“That’s it. I’ve had enough. I’m going to diet and finally get rid of these pounds!”

Ever hear yourself uttering something that sounds like this?

Having finally committed to the diet, we usually move next to finding out how we can get rid of the weight the fastest way possible.

I know this because I’ve gone through the same kind of thing myself in the past. We live in fast times and it’s natural for us to seek fast results. So let’s take a closer look at this desire for “now” results and see where it leads us.

To lose weight fast, the thought that first comes to mind for many people is to reduce their caloric intake.

This is basically the correct line of thinking. Losing body fat is in the most simplistic sense, a matter of eating fewer calories than it takes to maintain the pounds we want to get rid of.

As an approach to how to lose weight, this method is fine. The issue of interest in the quick weight loss diet is not the “how”, but rather the “how fast.” A sharp reduction in caloric intake leads the body to fear that it is facing starvation. It then takes measures to save itself.

As self-aware, thinking creatures, we find times when our view of what is important differs from that of Mother Nature. When the topic is about survival, this fact can become one of serious concern.

As an example; when the body is exposed to conditions of cold that it can’t cope with, its own internal temperature begins to drop. This is a condition known as hypothermia.

The body keeps a kind of emergency plan for various types of life threatening situations. For hypothermia, the plan is to conserve heat. One way to help achieve this end is to shut down the blood supply to non-essential body parts (saves on having to heat the blood). We are probably in agreement with the body about legs and arms as non-essentials. But the body’s “non-essential” list includes the head!!

A similar disagreement between people and nature occurs with severely calorie reduced diets. Since the body believes that it is starving, it starts to do everything it can to reduce energy consumption. There are two approaches to this problem the body takes.

1. The human body is great at adapting to new situations, lowers its Basal Metabolic Rate so that it can keep its fat supply for a longer time.

2) The body knows that muscle is “high maintenance.” Muscle consumes calories even if we’re just relaxing on the couch. So the body remedies this problem by reducing our muscle mass - it literally “eats” it!

It would appear that we have been outsmarted by our bodies. By becoming more frugal about spending fat and evicting much of the muscle population, the body transformed our fast weight loss diet into keep weight at all costs diet.

Truth be known, the body transformed itself into a fat champion . . . defending the rights of fat cells everywhere.

So the moral of the story is; if you can help it, don’t go on diets that sharply reduce calories.

What are some factors to look for in a diet that doesn’t trigger the body’s defense mechanisms?

An effective weight loss plan would have at least these features:

1. A maximum calorie reduction of no more than twenty percent.

2. A focus on increasing muscle mass through weight training.

3. A focus on aerobic exercise to increase the body’s fat burning ability.

These features are each well covered in many books as individual topics. If you are looking at a diet system that is missing some of these activities, you can always just add them.

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