Dr. Louis Crowe | BionicGym - Aug 28 2024

The Truth About Dieting: Reset Your Body's Weight For Long Term Success

the truth about dieting. reset your bodoy's weight for long-term success

The Complexity of Caloric Intake

Many of the molecules in the body are interchangeable. You can convert sugar into fat (don’t we know!) and fats into sugar, and even protein into sugar or fat (plus urea in urine). But because they are interchangeable in the body doesn’t mean that eating a calorie of protein or fat has the same effect as a calorie of sugar.

In short, we need to move past the “calories in, calories out” mentality and see what really drives the number of calories we consume and expend.

The Dangers of Starvation Diets

Should I eat a max of 800 calories per day? NO!!!Absolutely not. Not unless you are a 10-year-old child. A consistent ‘starvation’ diet like that will ruin your body, undermining future weight loss efforts as well.

Simple dieting tends not to work. If it did, you probably wouldn’t be reading this.

A crash diet is a fabulous way to rapidly lose weight. Unfortunately, it’s also a great way to put on even more weight. If you wanted to be cynical and predict who would be putting on weight by next year… you’d simply pick those who are just dieting this year.

It is very sad.

People are destroying their bodies with heroic but misguided approaches. I have immense admiration for those who diet and diet again… never reaching their goal despite huge effort and great willpower. God knows the predictable failure is not due to the lack of trying or willpower. There needs to be a smarter way.

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The Weight Loss Plateau

Most people plateau in their weight loss. They often do “really well” for a few months, but by the 6-month mark, they begin to plateau. They can’t stick to the diet that got them there, and even if they do, they don’t seem to lose any more weight.

The calorie deficit that seemed to work at the beginning is no longer enough. This is because your body has adjusted to the new reality and slowed down. Your metabolism is not what it was at the start of the diet, and what worked then no longer works. When you’re hungry and thinking of food all the time, it is hard to keep it up, especially as you’re no longer getting the results.

Did you know: your body has a “set-point” for weight? This is the weight your body naturally gravitates towards, and it’s influenced by genetics, hormones, and your environment. Resetting this set-point can be key to sustainable weight loss.

Why Eating Less is Not The Solution

Eating less is not enough. You will most likely be worse off in the medium term. Even as you permanently diet, your initial weight loss will probably plateau or reverse.

The solution is not to eat less but to upgrade your body. Your body seems to have a ‘set-point,’ ‘thermostat,’ or level of fat that it takes to be its norm and will fight to maintain that level of fat. I remember I once had bloody diarrhea for two weeks and malaria at the same time. I lost a lot of weight. My trousers were falling off, literally. Afterwards, I was ravenous! I would happily eat all day until I regained my weight.

Did Your Know: Your body’s ability to switch between burning carbs and fats is known as metabolic flexibility. Improving this flexibility can help you burn fat more efficiently and prevent weight gain, even after a big meal.

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Resetting Your Body’s Set-Point

As you put on weight, this set-point seems to slowly increase. Or your set-point has increased, and your weight will inevitably follow. Voluntarily eating less won’t work because “physiology trumps willpower.”

You can upgrade your body and reset your set-point. This is readily doable…here, a little bit of persistence and willpower will help.

To do this, you’ll do a little bit of weeding in the garden that is your gut biome. You’ll stop feeding certain bugs and encourage others to flourish. You’ll modify the way you eat carbs and how your body handles sugars. We’ll increase what’s called your “metabolic flexibility” so you won’t have the same intense cravings. Your muscles are a key driver of your metabolism… but will only take minutes to upgrade. Repeat minutes! I’m not stopping you, but you don’t have to go down to the gym… unless you want to. And we’ll discuss ways to increase your calorie burning during your everyday life.

Regular Exercise and Weight Loss

Regular exercise alone is generally not great for weight loss.

Any amount of exercise is brilliant for your health. The benefits of going from zero amounts of exercise to a little are extraordinary! Do it!! The benefits are front-loaded, so even small amounts benefit you greatly.

Did You Know: You don’t need to spend hours at the gym to see results. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can boost your metabolism and burn more calories in less time, making it an efficient way to enhance your weight loss efforts. BionicGym has a series of HIIT workouts you can do from home or your desk.

More Good News About Exercise

Even moderate amounts of exercise every day seem to be protective against gaining weight. So, do something every day, even if you are happy with your weight. It’s much easier not to gain weight than to lose it. For example, it seems that just cycling 15-30 mins every day is protective against weight gain. So, if you can cycle or power-walk to work, do so… make it easy to build exercise into your life. Obviously, the more exercise, the better (especially more intense rather than just quantity/time).

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The Downside of Exercise: Hunger

Exercise can make you hungry. Of course, it does… you’re using up resources that your body wants to replenish.

We all know the story… you’ve persuaded yourself to go to the hated gym… you do a bit here and a bit there… you even sweat. You’ve burnt 300 calories… you congratulate yourself and eat a muffin on the way home to celebrate. The muffin probably has 500 calories. If you look at the simple figures in isolation, no one would bother to exercise. Why would you sweat for an hour if it only ‘equals’ a bar of chocolate or a few cookies?

Studies suggest that people who exercise need to burn 2,000 additional calories per week just to make up for the increased appetite and eating. For me, that would be over 20 miles walking… just to stand still! (weight-wise). That is, I’d need to walk 20 miles before I’d start losing weight due to the walking. It is no wonder that people think exercise is a waste of time in the weight loss journey.

Key TakawaysFor Lasting Weight Loss

Diets alone don’t work for long-term weight loss. Exercise is great, but it takes a massive effort to create a significant calorie deficit through exercise alone. Combining diet and exercise is a smarter approach, but the typical restrictive diet paired with a half-hour walk won’t cut it.

To achieve lasting, effective weight management, you need to upgrade your body. In a future blog, we’ll explore key strategies to avoid plateauing and prevent rebound weight gain, including:

-The crucial role of blood sugar in weight regulation.

-Simple hacks to control your blood sugar and appetite. (It’s much easier to avoid overeating when you’re not constantly hungry or craving sugar.)

-How to enhance your “metabolic flexibility.”

-Quick and effective ways to improve your muscles in just seconds to minutes. (Especially good news if you’re currently unfit!)