If you look at carbohydrates and fat, it is the same scenario.
Each gram of carbohydrates contains 16 kcal of energy, while fat
contains 37 kcal of energy. This is why watching how much fat
you’re eating is so important. It is almost twice that of protein
and carbohydrates.
Much of the research on low carb diets such as the Atkins diet
found that people lost more weight initially and that the diet was
more effective than the other diets. Research has also found
that people who are on high protein diets also experience higher
satiety levels, that is, they are not as hungry. One of the main
reasons that low carb diets induce weight loss is because of the
simple fact that they are just consuming less calories, but more
protein and fat than carbohydrates.
What it seems to boil down to is that some low carb diets restrict
your intake to mainly fat and protein, by eliminating
carbohydrates from the diet. This has the effect of taking away
so many of the food choices that are available, as well as vital
nutrients that your body needs.
You know, even lovers of protein and fat, find that the variety
and choices are taken away and what you are actually doing is
actually limiting your caloric intake. So it works initially and that
is one of the reasons why people are so attracted to it.
The fact is however that 95% of diets fail and what it really
comes down to is if you want to lose weight, lifestyle change is
the only way. A diet is only temporary, you go on it and you lose
weight.
But what are you going to do eventually? You are going to go
off it.
In my definition, that is not a lifestyle change that is a temporary
fix. That is human nature. You go on the diet and eventually you
are going to go off it and revert back to your old eating habits
and gain the weight back.
It all comes down to understanding a little bit more about the
foods that you are eating and a choice to make a lifestyle change.
Also almost all of these diet plans introduce a new way of eating,
a way that is abnormal to the way that you are used to eating
and we are creatures of habit and we like the foods that we are
used to.
Because we are creatures of habit we don’t adapt very well to
changes like that. We can go on it for a while and because it is
so abnormal it just doesn’t fit. It all comes down to the fact that
you have to make a decision that you are going to change the
way you eat.
One of the things that I have noticed is that if you do something
as simple as go out and walk 15 minutes a day, it will be easier
for you not to be tempted by unhealthy food. The healthier your
lifestyle choices, the easier it will be to stick to your healthy food
choices.
It’s almost like the unhealthy choices don’t fit anymore. They are
incompatible with the healthy choices. You know, I have quoted
that adage that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Well
it’s almost the same applied to health and nutrition.
As I kick around health and nutrition with people that are into it
like I am, I find that if you do exercise and have more muscle
mass you burn more calories when you are at rest. Lean muscle
mass has a higher metabolic requirement. When you are just
sitting around doing nothing and your body has more lean muscle
mass you are going to burn more calories than if your body
contains fatty tissue.
It’s kind of a cruel injustice but the fitter you get even at rest,
you are burning more calories.
