I want you to consider a common female client. She's a woman
about 5'5" and 185 pounds. A combination of a mostly sedentary
lifestyle, quick-fix, processed foods and consistent excessively
low calories has resulted in an incredibly stubborn fat loss
scenario. Not only has it created a stubborn fat loss scenario
but her ability to add body fat is remarkably strong. Most would
believe there is simply no possible way she could be 185 pounds
eating mostly low calories. While it's true the average obese
American created their own obesity by being a huge overconsumer,
a sedentary glutton if you will, many are able to maintain their
level of obesity with the following formula in very precise
ratios: starvation+binges+sedentary lifestyle.
An initial
review of this woman's calories indicates she is just above
starvation level in the 400-700 per day range. The food choices
are mostly protein in this case (low-carb is all the rage you
know) and there are virtually no vegetables or fruits to speak
of. Five or six days per week the calories remain low in this
range, however, there are nighttime binges from time to time and
weekend binges where carbs loaded with fat (doughnuts, rolls,
cookies, pizza etc.) are consumed. So while the calories are
very low the majority of the time, there are one to two days per
week where this isn't always the case. Even so, the nighttime
binges and weekend slackoffs don't amount to what you might
presume would be thousands of extra calories, thus explaining
the 185-pound body weight. Very few foods are prepared from
home. There are lots of fast foods being consumed. Convenience
and taste rule.
I must say. Early on in my coaching and teaching career this
woman was a real head scratcher for me. Isn't it calories in and
calories out? Even if she's not active she's starving! How in
the heck does she stay at 185 eating an average, including all
binges, of maybe 750 calories per day? She's frustrated beyond
belief. She sees her friends and coworkers eating more and
weighing less. Is she simply unlucky? Is everyone else blessed?
And what in the world is she supposed to do to fix this, IF it
can be fixed?
First, let me tell you why she's not losing weight. Then I'll
tell you what she has to do to fix the situation. With a chronic
(months and months) intake of less than 1000 calories per day
and a 185-pound body weight her metabolism is suffering greatly.
It's running cool, not hot. It's basically running at a snail's
pace. Think of it this way. Her metabolism has matched itself to
her intake. She could, indeed, lose body fat but she's in that
gray area where she is eating too few calories but not quite at
the concentraction-camp level yet. If she were to consume
100-300 calories per day her body would have virtually no choice
but to begin liberating stored body fat. This is NOT the
solution. It's unhealthy and, in fact, quite stupid.
Not only has her metabolism matched her intake, her body has
maximized production of enzymes that are designed to help store
any additional calories as fat. Anytime additional,
immediately-unnecessary calories are consumed the enzymes are
there and waiting to store the additional calories as fat. Her
body is starved nutritionally and it has one thing on its
mind--survival. Being mostly sedentary, her metabolism (hormones
play a large role here) can do a pretty good job of keeping
things slow enough so that the pathetically low calories she's
consuming are just enough to maintain. But since certain enzymes
are elevated, waiting for more calories so more bodyfat can be
stored, every nighttime binge or weekend mini-feast will
contribute to fat stores. So on the days she's not bingeing her
body does not lose fat, or if it does, it's very little. And on
the few days or times she does binge a bit her body is quite
efficient at storing fat. So, while she may lose a smidge of fat
from starving it is quickly replaced with every binge. Remember,
these binges aren't a gluttonous 4000-calorie feast. Oh no, a
binge might be 4-5 cookies worth about 500-700 calories. But
since the binge foods are mostly carbs and fat it's very easy
for the enzymes to shuttle the dietary fat into stored body fat.
It's what they were designed to do.
Well then, now that we presumably know some valid reasons why
she's not seeing a scale change and definitely no body fat
change how do we fix her? We have to do something she's going to
freak out over. We have to get her eating more. Not only do we
have to get her eating more but more of the right, whole foods
need to be eaten. Foods lower in fat that aren't as easily
STORED as body fat have to be consumed. And we have to warn her.
We have to warn her that since she's been sedentarily living on
protein with binges of carbs and fats she is likely to see a
weight gain right away. It's true. Once we begin really feeding
her body with nutritious carbohydrates so she can become more
active her glycogen-depleted body will hang on to some of those
carbohydrates (in skeletal muscle and liver) so she has stored
energy for activity. And when her body hangs on to those
carbohydrates it has no choice but to hang on to more water too.
For every gram of glycogen (stored carbs) she stores she'll hang
on to three grams of water. This is not a negative response by
the body but it will be interpreted by her as quite negative
when she steps on the scale. It's quite likely she'll see a five
to seven pound weight gain when she really starts eating
properly again. This weight gain will remain for one to three
weeks before it starts moving in the other direction.
Next page |
Overcoming the "Freaked Out"
Mindset!
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