atkins diet and so on

[Guest guest]

ok, i do this for a living, so here's my spiel about the atkins (and other)

diets.

 

first and foremost, from a weight loss perspective, it's not necessarily WHAT

you're eating, but how much of it you are eating. the basic reason why

atkins and other diets work-- temporarily-- is because you are eliminating a

huge

percentage of the calories you were eating before. in atkins' case, you are

eliminating your carbs, and most americans eat HUGE amounts of refined carbs.

there is really only so much bacon and cheese a person can eat, and so they

will take in fewer calories than before, and therefore will lose weight.

this theory applies to every diet out there. i could, technically, put someone

on the twinkies diet, where they eat nothing but twinkies all day long and

still lose weight-- as long as they burn off more than they take in. will

they

be healthy? no. but they will probably lose weight.

 

if you burn off more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. if

you eat more calories than you burn off, you will gain weight. if you have a

huge discrepancy between what you take in and what you burn off (for instance,

a very low calorie diet like lindora), you will burn muscle as fuel, because

your body will think you are starving and will want to hold on to all the fat

it can. the less muscle you have, the lower your metabolism will drop.

your metabolism does not go up as quickly as it went down, meaning once you get

off the diet, you will not only gain back what you lost, but you will gain back

still more than that. this is the phenomenon known as " yo-yo dieting. "

 

the basic formula to figure out how many calories per day you should be

eating is as follows:

 

1) weight in pounds X 11

2) factor in your activity level:

 

SEDENTARY: multiply 1) by .20

LIGHT ACTIVITY (you take walks, or maybe stand 2 hours a day, but don't do an

ything where you break much of a sweat): multiply 1) by .30

ACTIVE (good workouts 3 times a week or more, at least 1 hour apiece):

multiply 1) by .40

OLYMPIC ATHLETE: multiply 1) by .50

 

3) add 1) and 2).

4) for weight loss, subtract about 500 from this number. CAUTION: do NOT

let this number drop below 1500 calories; if you are very tall, don't let it

drop below 1800.

 

you will have to play with this number, as every person is different. this

is the base you will start from, and figure out what works for your body from

there.

 

 

from a nutritional perspective, what you eat is VERY important to your

health, and some foods are better for your waistline than others. unless you

are

diabetic or insulin resistant (in which case you will need to talk to your

doctor to find out what you should be eating), the basic percentages of your

total

calories should be as follows:

 

COMPLEX CARBS ( " brown " foods like whole grains, brown rice, etc, and

ESPECIALLY veggies and fruits-- at least 50% of this number should come from

veggies/fruits): 50% (40% if you bring your protein up to 40%)

 

PROTEIN (soy products, beans, seitan, low fat/non fat dairy, egg whites,

whole grains, nuts/seeds, etc): 30% (40% if you are very muscular or strive to

be so). protein is the least of your worries; everything has protein in it.

it is very hard to be deficient in this nutrient. if you eat tons and tons

of protein, your body will simply not be able to process it all, and this can

lead to kidney stones. if you eat tons and tons of protein, drink tons and

tons of water to help flush it through your system.

 

FATS (mono/polyunsaturated fats like olive oil, canola oil, flaxseed,

avocadoes, nuts/seeds NOT INCLUDING coconut or palm oils): 20%

 

some tips: READ LABELS. know your portion sizes. try to eat every three

hours to keep your metabolism steady; make your meals small and have them

include a little from each of the above three groups. try not to drink your

calories (eliminate juices, sodas, milk, and so on).

 

hope this helps.

 

melody

 

 

http://www.melodysmusic.net