![Picture](/uploads/2/7/6/1/27612065/1325136.jpg?239)
I know there will be a number of ladies and some men saying, “diets do work because i have lost this or that much weight” People do lose weight on diets on the short term or even some long term. However the largest study on the effects of diets suggests only 5-10% keep the weight off long term.
Before i explain why diets dont work I will lead by saying “ the amount of lean muscle you have effects how many calories you use daily - or your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).
{More muscle use more calories - less muscles use less calories}
Diets:
1. Usually strip off large amounts of vital muscle which is the major component that burns the fat in the first place. Scientists have known for decades that low calorie diets of 800 – 1300 calories per day can use up to 45% of muscle tissue for energy, this is a disaster long term for fat loss.
2. Fast weight loss is not good, generally more than 2lb a week is un-healthy.
Taking-off weight too fast, thereby throwing the body into a defensive, fat preserving condition which raises cortisol and drops thyroid hormones.
3. Diets will release toxins which have been stored in body fat which can decrease our fat burning hormones and inhibit our energy factories called mitochondria from burning fat efficiently. This is the same reason why detoxification for weight loss is a good idea, to clean the adipose tissue before releasing toxins.
4. Your metabolic age or speed, i have had PT clients in their 50s with a metabolic age of 80s, this means the constant dieting and lack of muscle has stopped any fat burning.
Diets can drop metabolism by as much as 40% which will have a rebound effect when you start eating more food again when you can no longer stick to the diet. And, this will equate to the body going into super – compensation mode in storing as much fat as you can in readiness for the next perceived starvation block (aka diet).
Glenn (BMR) Hill