Why dieting make you fatter

[Traveler]

When your body gets the message that calories are scarce, hormonal changes happen in your body that make it more likely that any calories you consume will be stored as belly fat. Having lots of belly fat is your body's best chance of keeping alive during a period of starvation. Your vital organs have easy access to the calories stored as belly fat. Most people on diets don't have superhuman willpower and end up cheating. When they do cheat then they become even more fat then they were before.

Building muscle is a more risky investment for your body. Muscle tissue takes more calories to build and maintain than fat. Your body is hesitant to build muscle until it is assured that calories are abundant. Bodybuilders go through a bulking phase which is like the opposite of dieting. They consume a ton of calories. At first they may gain a lot of fat, but eventually more of the calories they consume end up getting stored in their muscles as their bodies get the message that calories are abundant.

Some videos worth watching about belly fat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKxTLF2Q ... JM6JyDIxSQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFY4UuM3 ... Q&index=94

[hammanta]

When your body gets the message that calories are scarce, hormonal changes happen in your body that make it more likely that any calories you consume will be stored as belly fat. Having lots of belly fat is your body's best chance of keeping alive during a period of starvation. Your vital organs have easy access to the calories stored as belly fat. Most people on diets don't have superhuman willpower and end up cheating. When they do cheat then they become even more fat then they were before.

Building muscle is a more risky investment for your body. Muscle tissue takes more calories to build and maintain than fat. Your body is hesitant to build muscle until it is assured that calories are abundant. Bodybuilders go through a bulking phase which is like the opposite of dieting. They consume a ton of calories. At first they may gain a lot of fat, but eventually more of the calories they consume end up getting stored in their muscles as their bodies get the message that calories are abundant.

Some videos worth watching about belly fat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKxTLF2Q ... JM6JyDIxSQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFY4UuM3 ... Q&index=94

Diets don't make you fat. This is a myth that has been around for a while. Calorie restriction does not lower metabolic rate unless over a very long period of time with a severe cut in calorie intake. And even then its pretty gradual. 99% of people who diet aren't restricting calories enough to see changes. Here is a link that explains a study done by the military on starvation mode. As a brief summary participants were studied over a period of 8 or so weeks. They were fed 1000-1200 calories but were burning around 5k-6k a day do to extreme physical conditioning. The participants did not start to lose major muscle mass until they got down below a certain body fat %, around 5> at around weeks 5-6.

http://troyatkinson11.over-blog.com/pag ... 62374.html

This goes to show that lowered calorie restriction in all but extreme cases does not cause your metabolism to lower to where you begin to pack on more fat and/or burn muscle. Where diets fail is that they all tend to be unrealistic (counting every calorie, macros and micros, no eating past 6pm, only green veggies etc.) that most people fail after a few weeks and end up cheating. A controlled eating pattern, moderate intake of reasonably healthy food, and daily exercise are all you really need to lose weight. In all reality its not rocket science. The tricky part is when doing body building and trying to maintain as much muscle as possible while getting to 8> BF%. But most people are no where near that stage and just want to be healthy.

[Ghost]

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[lasttry]

To lose weight, you must eat less. There are no fat people in concentration camps. It's that simple. The real issue is how to control hunger. The method I've found most effective is to eat fewer times per day, either once a day or twice a day within a 5 hour interval (fast-5 diet, do a search on that term). The 5 hour interval should be in the afternoon or evening. Morning eating is a disaster because then you get bored and start eating again later in the day. Combine this fast-5 diet with adequate nutrition (hunger will not stop if the body is missing vitamins, minerals, protein or essential fatty acids), high fiber and daily exercise and it is fairly easy to remain lean without feeling much hunger, even for a man aged 53.

If you want to lose weight rapidly, the easiest approach is to just fast (nothing but water or plain tea/coffee). This is a high-fat, zero-carb diet, with the source of fat being the body. Physiological hunger pangs will disappear after a few days and remain away until you become lean. Psychological hunger pangs are another story. Fasting frees up a huge amount of time while crushing the libido. Most people give up on fasting because of boredom, not hunger. I wouldn't advise fasting for those who are not in good health, nor would I advise it for more than a month or so at a time. Also, losing weight rapidly is bad for really fat people because it doesn't give the skin a chance to shrink, so you'll be left with disgusting skin flaps.

[Moretorque]

More frequent smaller meals and exercise with a low carb intake or just watch the carbs and for most the weight will come off quick, at one time I was 80 pounds overweight and changing the way you view food and your eating habits are key to keeping the weight off.

I just ate way to much spaghetti.