beating sugar addiction
  • About
  • GET HELP
    • Private Coaching
    • Beating Sugar Online Course
    • Meal Plan Subscription
    • Food For Thought
  • Resources
    • Books
    • Free Stuff
  • FAQs
  • Blog
  • Media
    • Dan DeFigio In The Media
    • Book Dan
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • About
  • GET HELP
    • Private Coaching
    • Beating Sugar Online Course
    • Meal Plan Subscription
    • Food For Thought
  • Resources
    • Books
    • Free Stuff
  • FAQs
  • Blog
  • Media
    • Dan DeFigio In The Media
    • Book Dan
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Exercise
  • Why Losing Weight Is So Hard

Exercise

Why Losing Weight Is So Hard

By now you probably know that a high-sugar diet contributes to weight gain by adding calories without adding nutrition (“empty calories”), by increasing appetite and desire for more sugar, and by elevating insulin levels that promote fat storage.

But there are other reasons our bodies like to accumulate fat, so if it seems like the more fat you put on, the harder it is to lose, you’re not imagining things! There are several physiological reasons why losing weight is hard:

Fat cells never go away
When you gain weight, your body creates new cells called adipocytes to store the extra fat, and those adipocyte cells never go away. You can burn away the fat inside, but you can’t burn away the adipocytes themselves. Each adipocyte contains little sensors, and when you burn off the fat inside the cell, those sensors start screaming at your brain to fill them back up. Your brain responds to these signals by turning on the appetite center to find some calories to replenish the missing body fat. The more fat cells you have, the stronger the signals are for your body to replace the fat in the cells, and the more intense your appetite and cravings will be.

In order to avoid this chemical alarm system, you have to lose weight slowly, gradually creeping down your fat levels so as not to arouse the suspicion of the sensors in the fat cells. This is the main reason “crash” diets never work in the long term – losing fat too quickly will trigger all the alarms, resulting in maximum hunger and unbearable cravings.

Homeostasis (the “Set Point”)
Homeostasis (a.k.a. your metabolic “set point”) is a fancy way of saying that your body likes to maintain the level of body fat that it’s accustomed to, and it makes adjustments to your metabolism and your appetite in order to stay that way. Hormones like leptin sense nutrient and fat levels in the body, and signal your brain to adjust your appetite and metabolism to maintain the status quo.

The reason exercise, especially strength training with weights, is vital to a weight loss program is that weight training increases your metabolism and gives your body “permission” to burn off the extra calories you have stored as fat. If you don’t exercise, your body gets stingy and lowers your metabolism when you reduce your food intake, instead of giving up its fat stores.

Yo-Yo Dieting
The process of losing and subsequently regaining weight is referred to as yo-yo dieting. Each time you go through this cycle, it gets harder and harder to lose body fat. Here’s why:

For the sake of example, let’s say your normal caloric intake (your “set point”) is 1600 calories each day. You decide you want to lose weight quickly, so you go on some goofy banana-peel-and-beetle-soup diet that limits you to 800 calories a day. You’re hungry at first, but you stick with the diet for a few weeks and you successfully lose some weight. Congratulations! But by losing weight with this method, you have also lowered your “set point” to 800 calories. When the goofy diet becomes unbearable, you go back to your “normal” eating patterns (1600 calories). Since your metabolism is now set for only 800 calories, the “extra” 800 calories are stored as fat, and within a few weeks, you’re right back to the weight you started at.

There’s more bad news about yo-yo diets: When you lose weight quickly, a lot of the weight lost is lean muscle tissue. When you put the weight back on, it’s fat, not muscle. After a few yo-yo cycles, you have less muscle and more fat than you did when you started, even though you may weigh the same on the scale. Less muscle means a lower metabolism, so even though you weigh the same, your set point is now lower, making it even easier to over-eat and store even more fat!

The key to defeating the yo-yo cycle is to make small nutrition changes over long periods of time – no drastic diets – and to exercise with weights regularly to keep your metabolism elevated. When you make some basic nutrition improvements and work out consistently, you can easily trim a few pounds every month without starving yourself or driving yourself crazy with gimmicky diets.

  • Share:
administrator

You may also like

Ways To Eat Less Sugar

  • January 15, 2020
  • by administrator
  • in Nutrition Advice
We all know sugar is terrible for your health. Eating too much sugar has been linked to metabolic syndrome,...
Exercise For Weight Loss
October 9, 2019
Does Keto Work?
September 19, 2019
Dietary Restrictions – Signs of “Diet Mentality”
August 22, 2019

Leave A Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

helping you with sugar addiction
Helping You With Sugar Addiction and Stress Eating
06Jan,2021
all-or-nothing thinking
How All-Or-Nothing Thinking Destroys You
01Sep,2020
Easy Ways To Avoid Mindless Calories
19Aug,2020
can probiotics help you lose weight?
Can Probiotics Help You Lose Weight?
08Aug,2020
Ways To Eat Less Sugar
15Jan,2020
5 Steps To Overcome Sugar Addiction
19Dec,2019

CONNECT WITH DAN

  • 1-615-395-2500
  • dan.defigio@beatingsugaraddiction.com
  • Dan DeFigio is available for interviews for podcasts, magazine articles, blog interviews, television, and radio appearances

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Linkedin
  • FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
  • Who are you again?
  • What can you do for me?
  • Where can I get your books?
  • Where can I watch your videos?
  • What kind of diet do you suggest?
  • Should I eat fruit?

©2021 Dan DeFigio. All Rights Reserved

Privacy Policy

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.