Fighting Your Body to Lose Weight

So you're wondering why it's so hard for you to lose that extra weight that is keeping you from looking amazing in that bathing suit? Well, it could be because your body is programmed to store calories that it can later use during periods when there is little or no food. Empty fat cells send out signals that lead to increased hunger and increased fat storage. So when you're dieting, your body just wants more food.

The body also works to conserve calories when it senses that it is at the beginning of a starvation period. When you don't eat enough or often enough, your metabolic rate slows and you in turn burn fewer calories. This body function helped our ancestors live through periods when food was scarce, but it works against us when we attempt to lose weight in today's world.

Ancel Keys studied the effects of food restriction on the human body and mind during World War II. He followed 32 healthy, active young men who ate an average of 3500 calories a day. For six months, he restricted their food to only 1600 calories a day. Cutting their calories in half had the following effects:
• 40 percent decrease in metabolic rate (calorie burning)
• Food obsession
• Food cravings and binges
• Depression, irritability and moodiness

To reduce calorie intake without sending starvation messages, work with your body instead of against it:
• Eat when hungry. Do not wait until you are feeling starved.
• Do not go more than 5 waking hours without food.
• Eat something first thing in the morning.
• Do not severely restrict calories (women generally need 1200 calories or more and men need 1600 calories or more). If you feel like you are starving with the amount of food you are eating, you are not eating enough!

Remember that severe food restriction leads to binging. Reducing portions, eating filling foods, limiting your access to foods that tempt you to overeat and allowing occasional exceptions will help prevent binges.