What Doesn't Work

          I’m not a big diet fan and have actually tried very few in my life. One I did try was the HGC diet where you starve yourself and have to take horrible shots on top of it. I lost some weight, but mostly I was miserable and thought about food constantly. Furthermore, I quickly gained the weight back and then some. Sound familiar to any of you? Studies have shown that people who try to lose weight by restricting calories almost always gain the weight back with a little bit extra for good measure.

       From what I’ve found, the reason this happens is fairly simple. I start out fat and my metabolism is set to keep me that way as long as I don’t do anything to change it. I get a wild hair and decide to cut my calories down in order to lose weight and get my sexy on. I lose some weight, but decide it’s too hard and my sexy isn’t worth all that suffering. Now, my metabolism has slowed down because my body thought I was starving (which I really was). I’ve also managed to burn off some of my muscle because it uses more energy to operate and my body is trying to slow down to save me from turning into Skeletor. Once I quit starving, I begin to eat like I did before this madness began even though I now require fewer calories to maintain my weight. My body starts storing energy in the form of fat because it’s afraid I might starve in the future and with my lower metabolism, it’s easy as pie. I quickly put on the weight I lost, trading muscle for fat, and I add a little bit more in case I decide to try it again.

       My body reacted to what it perceived as a threat, I’m now heavier than I was before, and I never did get my sexy on. Everything fitness people say about just reducing your calories is a lie. I don’t believe them anymore and neither should you. If you have any questions or want some research to support my claims, just leave a comment and I’ll back myself up.