How are these people losing more weight than me?
A woman at work (who lost over 3 stone on WW) took pleasure in telling me a friend of hers has lost five and half pounds in weight in four weeks using the Weight Watchers plan. What I don’t understand is how she did it without any form of exercise. In the last four weeks I have reduced calories, carbohydrates, drank loads of water and been to gym at least three times a week and only just managed 4 pounds in the same time. How is this possible?
June 6th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
They have better metabolisms and/or genes.
June 6th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Everyone’s metabolism is different. If you reduce your calorie intake, your metabolism will decrease, too. Be careful not to decrease your calorie intake too much, or your body will go into a kind of “panic” mode and not burn up calories. What you want is to have your body burn more calories.
June 6th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
you have very different genes for example I’m having issues gaining weight instead of loosing, i’ve been visiting a personal trainer at the gym and they told me that it’s about my genes. just because you might have “bad” genes doesnt mean its impossible for you to loose as much weight as other people just keep training like you do now and i bet you will reach your goal
June 6th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
A number of things:
1. Exercise is good for you, but you don’t need exercise to lose weight. A person who completely starved themselves but didn’t exercise at all, would lose much more weight than a person who ate healthy and exercised (doesn’t mean you should starve yourself).
2. Fat people can lose weight fast. And really fat people can lose weight even faster. At least in the beginning. That’s because they are so big than their daily caloric needs are so much higher than a normal person– so when they cut down to what they SHOULD be eating– they lose a lot of weight. Their rapid weight loss usually stalls after 2-4 weeks.
3. Randomness due to crappy scales – We all buy our scales at the mall or at Wal-Mart or whatever. These are not the most accurate scales in the world. They often fluctuate 1-4 lbs. for no reason at all. They are reliable only as far as approximation– but you can’t rely on them for your EXACT weight because they are cheap and made by slave children in a third world country somewhere.
4. Randomness due to your pooping and peeing – Some days you poop more, some days you poop less. Same with pee. Again, that adds to the randomenss of weights. You can only rely on it as far as approximations. You can say you’re “AROUND” 178, but there’s no way to know if you’re exactly 178 lbs at that given moment in time.
The point is, reduce your calories, you will lose weight. Nevermind what other people are doing.
June 6th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
If you increase activity (exercise) and reduce calories, the body will think it’s in a famine. The body won’t release fat stores if you lower calories below what it needs. It will slow metabolism to compensate & store every spare ounce as fat. If you continue lowering calories, it will continue lowering the set point, til it can survive off nothing & store fat on anything. The body will only release it’s fat stores if it knows there is plenty of nutritious food.
I am adamantly opposed to low calorie dieting because most people lose a good portion of lean tissue along with fat stores. Most people get impatient and lower their calories and increase their exercise to a point where they lose so much lean tissue that when they return to what was maintenance level eating they are now accumulating more fat stores because their caloric needs have dropped due to the loss of this tissue and it becomes a vicious cycle of dieting and more loss (including vital organs like the heart) This stress cannot be healthy.
You can lose more body fat eating protein & fat (don’t eat protein alone) than not eating AT ALL. To lose weight fast, eat all you want, but nothing but meat, eggs, healthy oils, mayo, butter & half an avocado a day (for added potassium). Keep the calories high & the fat percentage high, at least 65% of calories. Green vegetables & some cheese will continue weight loss but at a slower pace.
The first 2 weeks eat several cups a day of (mostly) lettuce & celery, cucumbers, radishes, mushrooms, peppers & more variety of vegetables thereafter – add 5 grams per day additional every week (20 grams day first 2 weeks, 25grams 3rd week, 30grams 4th week etc) til you gain weight, then subtract 10grams. That will be your personal carb level (everyone is different & depends on how active you are.)
Start with meat, fats & salads for 2 weeks and then slowly add in more green veg, wk4 fresh cheeses, wk5 nuts & seeds, wk6 berries, wk7 legumes, wk8 other fruits, wk9 starchy veg, wk10 whole grains. You will learn how your body reacts to different foods.
The first week is just water weight but fat is lost thereafter if you keep your calories high enough. Otherwise the body will strip it’s own lean tissue for nutrition. Although that may look great on a scale it will make it MUCH easier to accumulate fat in the future (since all that pesky lean tissue burning up calories will be gone).
Eating carbs while trying to lose body fat is terribly inefficient. When in glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) you have to lower your calories (which slows your metabolism) & exercise heavily to deplete your glycogen stores before burning body fat.
The core of Atkins program is converting the body from glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) to ketosis (burning fat as fuel). Dietary fat levels need to be at >65% of total calories, if not, the body will still remain in glycolysis by converting 58% of excess protein into glucose (via gluconeogenesis).
It takes minimum of 3 days to convert a body to ketosis, (but only one bite to convert back to glycolysis). People feel sluggish the first week but most feel better than ever thereafter.
Simple carbohydrates (sugar, flour, bread, cereal, pasta, potatoes, rice) trigger insulin which can store the calories eaten into fat. The more protein the more the fat burning hormone glucagon is released. The more carbohydrate the more the fat storage hormone insulin is released.
Simple carbs are addictive & can be disastrous to health. The best way to break the addiction is NO carbs for 3 days. Make a huge batch of deviled eggs, eat one every time you want “something” – have huge omelets with bacon, sausage, peppers, mushrooms & cheese. Pork chops smothered with peppers, mushrooms & cheese – pork rinds & dip or tuna/chicken/turkey/egg salad – steaks – a huge sugar free cheese cake. Eat so much you won’t feel deprived of anything. By the 4th day, the addiction will be gone & you can start making healthy choices.
High insulin levels promote inflammation, weight gain, hunger & unbalance other hormones. Controlling insulin levels will balance out other hormones & allow human growth hormone (HGH) to be produced naturally so lean muscle will be gained even without exercise.
Ground flax seed (2 Tbsp) 1/4 cup water, artificial sweetener, mix in a raw egg – let sit 10 min. to absorb liquid, put some cream cheese in the middle & nuke 2 minutes for daily fiber needs.
As long as you have <9grams carbs per hour, you will maintain insulin control & shouldn't gain weight, no matter the calories because insulin, the fat storage hormone is not activated. Many people gain weight on high carb, do low carb to lose weight & then are shocked when they return to high carb & gain weight. Many people can return to moderate carb levels but very few can really eat all they want of sugar & maintain weight or health.
June 6th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Everyone’s bodies are different,
also that lady could have more weight to lose than you. The more you have to lose the quicker it comes off.