Weight A Minute!
Hello Athletes and Warriors!
Weight loss/Fat Loss information seems to change direction like a Santa Ana wind in the fall.
Bottom line if you really need to lose weight as in you are fighting levels of fat that may threaten your life then this fast weight loss method described below is for you.
It will still boil down to the NV (Nutritional Value) of the foods you eat. You are either eating to energize your body or store energy in the form of body fat. Every client of the US Sports Online Strength and Conditioning System will have full access to our state-of-the-art meal planning software to help you eat out, eat in, shop, and plan your meals for maximum energy for whatever activity or lifestyle you choose. So read on then click here and fill out the fitness profile form so that we can get your eating and training for a better body today and the rest of your life.
By Serena Gordon HealthSCOUT Reporter January 18, 2000
WESTPORT, Conn. (HealthScout)-Want to lose weight and keep it off? Forget the standard advice about doing it slowly, says a new study, and drop those pounds as quickly as you can for the longest-lasting results.
After seven years, people who followed very low calorie diets (VLCD) of 500-800 calories a day kept off the pounds better than those on modest weight loss programs, say researchers at the University of Kentucky's Health Management Resources. They followed 112 dieters.
"People were doing better than expected. They were keeping off significant amounts of weight," says Dr. James Anderson, professor of medicine and clinical nutrition at the university in Lexington. "People do better if they bite the bullet and lose significant amounts of weight at the first pass."
Other experts disagree, saying such extreme diets heighten the risk of gallstones and do little to improve eating habits.
The VLCD program was designed for people more than 40 pounds overweight and consisted of either five meal replacement shakes daily, or three shakes plus two 200-calorie entrees a day. After five months, the average weight loss was 65 pounds.
Dieters quickly regained almost 75 percent of the weight they lost during the three years after the initial weight loss. But five years later, the dieters maintained an average of 23 percent of their weight loss, the study found. Someone who lost 65 pounds, for instance, and maintained a 23 percent loss still would be 15 pounds lighter.
Obesity is a risk factor for heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Losing 5 percent to 10 percent of total body weight can significantly reduce your risk of developing these diseases. In this study, 40 percent of the dieters successfully maintained losses of more than 5 percent of their body weight. Seven years later, 25 percent had still kept off at least 10 percent of their initial body weight.
Slim Fast is a commercial diet plan that calls for drinking a shake for breakfast, another for lunch and eating a "sensible" dinner. While the Slim Fast plan is not considered a VLCD, Dr. Harry Greene, medical director for the Slim Fast company, says, "I think this is great news for people with severe obesity. The real value is in showing that liquid meal replacements can and do work for many people."
Maria Walls, a registered dietitian and senior nutritionist with Weight Watchers International, disagrees with Anderson and Greene. "The deficits are too great [in VCLDs]. Eight-hundred calories a day is just not enough. It's not nutritionally adequate." She says such diets put people at a greater risk for gallstones and don't teach people how to change their eating habits. "Rapid weight loss doesn't allow for adaptation of good behaviors," says Walls.
She cites Weight Watchers studies as proof that modest, slower weight loss can work. In a study of 1,002 subjects, says Walls, nearly 43 percent had maintained losses of at least 5 percent after five years. Almost 20 percent of the dieters in that study were within 5 pounds of their goal weight after five years.
