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Phase 2 The big picture:

Before we move on, you should understand the mechanics behind all advanced weight loss techniques. All the cash-for-secrets diet sites focus on tweaking one of the following:

* The proportions of the macronutrients of food you are eating - carbs, protein, fats
* The type and intensity of the exercise you are doing
* The calories you are eating (energy balance)
* Reducing the homeostasis effect
* Drugs/foods/supplements that either increase metabolism, lower appetite, or block fat absorption
* Diuretics to make you lose water weight
* Thematic effect of food

Keep in mind, the goal with any good diet is to lose fat, gain muscle, and increase overall health. As stated before, the problem with many gimmick diets is that you often end up losing muscle, water, and your health suffers.

Although many things affect weight loss, some things simply have such a small effect that they are not worth the effort or cost. For example, a diet drug may actually help you lose 2.5 pounds in a year and cost you $1200 dollars. But if you could simply modify your diet slightly and lose the same amount in a month for free, which would you choose?

What really matters in weight loss centers around the following factors:

1. Energy Balance:
The calories you consume must be in line with what your body needs. This affects weight loss or gain more than any other factor. You need a healthy calorie restricted diet to lose weight. There is simply no getting around this.

2. Preventing Homeostasis:
You must keep your body from trying to retain fat by triggering a starvation response.

3. Balanced Exercise:
Exercise alone will not overcome a poor diet and is not great for steady weight loss. However, a good nutrition along with the right exercise is the absolute perfect combination for fantastic weight loss, looking fit, and keeping it off. Use a balance of exercise. Cardio for burning calories and weight training for retaining and building muscle.

Now look at the big weight loss picture:
An important factor to remember is that energy balance is not affected by food calories alone, but also exercise. Calories eaten - calories burned in exercise = energy intake. So if the energy intake is less than your body needs, you lose weight.

If the energy intake is equal to energy balance, you maintain your weight.
If the energy intake is more than your energy balance point, you gain weight.

This also means that if you are going to an even where you know you will end up eating more that you should have, you can offset the effect by exercising more that day. So if you are going out and want that 350 calorie piece of pie, burn off an extra 350 calories in the gym and you can eat it guilt free without fear of gaining weight.

Now, consider the problem with high calorie restriction:

Too many calories = fat gain

Energy balance = no loss - no gain

Slightly less calories = good fat loss

Too few calories for too long of a time = homeostasis slowing down the body and keeping the weight as constant as possible. Loss of muscle.

Severe calorie restriction for too long (starvation) = rapid weight loss with the body tearing itself apart for survival with many medial complications. Long term results in death.

Diets Compared
Consider the following hypothetical scenario: For 12 weeks, two women with a BMR of 1700 calories who want to lose 1 pound per week: (BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate - also known as “couch potato calories”. It is the number of calories your body uses in a day if you have no activity.) Notice that all three will reduce their calories by the same amount - 500 per day.

--Dieter #1
Reduces calories by 500 and only eats 1200 calories per day. No exercise.

--Dieter #2
Reduces calories by only 100 and eats 1600 calories. Exercises and burns 400 calories with a combination of cardio and weight training.

Both had the same BMR, and reduced their caloric levels by 500 calories per day. At the end of the 12 weeks the results will likely be different as follows:

--Dieter #1 - The lower calories are more likely to allow the body to show some effects of homeostasis which means less weight loss. The dieter will likely feel hungrier and lack energy. Due to the lack of exercise, no muscle growth; as with most diets, some muscle loss will likely occur.

--Dieter #2 - The higher food calories allowed this dieter to feel better and less like they were on a diet. The higher calories also prevented any effects from homeostasis. With the weight training and proper nutrition, this dieter could actually gain muscle and have a better body shape. And due to the weight training requiring calories for the body to repair and build muscle, a little more fat was lost than diet alone would produce.

Conclusion: A combination of diet and exercise will produce much better results than diet alone.

Next: Calorie Tracking:

Quote:
An important factor to remember is that energy balance is not affected by food calories alone, but also exercise.
Calories eaten - calories burned in exercise = energy intake

What really matters in weight loss centers around the following factors:

1. Energy Balance:

2. Preventing Homeostasis:

3. Balanced Exercise: