Bridal Boot Camp Tips - Understanding the Calorie

So, what is a calorie anyway? More significantly, did you know that to which we refer to as a calorie is really a kilogram calorie? You must be like, "now it's all clear to me", right? What in the world is a kilocalorie?!?!? It's the amount of heat energy required to raise one kilogram of water 1 degree celcius. So what does that have to do with food??!!? You'll discover shortly.

Energy is in reality heat output. Anytime muscle contracts to start movement, your body is always using energy, creating heat so calories are always being burned. You burn energy just by breathing. If you check your body temperature this instant, other than being sick, your temperature should read 98.6 degrees. You use heat all the time, and the amount of energy you give off can be directly is comparable to the amount of calories you've spent, which we can also use to find out how many calories a food item has.

When the number of kilogram calories that you take in equals the amount of kilogram calories that you spend in energy, then you are maintaining an energy balance and your weight will not fluctuate very much. Established diet wisdom (a contradiction in terms) says that if you cut back on kilocalories, you will be at an energy deficit, therefore you should lose weight,correct? Alas, if long term weight loss is the objective, it's not quite that effortless. The best way for me to describe the snare that happens to dieters is to provide you with a true example of a diet experience. In this example its a woman, but this can easily apply to a man, as well.

The Inexperienced Weight Loss Dupe - A woman enters the weight loss center. After seeing this ad: "Lose 30 pounds in 30 days. lose weight, lose inches. Isn't it time for a new you?" She's ready. She Uneasily walks through the door. Within moments, she's greeted by a professional Nutritionist. At a furnished conference area they sit and talk about food. After the interview, the Diet Counselor begins the presentation, "your caloric intake is 2300 calories per day. We should limit you to 1200, and we'll give you (which really means "sell you," right?) these bundles of food and delicious shakes . . . and then you should notice some dramatic weight loss!"

A After a week the woman goes back to the diet center after following the program and the First thing they do is get her on a scale. She's ecstatic! In just a few short days she's already lost 5 pounds! She buys more packaged food and A few days later .

As predicted, our Victim begins losing weight again, but there are some heavy duty side affects. Namely HUNGER! Hunger cravings force our weight loser to feel fatigued, cranky and a loss of will power begins to overtake her thoughts. After a few days of fighting against those little voices, she gets back on the scale and realizes she has hit the second plateau. Her dismay leads to quitting. She bows to the voices, and while primarily she means to have just a "taste", she finds herself caught up in an all out pig out! She gains back more weight then what she set out to lose! Here's the lousiest part. She's lost her own self-will. She faults herself. That's not true, however.

The Truth Behind Caloric Intake Reduction - Her problem wasn't will power but rather chemical brain messengers called neurotransmitters telling the body it needed to eat to survive. Food! Her body doesn't know that she's trying to lose weight (nor does it care). It's in survival mode. Her metabolism slows down and the brain force her to use that stored fat, the substance that she can survive off of the longest and the most ready energy source, sugar. Once she gives in to the cravings, her blood sugar skyrockets, her pancreas starts kicking out tremendous amounts of insulin, and her body goes into a binge state. This binge is a direct result from the loss of calorie intake or what the mind perceives as STARVATION!

There's something else the Dietitian didn't tell her. When she was losing weight she was losing three things. Water weight loss, some fat loss, but also (and probably a more frightening consideration) she was losing muscle. Water comprises over 70% of your body weight. If you're going to lose water weight only that's probably as effective as just cutting off a part of your body. Sure you'll be lighter for it, but I don't think you'll be any happier. Same concept. The second component is what we're trying to get rid of but, Unluckily, in the process you tend to lose muscle tissue also.

The diet is leading to her body cannibalizing her own muscle tissue. Muscle is metabolically active tissue. Fat is not. That means muscle burns up kilocalories and fat doesn't. When you give up muscle, Your metabolism slows! Muscle is also the site on your body where fat is burned. When you starve your body you reduce the body's ability to burn fat. So the end result of this lower in take of calorie intake depletion is hunger, the body's reduced ability to burn fat, thereby leady to a body fat storage.

In closing - So, why have you lost weight on many diets, and then gained it back? Quite frankly, because that's what diets do! How can you spot a good diet? Well, if it incorporates the word diet, which suggests deprivation, its a bad diet. A good nutrition program is one that stirs the metabolism, offers all of the foods needed for endurance, energy, tissue regeneration, and wellness. It should also stress more on what you should eat rather than what you shouldn't.

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