Diet Concepts

Weight loss is about healthy eating,
not about miraculous diets

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THE CRUMBLED PYRAMID

   The famous Food Guide Pyramid, introduced by the U.S. Government in 1992, has crumbled after a decade of celebrated existence.
     It simply does not seem to work, given the quickly growing number of overweight and obese persons, as well as the number of diseases associated with obesity.
    The Pyramid's main mission: to produce a fit, healthy and happy society obviously failed on all fronts.
    Although not many people have strictly followed the Pyramid's advice, it may still be responsible for having sent a wrong message: avoid fat and you will be slim and healthy.
    We, at Fitness Classic, have always been uneasy about the large amount of bread, cereal, rice and pasta allowed by this system (up to 11 servings a day).
    Experts trying to construct new Pyramids seem to be of a similar opinion. They recommend fewer servings of mainly whole grain products, while moving pasta and even rice to higher floors of the structure. At the same time, healthy plant oils move downstairs.

THE NEW PYRAMID

      Well, in 2005, the USDA introduced a new pyramid, diplomatically avoiding the above, too dramatic depiction of suggested foods and specific levels of consumption.

    Unfortunately, more and more experts believe that the new system is fun to play with, but, to put it mildly, it has a few defects.

    If you want to translate your custom recommendations into meals, some nutritionists say, you'll need to take your measuring cups and a calculator to eat.

   The new pyramid provides a flood of information, recommending portion sizes down to fractions of an ounce. But it doesn't take into account such essential information as an individual's height and weight. So, it has gone from being so simple that it doesn't say anything, to being so complicated that it's not useful.

   The new pyramid's biggest advantage is that you can connect to it on line by going: MyPyramid.gov.

ZiGzAgGiNg

We suggest to some of our clients the zigzag approach practiced by advanced bodybuilders. They have to eat a lot, if they want to build massive muscles, which means often an unwanted accumulation of fat, next to quickly developing muscles. There is no compromise: diminished food intake will stop muscular growth. Bodybuilders' response to this problem is "zigzagging" or alternating muscle building periods with fat loosing periods. In the first period eating is not limited in any way, while in the second period athletes accept serious food limitations.
Some persons entering a lifestyle change may benefit from a similar approach, particularly if limited eating puts on them a considerable distress. The perspective of occasional "vacations" from the new way of living can make them less downhearted and more determined to stay within the general course of transformation.

Don't worry that everything you eat contains calories. After all, everything you do burns them.

THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED WEIGHT LOSS QUESTION:
Why is it so hard to shed those pounds?

   Different experts will give you different answers, sometimes very elaborate, but the truth is very simple. The main reason why 98 out of 100 dieters fail at losing weight is because their diets ignore "the logic" of human physiology. When you cut down your food intake for more than three days in a row on a strict weight loss diet, your body mistakes this as a sign that you are starving: that there is a limited food supply in your environment.

    Consequently, your metabolism decreases to conserve energy and to store as much fat as possible. This makes it much more difficult to lose weight. Also, when you go off your diet, your metabolism is so slow that anything over approximately half of what you used to eat before you started dieting will cause you to gain weight again. In short, most weight-loss diets have built in a failure mechanism that causes a discouragingly low success rate.

   Moderate and personalized diet is definitely the best way to successful and long term weight loss. Consult the resources below:

Burn the Fat: Well balanced, comprehensive. Shows in a very competent and clear way, how you can practically manipulate all functions of your body (food intake, metabolism, physical activity, etc.) to meet your weight loss goals.

Fat Loss for Idiots: An idiotic title and a great book. It provides tons of versatile and scientifically valid information. A lot of it is free. They do not recognize any of the most advertised diets. Instead, they offer a convincing "in between" approach.

Fit over Forty: Personal but honest and knowledgeable. It shows how obesity, lack of confidence and constant struggle can be reversed; provides excellent inspiration for those, who are not so young any longer. Baby-boomers invited.

Shocking Proof: We usually forget that our body is a temporary dump and an enormous ZOO. Disgusting plaque and horrible little “critters” living in our guts are very much capable of creating our overweight problems. This approach is not pretty but very much scientific.

Turbulence Training: Although so called, this fat burning routine will introduce little turbulence into your existence, because it was designed to comply with all kind of lifestyles. Exercise haters may be surprised.

Fit Mummy: Ladies who cannot lose the remaining baby fat and are too busy to effectively control their weight will love this book. Holly Rigsby is a busy mom herself. She is also a friendly and warm professional, well prepared to help you.

