smoother look.

Businesses like Weight Watchers focus on reducing body weight by doing a weekly weigh-in. The start of a diet often produces a dramatic weight loss in the first week or two – this is hugely encouraging – and the likes of Weight Watchers use this to convince you that what they do works. In fact it is mostly water loss and that happens when you drastically reduce calorie intake, or change the kinds of food you eat. Of course once the water is gone, you suffer dehydration, drink more, and in subsequent weeks struggle to lose weight. But that early success has you hooked on that Weight Loss System and you are subtly encouraged to feel that your failure is actually all down to you – not the flawed Weight Loss System you are using.

Even if you are aware of the body fat problem and use a scale that measures body fat, you are likely to be misled. These scales work by measuring the electrical resistance of your body and using that information to carry out a body fat percentage calculation. The trouble is that electrical resistance is affected by the amount of water in your body and so as you lose a lot of water at the beginning of a diet you can be fooled into thinking that you have lost body fat.

We tend to believe numbers and electronic gizmos without question – especially when we have spent a lot of money on a hi-tec body fat measuring scale like the Tanita BC-587 that costs around £300. The truth is that these devices are wildly inaccurate and not worth spending your money on.

A much cheaper option to gauge body fat is the mirror you probably already have in your bedroom.

 

Normal body fat percentages for women

Body Builder 8-9%

Female Athlete 18-20%

Normal 25% – 30%

Obese 30%+


Normal body fat percentages for men

Body Builder 3-4%

Male Athlete 10%

Normal 18% – 25%

Obese 25%+

 

How you look is a pretty good guide and once you are over the 30% it’s going to be hard, but worthwhile, work to get that number down.

Still it’s nice to have some numbers and to keep a record so that when you feel the urge to eat there is something to look at to keep you motivated.

One the cheapest solutions for measuring body fat is a set of body fat callipers like the Accu Measure which is only around a fiver (plus postage). With these you grab a lump of skin around your hips and use this simple piece of equipment to measure the thickness of the skin fold. This then allows you to calculate your body fat percentage. Or if that is too complicated just use it to keep track of the skin thickness measurement and watch it shrink as you lose fat.

Measuring skin fat, and focusing on building muscle, as you lose weight guarantees that the weight lost is fat and not muscle. So you get a much greater reward for your efforts at changing your eating habits.

And if you want an easy way to change those eating habits for good then check out my book How to Lose Weight Easily and Free Yourself from Diets Forever which sets out 10 easy steps to set you on the right track to permanent weight loss without any food restrictions. If you are curious about how you can eat what you want and still lose weight then check it out.

For an in-depth look at this subject:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/07/02/body-fat-percentage/

Categories
Uncategorized

Seven Reasons Why Diets Don’t Work

Diets don’t work because they are based on a false premise.

The false premise is that body weight is purely a consequence of the calories you eat and expend. If you eat more than you use the excess is stored as fat. If you eat less than you use, the body burns excess fat to make up the shortfall.This is a mistaken idea.

We have all seen really skinny people who eat like horses and don’t seem any more active than we are. We have all seen overweight people who say they don’t eat very much (we tend not to believe those people). We also tend to believe what we are told. Nothing we are told by the media helps us to lose weight by severely cutting down on calories. Here is why…

The 7 reasons diets don’t work

  1. They are too much effort.
  2. They cause ‘famine’ mode.
  3. They affect mood – and not in a good way.
  4. Thoughts of food predominate.
  5. Diets lose weight not fat.
  6. Exercise is not included.
  7. Unreasonable expectations

1. Too much effort.

21% of people give up on their diet within two months. 45% of people don’t last the year. All that calorie, or syn or point, counting just gets to be too much work and it’s so much easier just to eat what you like.

2.’Famine’ mode.

The body is an intelligent system. It’s intelligence is primarily geared toward survival. When food is scarce it thinks ‘famine’ and lays down supplies of fat; slows down metabolism to conserve energy; and burns lean muscle for its energy needs, because, when resting, lean muscle tissues burn calories. To the body’s intelligence, a diet looks just like a famine.

