OK, so you are ether dieting or you want to. Do you know you have to eat to keep your metabolism burning calories in an efficient manner? Most people drastically reduce calories in the expectation of rapid weight loss.
Cut calories certainly, but don’t starve yourself. If you are skipping breakfast in an attempt to cut back on calories and lose weight, I will show you, why you need to eat, what you should eat, and when you should eat it.
Drastically restricting calories sends your body into survival mode. The human body evolved over thousands of years and is programmed to slow metabolism to a crawl any time your intake of calories drop suddenly.
Your metabolism slows down to be able to sustain its fat stores. For example, you have slept for 8 hours. You ate nothing for two to three hours prior to going to bed last night. Your body has now been fasting for approximately 11 or 12 hours.
If you forego breakfast, you are increasing the time your body will be without food and your metabolism will slow and begin conserving energy now, because starvation has arrived, or at least this is how your body perceives the situation.
What happens should you decide to go to bed, wake up and eat an appropriate breakfast? You have, essentially, broken your fast. You have been fasting for ten, if not more hours, now it is over. So now your body is burning calories instead of hoarding them.
Eat small frequent meals throughout the day. Studies have revealed that breaking down the normal three meals a day into six smaller meals, spread evenly throughout your day can lead to an increase in your metabolic rate.
This does not mean you should go out and have 3 eggs, 3 sausage, bacon with toast and potatoes for your breakfast, followed by doughnuts for a mid morning snack. Then a double bacon cheeseburger and fries for lunch, then tacos with guacamole, and sour cream for a pre dinner snake, then a rack of ribs, baked potatoes and salad for dinner. Followed by a visit to an all you can eat buffet down the road, for your sixth and last meal of the day.
True, you may be raising your metabolism a little, but you’re over whelming your body with too many calories, and you will begin to pile on even more weight than before. The American Academy of Family Physicians, AAFP, states that to reduce weight, you need to cut your intake of calorie by 500 calories per day to lose 1 pound a week.
The AAFP goes on to explain that eliminating more than 1,000 calories each day should be your maximum. The loss of more than 2 pounds a week could suggest that you are burning lean muscle or experiencing loss of water weight rather than burning excess fat.
Break your meals into six smaller meals during the day. By lowering your intake of calories by 500 you will lose 1 pound a week. Additionally, refrain from white foods in your diet. Simple carbohydrates, refined flour, rice, potatoes, and pasta tend to be assimilated rapidly by your system and they are converted to stores of fat.
Consume increased amounts of complex carbohydrates. Complex carbs slow digestion because they are rich in fiber so it takes longer to be absorbed by your body, this makes it possible for your blood sugar level to remain stable.
Eat brown rice rather than white rice, whole grains breads and pasta made from wheat or barley flour instead of white refined flours.
Steer clear of caffeine and drink green tea or water. Caffeine is reported to inhibit absorption of vitamin C, promote unhealthy acid in your body as well as encourage cravings for sugar. If there’s one thing you don’t need when you’re trying to lose weight, it is sugar cravings. Green tea is rich in antioxidants and does not have all those unwanted effects that coffee can produce.
Water gets rid of the toxins that are released when you are shedding weight. Have a minimum of 8 glasses of water per day. When you are dehydrated, your metabolism decelerates. Drink cold water. Your body needs to stay warm so it will boost your metabolism every time it needs to warm up as a result of your drinking ice water.