I done a bit of reading over the weekend about the science of weightloss and about how our bodies go into starvation mode when dieting. (Thank you to Nikki for leading me to this site!)
http://www.dramandaonline.com.au
There was a sample of Dr Amandas book "The Don't Go Hungry Diet" available to download.
Basically the book explains 'The Famine Reaction' which is how your body reacts to dieting.
The result of your body going into starvation mode is a weightloss plataeu. The best way to kickstart your metabolism is to take a break from the weightloss and work on feeding your body and maintaining weight. The idea behind this is that once you have stopped your body thinking it is starving you then re-start your dieting with better results like when we first start a diet.
I won't go on too much about it because I don't totally understand it myself.
So- after reading this information I believe my body is going through a Famine Reaction, I don't have a lot of energy and I have been really hungry and craving all sorts of food. Last night I went to bed thinking that I would give the idea a go and forget about the weightloss for a week or two and focus on eating what my body was needing/telling me to and then get back into it when my body was ready again.
But I just can't bring myself to do it! I'm just not ready to risk not losing weight yet. I have a goal to get to in 6 weeks time on the 4th October when we have a wedding and a 30th in our home town where some of my closest friends will see me for the first time since before I started losing weight. I want to get to 61kgs by that weekend, which means I have 6 1/2 weeks to lose 3.4kgs which I think is almost do-able.
Once I get past this I am prepared to give my body a break and try out the theories in this book but until then I am going to plod along and try to lose 500g per week until the start of October.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty scary isn't it? It took me months to actually get the courage to make that leap of faith and start eating normally - at that point, i weighed a hefty 80kg on my 166cm frame, and all I wanted to do was diet! diet! diet!. But i guess i got out of it by reasoning to myself that I had nothing to lose (except weight), as what I was during was clearly NOT working! And as long as i trusted my body to manage my weight for me, by eating when i was hungry, what i was craving (in the form of nourishing foods) and stopping when i was full - then my weight wouldn't necessarily go down, but it certainly wouldn't go up either! Trusting your body can be the most difficult thing - especially when it's 'track history' is not good (i.e. it's easy to think: "well, it's made me overweight before!!!")
Sometimes i think when we try to lose weight, however, we go too far to the other extreme, and focus too much on reducing calories and increasing exercise, - that we need to ease back a bit and find a middle ground for a while. This middle ground is how 'normal' or 'skinny' people eat to keep their weight where it is. When we see them eating a macdonalds hamburger or whatever, and we despair and say: "Hey! not fair! How come they can eat what they want and stay uber skinny, and i can't???". But technically we can, it just takes a bit of retraining to get used to your hunger signals.
To be honest, you may find it easier to get through the maintenance phase by switching to core. Core is very similar (and uses, i think!) some of Dr Amanda's principles - but the adjustments i would recommend (especially if you are paranoid about gaining!), is to only use your 21 points for sustaining foods such as nuts, dairy, wholegrains, eggs/fish/protein (and of course, fruit and veg!) etc. I know you only had a few biscuits, but DO try and resist eating overly processed foods like that (while you are trying to retrain your metabolism, it is most important, that is! you can go back to eating them later :)) as they have so little nutritional content - they will do nothing to satisfy your brain's desire for food (in medical terms, they won't stimulate your satiety centre in the hypothalamus of the brain!).
I actually found that when i was trying to retrain my metabolism, I was so hungry that for a few days in a row I had to eat an extra meal! Eating a meal has its advantage in that you are more likely to eat more balanced, nourishing and varying foods, whereas snacks tend to be overly processed and focus on the carb/fat food groups! As long as you are hungry, and you stop when you are full - then you should not gain fat by doing this (yes, you may gain some muscle and fluid - but that's okay, yes? keep an eye on your measurements if it worries you! gaining weight (on the scale) may actually be a good thing, as it will signify that your body is going out of starvation mode and allowing you to rebuild muscle, and push more energy/glucose into your muscles!)
Just remember, that the more nourishing the foods you choose to eat, the faster your body will go out of starvation mode, and the less likely you are to put on weight during this phase! :) If i go by the whole eating-an-extra-meal, thing, sometimes i go out of starvation mode within a day or 2, and go back to eating almost normally (though still a little more than when 'losing', cos i'm usually still a little bit hungry.) It's important you don't jump from one extreme to the other, though - as that will set you up for disaster. Once you have eaten your way out - don't suddenly jump back to overt restriction, as your starvation response will come back very quickly (and probably with greater avengence!!)
And it seems that a big concern you are having is that you won't be slimmer by the time you see your friends. Breathe, take a step back and look at this logically. If you kept going where you have been going over the last few weeks, do you think it is likely you would lose that weight by then? If yes, could you keep doing that - or do you almost feel ready to pack it in? The great thing about maintaining for a while (on a downward-step pattern of weight loss), is that it DOES NOT mean that you actually have to lose weight slower than those on the slow-slope-downward of weight loss. For many people, you actually lose weight faster, healthier (you lose a greater proportion of fat as compared to muscle loss!), and are many many times more likely to keep it off in the long term. Being rational and intelligent, and educating yourself about how the body works is the most important tool and support you need to give yourself the encouragement to take a bit of a leap of faith and take care of your body, so that it will take care of you!
All the best,
xox Nikki
Oh, sorry, PS!!!
ReplyDeleteI have a link on my blog to the government's recommendations for healthy eating. If you are worried about what you should be eating (i.e. how much of what) to best nourish your body, check them out!
Some keys to success that I have found that have helped me keep my metabolism up and my hunger at bay has been by making sure I get enough calcium (1000mg / day --> 3-4 serves!) and enough omega-3's (in fish, and i have 2-3 tsp crushed linseeds on my cereal every morning). Eating enough of both of these are very strongly linked to faster metabolisms, healthier weight loss, and keeping weight off (so are many other foods, but these guys are really important!) - and that's me not even going into their benefits in prevening osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases!
xox Nikki