3. Mood.

The majority of so-called experts regard excess weight as a calorie problem. It isn’t. But it is an emotional problem. Eating is often an attempt to improve mood. Dieting itself can cause social isolation – hence the popularity of slimming clubs. This can lead to low moods, rebellion against the diet, or even depression.

4. Diets keep you thinking about food.

Meals are no longer spontaneous. They have to be meticulously planned. Recipes have to be followed. Specific items need to be purchased – sometimes even specific product brands. Life is no longer about fun and enjoyment. Life is about food.

5. Diets lose weight, not fat.

Weight loss in diets is almost entirely down to muscle loss. This makes it more and more difficult to lose weight each time you diet because bodies are reluctant to release fat – especially quickly, which is the way most people want it. The only way to release fat instead of muscle is to do it slowly.

6. Exercise.

Exercise is essential. Exercise builds muscle. Muscle burns calories – even while resting. Exercise boosts metabolism. Exercise increases fitness, vitality and lifts mood.

7. Unreasonable Expectations

People have surprising expectations of the amount of weight that can sensibly be reduced. If you are 16 stone (224lbs) an initial weight loss goal of 14 stone (196lbs) would be good to aim for. A 2 stone (28lb) success is easily achievable and when maintained for a while will be the place to decide to shift a little more.

Diets just don’t work.
If you want to discover how to lose weight without the rigid discipline of a diet and still be allowed to eat what you want then check out my website here.

Author: Michael J. Hadfield

Source: Hypnosisiseasy

Categories
hypnosis weight control

Hypnosis for Weight Control – Why Diets Can’t Keep the Weight Off for You

The trouble with diets is that you have to think about food all the time. Though “At first a diet can give you a sense of control. You are taking charge of your eating patterns. You may see success as the scale drops. But soon you are fighting cravings for forbidden foods, as well as hunger pangs and a lack of energy from the lower calorie level. Eventually you rebel against the diet and start “cheating.” If your cheats are small you can still be losing weight, although more slowly. But soon you may go into full rebellion and return to your old eating habits” Am Psychol. 2007

This is how the well known yo-yo effect starts. You get all enthusiastic, go wholeheartedly into the new diet, lose some pounds; then after a few weeks, or a few months, the enthusiasm starts to slip, you’ve done really well, and you want to give yourself a treat or a day off, then that day happens once a week, twice a week, three times a week and the treat happens once a week, once a day, three times a day…

The pounds slip back on, the clothes slowly tighten up again, and you look in the mirror one morning and think I was doing so well…

…or no matter what you do, how closely you stick to the diet, nothing much happens. Others lose pounds, you lose ounces, or even gain them. Life is so unfair…

…or you spend the whole ‘diet-time’ thinking about food, thinking about what you can and can’t eat, counting calories, or points, or syns. Until you get fed-up with the whole thing and give it up…

…for a while…

…and then, usually after Christmas, when you go try on the new summer outfits…  it all starts all over again.

The trouble, I hasten to add, is not with what the diets suggest you eat. The vast majority of them provide good healthy rules for eating that will provide you with a nutritious and balanced intake of food. And lots of people do lose weight using these tried, tested and very successful methods.But the weight doesn’t stay off. The reason is the reasons for weight accumulation are not being addressed. One of the assumptions made is that weight is purely the product of what you put into your mouth and how much energy you expend. Lots of energy expenditure i.e. active life, low calorie intake equals weight loss. Sedentary lifestyle, high calorie intake equals weight gain.

That’s simple maths and it’s perfectly true. You eat fewer calories than you expend and your body has to get those extra calories from somewhere. What you are told is that it gets them from the fat it has carefully stored away under your skin, for just such an emergency. But the truth is that it takes it from lean muscle tissue, because the body knows that lean muscle burns calories even when resting and the body is trying to conserve energy because food seems to be in short supply.