Self-hypnosis: This site’s web master used self-hypnosis to successfully quit smoking. Call him prejudiced but he will still believe that hypnotic auto-suggestion can help you to shed all those excessive pounds and keep them away for the rest of your life.

Eat-Stop-Eat: You eat normally then you fast then you eat normally then you fast again… Most diets expect us to fast all the time and that’s why we fail. You endure fasting easily, when you know that normal eating will come back soon. Of course, there’s more to this concept. Read the book!

Combat the fat: Have you seen a fat soldier? May be a fat general… Military ways must be as good as possible; otherwise they would lose wars. The author was a long time soldier and he is a weight control expert as well. Attention!

Speed Fat Loss: We usually reject programs promising a quick weight loss but this one makes sense. At least this is not just a diet; and the author is both sincere and convincing.

Losing by Believing: They say: the key to losing weight is - believing you can and thinking yourself thin. You only must believe frankly and think deeply. Well, there are a lot of famous (and thin) people out there, who attribute their successes to strong beliefs.

FAST WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS
AND YO-YO DIETING

Many weight loss programs offer fantastic results, such as losing weight at the pace of five pounds a day, forty pounds in the next three weeks, etc. We see those promises in countless advertisements on the Internet and elsewhere.

We advise caution. No weight loss diet can really succeed if you shed the pounds too fast. Most experts recommend losing no more than two pounds a week.

When you starve your body of fuel, it responds by slowing down your metabolism. Suddenly, even the smallest meals begin increasing your fat reserves. If you respond by cutting back further, you may lose weight again but then your body gives itself a better tune up and burns food even slower. That makes things even worse and you become a "yo-yo dieter". Do your best to avoid this vicious circle!

FEED YOUR BODY, NOT YOUR EMOTIONS

    Most of those with overweight or obesity problems do not feed their bodies. They feed their emotions, moods, fears, disappointments, setbacks. Reaching for food under stress or in distress is not much different from reaching for alcohol in similar situations.
     The very realization: my body does not need this additional food, only my mind and emotions do - may help. Unfortunately, most overweight persons start weight loss oriented "diets" without any prior analysis of their problems. A rigid food regimen becomes another stress calling for the same old remedy: bingeing on food; and the vicious circle closes.
     That's why Fitness Classic does not believe in stiffly designed weight loss diets. You will feel much better by changing your eating habits step by step; by challenging yourself, playing games with yourself, forgiving yourself lapses and relapses; by moving towards your goal via many different roads, instead of that boot-camp-drill path imposed on you as a "miraculous" or "revolutionary" weight loss program.
     So, take things into your own hands. Stop eating automatically. Realize that food is only a fuel of your body required in specific amounts. Become aware of what you buy in a grocery store, what you select in a restaurant, how your hunger mechanism works, who may be a good friend but a bad eating role model, etc. And when you sometimes get lost and do not know, what to do next, ask for help from the best experts you know: your intuition and your imagination.

DOES A TRADITIONAL WEIGHT LOSS DIET EXIST?

Obviously, people have always known that they can lose weight when they eat less. On the other hand, the concept of losing weight by simply changing proportions of consumed foods is relatively new. That form of weight loss first became popular with the publication, in 1869, of William Banting’s Letter on Corpulence, which sold about 60,000 copies by his death in 1878.

Banting, an English casket maker, began trying to lose weight when he reached 202 pounds and couldn't tie his shoes. He consulted a physician, who told him to stop eating foods that contained starch and sugar. William Banting lost almost 50 pounds by consuming mainly lean meat, dry toast, soft-boiled eggs and several drinks a day. His low-carbohydrate diet was so popular that the English began to use the term "banting" for losing weight.

When one thinks of low-carbohydrate diets today, one tends to think that they are "new" or "revolutionary" in some way. Robert C. Atkins entitled his famous book: Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution. In fact, the “diet revolution” based on higher intake of proteins and lower intake of carbohydrates began over 130 years ago, and its creator was not a physician or a scientist but a humble English undertaker.

Yes, there is such thing as a traditional weight loss diet. Its name is: low-carbohydrate diet. Since it was first publicized in 1869 and then practiced by many generations of dieters, it has all rights to be included into tradition.

Healthy Links:

Are you a senior with specific problems and questions of your age? Visit this award-winning site: Elder Web

The National Institutes of Health is the steward of medical and behavioral research for the Nation. It is an Agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. To visit their site click: NIH

There is a good possibility that you like potatoes but avoid them because you believe they make you fat. There are many misconceptions about this popular vegetable. Go to the Healthy Potato site to get the record straight.

Fitness Classic Lose Weight Classic Nutrition Dilemmas Exercise Ideas
Strength Training Healthy Mind Fitness Opinions Archive