You NEED to EAT!

I was at the gym two days ago and overheard two trainers talking about fitness habits in Thailand. I ended up listening to them for nearly an hour as they passed off stories. One guy had worked on the set of a movie or music video and the girl in it had only eaten half an egg since 3AM. She worked until 9 PM that day. HALF AN EGG?!  He said she had only drank about 16 ounces of water all day- all just to look thinner for the shoot. On top of that, I heard of people eating only one time per day to lose weight.... I thought everyone knew about that type of diet and how terrible it is, I suppose not. So just in case any of you are under this misconception, I feel it's almost my duty to tell you dangers of it and why starving yourself, like the one-egg girl did, truly NEVER works for weight loss.

"Starvation Mode"- Due to our lovely roots of the cave-man days, when we don't eat for a long period of time or only eat once or twice a day, we slow our metabolism significantly. The body isn't sure when it's next meal may be and thus slows the metabolism and calorie burning processes. Now let me explain why you hear about it so often- If you hear that a celebrity (or whomever else) has lost weight by not eating, it's very possibly true. By significantly reducing your calorie allowance each day, you can lose weight in the short term- HOWEVER what happens each day is a significant decrease in your metabolic rate. It is extremely dangerous to the body as well because in this mode, your body will hold onto all of its fat for as long as possible and start burning muscle tissue for energy.

 For each day you starve yourself, and possibly lose half a pound, the more you are sandbagging your future weight along with any hopes of keeping the weight off   .When you finish your little starvation period, your metabolism can be so slow that eating a normal calorie allowance of 1,800 calories or so can cause you to gain weight. On top of that, after depriving yourself for so long you tend to binge as soon as you're done. This is part of the reason why so many people lose might 10 lbs in a month but gain 20 the next.  The umbrella answer for the absolute minimum calorie amount each day is 1,200 calories for women and 1,800 for men.

Please believe me when I say that this is not the way to go. I actually sat in my room for 20 minutes or so fuming about the incredible amounts of mis-information that people believe- such as thinking that starving yourself works. It makes me angry even now to think about how many people are being tricked into wasting money on diet pills and formulas... but that's a whole other topic. For now, please just eat.

Health Tip: Eating fiber which can be found it whole grains is a fantastic way to fill yourself up. Spinach, apples, raspberries, and beans are other great ways the eat more fiber.