Another assumption is that it is about metabolism or genes. But the territory that is not normally explored is the territory of emotional eating. If it was explored you would find associations with food and being good buried in the subconscious. When you were good as a young child, sweets, candy, cakes, ice cream, chocolate, biscuits, cookies, were the reward for that goodness. When you pleased your parents, this is frequently the treat that was given. But very soon that got twisted and you assumed that if you didn’t get it, you had been bad. And so eating this sort of food gave your subconscious mind the message ‘I am a good and/or loveable person’. The only reason your subconscious would need to be re-assured about that is if it didn’t believe it already. But when you stop giving yourself these ‘treats’, then at a subconscious level, you feel you must have been bad and you are driven to eat something forbidden just to reassure yourself that you really are good.

Now, when hypnosis is used in weight control, the focus is not purely on changing your eating habits. The focus is on changing you deep down inside. Or more accurately, correcting a view of you (someone who is not loveable) that is mistaken, and bringing back to the front the more correct view of you which is that you are as special and as loveable as everyone else.

You will eat differently, and will eat less, but that is purely because hypnosis reconnects you with you, so you listen to your body and feed it when it’s hungry. What hypnosis doesn’t do is give you rules about what you can and can’t eat. By reminding you of the truth about you, we release a power, or an energy, that starts to work with you rather than against you. When you work purely to a diet plan, without addressing underlying subconscious issues (and I’ve only touched on one here – there are many more) there are two of you. One wanting to be slim, and one needing the re-assurance of treats. And the one needing the re-assurance of treats will work to sabotage the diet plan – because their needs have been ignored.

A hypnotherapist works on improving how you feel about yourself, they also install post-hypnotic suggestions that will make it much easier for you to not only have no desire to eat the foods full of calories, but also assist you in achieving a pleasure in eating foods that are good for you that outweighs any pleasure you ever obtained from eating sugary sweet sickly foods.

This control is short term and just to break the habit element of eating. For in truth, you can eat anything you want and stay slim. The emphasis being on want. Hypnosis retrains your mind so that what you want is to nourish a body you care for – easily, effortlessly. Once this is achieved it remains.

When you already feel good about yourself, you have no need to demonstrate that by eating foods that are bad for you. Wholesome, attractive, tasty, well-prepared food is what you deserve – always.

If you want to know more, or would like some help in easily and permanently losing weight and feeling good, then check out my website.

Author: Michael J. Hadfield

Source: Hypnosisiseasy

Categories
hypnosis weight control

Weight Loss, Diets, And Fat

The trouble is fat. Bodies just make the stuff. If fat had never been invented, we could all eat what we like, stay beautiful, and never have to diet or lose weight. Unfortunately some fat is essential to good health. It is a handy insulator that helps regulate internal body temperature, and it really does come in handy when we have flu and don’t have the energy, or the desire, to eat.

“I’m allergic to food.  Every time I eat it breaks out into fat.”
~Jennifer Greene Duncan

However, fat really is necessary and needs to be a part of a healthy diet. The trick is to have just the right amount.

Far too many people consider that whether or not you accumulate fat is down to simple maths. If you eat more calories than you use then you get fat. If you use more calories than you eat then you lose weight. This is the basis of all the calorie reduced diets for weight loss.

For people with an active life, this isn’t too bad. If you spend your work day sitting on a chair and your evenings and weekends sitting on a couch, then calories in have to be reduced to almost zero to make you lose weight.

Yo-Yo diets

But thousands of people use this simple maths to create the Hell of yo-yo diets; the Hell of being unable to eat what they want when they want; the Hell of social isolation because they don’t have enough will power to eat lettuce when all their friends have huge plates filled with steak, fries, onions, mushrooms… and desserts filled with cream.

And thousands of people use this simple maths to watch the pounds fall off for a week or two, then slow down, then accumulate, then fall off again and they fight a constant battle with themselves and their diet. They can even end up hating who they are because their bodies won’t do what they think their minds are telling them to.

