Calorie counting and dieting plateau

A dieting plateau is when no more weight is being lost during your selected fat loss diet, whether it is low in fat, low in calories or whatever, If your goal is to lose weight, you must eat carefully planned meals. Do not skip meals and snack. Eating nothing does not always equal loss of fat.

The Atkins diet was once hugely popular. This is a low carbohydrate and there are other similar type diets. The main problem with these is, not only are they too strict, they also lower our source of energy which leaves us tired and lethargic. 20 grams of carbohydrates per day is the recommendation, approximately an apple, with the Atkins diet, not nearly enough for the body’s needs. The other similar style diets allow more, but still not enough.

Many of us have woken up one morning, looked in the mirror and decided there and then, that is it, I need to lose weight. Our first reaction is to miss breakfast and have a light snack when hungry. Our body overnight has been starved of food while we sleep and by not eating a substantial breakfast, our metabolism is very slow, thus not burning fat but storing what we eat. When the body is in starvation mode, it cleverly stores fat too feed our bodily organs by holding on to everything we eat. Eat more food = Burn more fat.

The downfall to limiting our intake of food so dramatically is we become tired, irritable and low on energy.You will lose weight doing this but it is not really fat loss. Losing fat and losing weight are different. The weight that is lost is actually water, not fat. As soon as the starvation of the body stops and you begin to eat normally again the body will retain its water (like it should) and you will be in the same position as you were before you started.

Calorie Counting

Counting calories requires a lot of dedication and hard work. Counting your calories doesn’t always help with losing weight but it does give you knowledge and insight to what food contains. While it does help to a certain extent, it is still a matter of what those calories are have come from. Although food is broken down by the body for fuel, some are used immediately for energy, and others are digested slower and stored until required.

Fat free foods are not helpful in losing weight.

Products that are low in fat or half fat are confusing and misleading. Fat is needed by the body and is not necessarily stored as fat.

Try to Keep your blood sugar level constant as this allows your body to burn body fat naturally. Avoiding foods high in sugar is important. High sugar foods will give you a sugar rush pushing up your blood sugar levels for a while and give you a short burst of energy. Unfortunately, the higher your blood sugar spikes, the more the body will produce insulin. Insulin production increases the amount of fat stored and the lower it will drop leaving you with very little or no energy and you will be feeling hungry again.Sugar is a carbohydrate which should be avoided as much as possible. Sugars are converted by the body for energy and ultimately if not used will be stored. It is quite a task to decipher on manufactured wrappers what contains sugar. Avoid artificial sweeteners and diet drinks.

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