Weight Loss Facts - The Truth About Dieting & Losing Weight

Today the world has realized the importance of a healthy & fit life. Good health is achieved through balanced diet, good sleep, less of stress & most important factor - regular workouts.

Weight problems all over the world are increasing at an alarming rate & its high time we get our facts right. The obsession with weight loss has become so great that it becomes the focal point of each action & reaction in our life.

A healthy diet pattern combined with the correct amount & intensity of workout is the basic key & necessity to achieve a healthy body. But here comes- 'the fad diets'. These are those diets, which take you initially through a very smooth pathway showing you endless dreams of giving very positive results in a short span of time. But the truth is that what they eliminate is the basic calorie requirement & the basic food groups. The body actually starves & once you are off the diets the lost weight is cropped up again.

Now let me tell you a story, which will clear the myths & facts about weight loss. Generally, people go on a diet program or weight loss program when they have a pressure to achieve a target. It may be to reduce weight because of a disease or for a special event such as an upcoming wedding. However, once this pressure is off the person goes back to imbalanced eating & regains all the weight.

When a person in order to lose extra body fat in a fast & easy way goes on a diet, he at ones leaves one or more major meals & food groups from his diet. At this the brain receives a signal that the body is not getting the same calories & food that it use to have regularly so the brain takes it as a state of drought & starvation in the body, & further sends impulses to activate the storehouse of energy. So now, the body utilizes the energy reserves, which stores glycogen- the stored form of glucose.

When the body metabolizes glycogen, it leads to the production of energy in the form of ATP molecules & water. This is the reason that the body produces more of urine & you urinate more frequently when you are skipping meals or fasting. Therefore, after a few days of following this regime, the person may lose one to two kgs frequently but this is merely the loss of water. In addition, once the person goes back on normal eating, the lost water weight is regained.

The body weight is a combination of fat mass, lean body mass (muscle mass) & water weight. When you lose water or muscle, the natural fat has not gone & when you go off from diet, you put it all back on.

The key to weight loss is the balance between calories consumed & the calories burnt.
Now, when a person follows a healthy eating pattern & starts exercising, the body starts forming new muscles. The new muscles formed require energy and the body has to burn more fuel to get this energy. Mitochondria are components of our cells, which are the powerhouse of energy & burn our body's food (fuel) to get energy. As the muscle, mass increases mitochondria divide & increase in number & start burning the extra fat stored in adipose tissues to fulfill this energy requirement. This is a permanent state & solution which if continued regularly gives a healthy body & gradually reduces the extra fat.

So if u want to do dieting- 'do it by eating'; and remember eat right & exercise well to live a healthy & great life!

By Anshul Jaibharat