Diet clubs

I visit a coffee bar that has a meeting room where Weight Watchers and Slimming World diet clubs hold meetings. I feel a little sad when I see women arriving for their weigh in and nipping into the toilet to relieve themselves of those few desperate ounces so they might just tip the balance and clock up a loss rather than a gain. Because, of course, the public humiliation of having gained a pound, never mind two, is more than can be tolerated. I feel sad because there is a much better, much easier way to lose weight without public weighing or a gimmicky diet.

This is no way to live.

This is not happiness.

I know how to lose weight without dieting.

And this is all down to that simple maths…

…simple maths that is just plain WRONG.

Dieting fights the body’s own intelligence

You see bodies are intelligent. Your body is an intelligent system. I bet that when you were a child you cut yourself. And I bet that within a few days there was almost no trace of a wound. This is the intelligence I am talking about. You did not have to tell the body to start vasoconstriction to reduce blood loss. You did not have to send the message to rush platelets to the damaged blood vessels to start to shore up the hole. Nor did yo have to tell the body to form fibrin to hold the platelets in place and eventually form the protective clot. And I bet you didn’t have anything to do with then rushing white blood cells to gobble up any invading micro-organisms to prevent infection.

And then there’s the whole process of making an invisible, or almost invisible, mend that follows on from this initial reaction to bleeding.

Supply & Demand

Fat is survival. When food is in short supply, fat is deposited. Now you would think that fat would be laid down when food is plentiful. So consider this: from the days when our body systems evolved. Plentiful food would have been frequent small meals (fruits & berries eaten while they were gathered). Eating would stop once the stomach was full – because there was plenty more where that came from. In these circumstances there is no need for fat deposits.

But infrequent meals and very large meals when eating is continued after the stomach is full (a successful hunt after several days without game), is a very strong message to the body that food supply is uncertain so fat deposition would be helpful.

Most people who are overweight eat past fullness. This tells your body food shortage.

Most people who are overweight get little exercise. This tells your body that there is no food to find, so conserve energy.

Most people who are overweight go on diets. This tells your body that food is in short supply.

And what your body does when food is in short supply is to LAY DOWN FAT and conserve energy.

Energy conservation

Now I mentioned the simple maths that is the basis for the calorie reduction diet plans designed to help you lose weight. Because your body is intelligent, when food is in short supply and it needs energy (Calories) it does something quite brilliant. It burns up lean muscle rather than burning up fat. The reason it does this is that lean muscle tissue uses up calories by simply being there. Take two people in the same room sitting watching tv, one very fat, the other very fit. The fit one is burning up many times more calories than the fat one. This is because lean muscle tissue burns calories just by existing. A fit individual will use up 500-700 Calories a day just lying in bed. So the intelligence of the body says – we need to get rid of lean muscle because food is in short supply and we will stand a better chance of survival if we save our fat calories for real emergencies.

The consequence of this of course is that, as you diet, your muscle/fat ratio slowly shifts in the direction of more fat. The effect of this is that your body’s metabolic rate is lowered (your intelligent body’s energy conservation planning). Making it ever harder to lose weight the next time you start a diet. So next time you start a diet you will give up sooner because each time you repeat the cycle – it gets harder to lose weight.

If you diet regularly all you are doing is accumulating more and more fat, making it harder and harder to lose weight – because the weight loss is largely from muscle loss and you have less muscle to lose.

You cannot fight this.

You cannot effectively lose weight, long-term, like this.

Lose weight without dieting

If you want to lose weight, you have to work with your body’s intelligence, not against it.

You may not appreciate that you don’t have to diet to lose weight. You just have to eat differently. But you can still eat what you want. It sounds too good to be true. And it gets better. It can be fairly effortless. No more fighting. No more will power battles.

More details are available on my website.

Author: Michael J. Hadfield

Source: Hypnosisiseasy