Overlooked Fat Loss Factors

[MA-Caver]

Interesting read:
http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_200/248_fitness_tip.html
They are as follows:

1- The thermic effect of the food you eat


2- The fiber content of the food you eat


3- The glycemic and insulin indices of the food you eat


4- The different macronutrients present in the food you eat


5- The size, frequency and time of the meals you eat

fight the fat

As you can see, someone could be eating a relatively small amount of calories daily, but at the same time be promoting a great deal of fat storage by: 1) Making poor food choices; 2) Combining macronutrients in a nonproductive fashion and; 3) Consuming food infrequently and at inopportune times. To illustrate this further, let's take a look at a recent study that analyzed the diets of 38 police officers. This study discovered that although the officers were consuming a hypocaloric diet (fewer calories than they burn), they all had unhealthy levels of body fat and had been gaining fat mass over the past five years. If all you had to do to lose fat was consume fewer calories than you burned, then these individuals would be losing fat, not gaining it.

 

[Ninjamom]

I have been watching the glycemic index of the foods I eat and lowering my total sodium intake. Those two things alone (coupled with the exercise that I have already been doing) have resulted in steady weight loss and reduction in % body fat.

In two related articles, for those who are interested, I also found that:

1. Taking in the 'right' fats (monosaturated fats, Omega 3's like flax seed oil) actually lowers the effective glycemic index of the foods you are eating. In other words, eating these heart-healthy fats not only lowers your 'bad' cholesteral, but it lowers the rate at which your body releases sugars into your blood stream. This helps you, even without changing your diet.

AND

2. All those things doctors have been telling us for years are 'good' for us (like watching calories, lowering sugar intake and/or eating low glycemic index foods, exercising, eating smaller meals more often, eating anti-oxidant foods, getting enough sleep) are all 'good' for us for the same reasons. All these things are 'anti-inflammatory', and all their opposites (not exercising, high stress, not enough sleep, starvation diets or high caloric diets, high glycemic/sugary foods, the 'wrong' fats, etc) are bad for us because they are inflamatory in your system. This is why 'single-point approaches' (like starting to exercise, or watching your weight) seldom provide lasting health benefits - the benefit is in a 'lifestyle change' that attacks all these problem areas, dealing with the 'real' central issue - cellular inflamation.

Thanks for the good read, MA-C. It was very timely, given what I have just been researching online!

 

[MA-Caver]

You're welcome Ninjamom, I know that a lot of people struggle with weight loss and try this and try that. One man I know of has probably spent well over $20K on various fad diets/pills/exercise machines and so on in his effort to lose weight. Occasionally he'll knock off 5-10-15 and sometimes 20 pounds but goes zooming right back up again because he just can't lay off certain foods. So it'll be a never ending battle for him.

You got to commit and you gotta work and most of all I honestly believe that you gotta keep at it and don't stop once you reach that target weight. A person has to keep working at it and WANT to do it... otherwise eating right is just plain moot.

 

[Phoenix44]

Interestingly, the Weight Watchers program incorporates these principles into its plans.