What Is A Weight Plateau
When you begin in the quest to lose weight, it's normal that you don't succeed or regain the weight loss because you don't really understand how the body works and how to lose weight and what to expect.
The body is what I call "pre-programmed" to keep you from dying of starvation. This instinct was a necessity millions of years ago because humans were nomads who roamed the earth and were eating off the land, not knowing when they would find food again.
Humans didn't become farmers and fisherman for several million years. So adding body fat was not something the body was worried about. It was normal to add body fat before the cold winters. Of course, many of the various civilizations are very thin like the people of North Africa. As we study different civilizations, we can tell that some of them have lived in the same region for thousands of years and their bodies have adapted to the climate which can keep them thin or keep the heavy. Your genes are preprogramed by your ancestors. For instance, North Africans are very thin people but Northern Europeans have more body fat by nature. But this doesn't mean that because your parents are heavy that you will be heavy. Your genes evolve over dozens of generations not just one.
Now how does all this history apply to today and weight loss. Your body will adapt to change but you have to give it a chance. The body will resist change at the beginning. Yes, it might be pretty easy to lose a few pounds by emptying the digestive system which can hold 10 pounds or more of stored food. Sometimes this is referred to as water weight, but the body will easily replace that.
Any serious reduction in calories will cause immediate weight loss but big changes like that cannot be sustained. Different types of people, because of our ancestors, have adapted to different diets over centuries, but because we all have seemed to make a big change to this American style diet we have today eating much more calories than our bodies require, has added unnecessary inches to the waist line. Until the 1950's, humans have eaten mostly natural foods. Meats from livestock that was mostly grass feed or grain feed like poultry and vegetables and fruits grown on local farms.
Today we eat meats from livestock that is forced to add weight in half the normal time and fruit and vegetables that are also rushed to the markets. Commercial Farms are growing the produce we buy in the supermarkets. Chemical companies have formulated chemicals to stimulate the growth of produce so the commercial farms can get the product to the stores faster. None of this is really good for humans. Our diets lack nutrition we should get from food and the result is that we are sick more often, we have more allergies, and Cancer is our biggest health concern.
Back to weight plateaus. Plateaus are a natural part of losing weight. The body will pause and stop weight loss for a while as if to let the body adjust to the new weight. You should do nothing different, just stay on the same diet even if you stopped losing. After a few weeks the body will resume losing weight. You can't rush the body. If it's not ready you won't lose anymore. If you're getting impatient, try increasing your exercise, don't change your diet unless you start to gain weight. Keeping a food journal can be a big help, if you're gaining weight you may have slipped off the diet. A Food journal can help you find any mistakes you might have made.
Download one of my ebooks if you continue to have problems
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.
The body is what I call "pre-programmed" to keep you from dying of starvation. This instinct was a necessity millions of years ago because humans were nomads who roamed the earth and were eating off the land, not knowing when they would find food again.
Humans didn't become farmers and fisherman for several million years. So adding body fat was not something the body was worried about. It was normal to add body fat before the cold winters. Of course, many of the various civilizations are very thin like the people of North Africa. As we study different civilizations, we can tell that some of them have lived in the same region for thousands of years and their bodies have adapted to the climate which can keep them thin or keep the heavy. Your genes are preprogramed by your ancestors. For instance, North Africans are very thin people but Northern Europeans have more body fat by nature. But this doesn't mean that because your parents are heavy that you will be heavy. Your genes evolve over dozens of generations not just one.
Now how does all this history apply to today and weight loss. Your body will adapt to change but you have to give it a chance. The body will resist change at the beginning. Yes, it might be pretty easy to lose a few pounds by emptying the digestive system which can hold 10 pounds or more of stored food. Sometimes this is referred to as water weight, but the body will easily replace that.
Any serious reduction in calories will cause immediate weight loss but big changes like that cannot be sustained. Different types of people, because of our ancestors, have adapted to different diets over centuries, but because we all have seemed to make a big change to this American style diet we have today eating much more calories than our bodies require, has added unnecessary inches to the waist line. Until the 1950's, humans have eaten mostly natural foods. Meats from livestock that was mostly grass feed or grain feed like poultry and vegetables and fruits grown on local farms.
Today we eat meats from livestock that is forced to add weight in half the normal time and fruit and vegetables that are also rushed to the markets. Commercial Farms are growing the produce we buy in the supermarkets. Chemical companies have formulated chemicals to stimulate the growth of produce so the commercial farms can get the product to the stores faster. None of this is really good for humans. Our diets lack nutrition we should get from food and the result is that we are sick more often, we have more allergies, and Cancer is our biggest health concern.
Back to weight plateaus. Plateaus are a natural part of losing weight. The body will pause and stop weight loss for a while as if to let the body adjust to the new weight. You should do nothing different, just stay on the same diet even if you stopped losing. After a few weeks the body will resume losing weight. You can't rush the body. If it's not ready you won't lose anymore. If you're getting impatient, try increasing your exercise, don't change your diet unless you start to gain weight. Keeping a food journal can be a big help, if you're gaining weight you may have slipped off the diet. A Food journal can help you find any mistakes you might have made.
Download one of my ebooks if you continue to have problems
If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.
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