Have you been counting calories or points ever since you can remember and still struggle with your weight? Overweighthas much less to do with calories than it has to do with food choices. Let me explain. When you look at money, $1 is one dollar, no matter how many ways it is constructed. It may be four quarters, twenty nickels, one hundred pennies or one paper bill. Whichever way you have it, it still adds up to $1.
Calories are different. The way they are metabolized is completely dependent on what they are made of, and you will burn them efficiently, burn them too quickly, or store them as fat.
For years, conventional thought was if you count your calories and stay within a certain parameter, you maintain your weight. Scientists knew that food made of fat had more calories than food made of simple sugars, so they steered us away from fat. In the eighties, cardiologists said all fat was unhealthy for the heart. They said it was better to eat simple sugars, not fat, and you would maintain your weight and prevent heart disease.
On Came the Sugar
Many foods that formerly contained fat were reconstructed and processed, with the fat pulled from them and sugar added to them to make them tasty. The calorie count was reduced but the results have been disastrous to the waistline. Why? Because you need a lot of sugar to feel satisfied, so people eat more food. Oh, and by the way, sugar can be quite addictive.
You may be wondering why this is the case. The reason is that simple sugars digest quickly in the body. You need a lot of them before you feel full. Fats take longer. Fats metabolize slowly and give your body a sense of feeling full for a much longer time.
It’s Not about Will Power
This is not a lack of will power. This is simple biology and metabolism. When you get hungry you eat. Eat more sugar based foods and you repeat the cycle. Over and over.
Next Steps for Wise Weight Loss
Now you know all calories are not equal. Change your focus to food choices high in nutrients. Toss your low fat and lite products and eat small amounts of quality fat (nuts, olive or coconut oil, fish) mixed with protein. Combine your fat and protein foods with copious amounts of the complex carbohydrates found in vegetables, You will feel full and your body will metabolize these foods effectively. And forget about points. You and your food are much more than points.
Get Slender, but Not Too Slender
Weight loss should focus more on food choices, not calorie content. Remove sugar from your daily diet as much as possible. Become educated about the content of sugar in the foods you eat.
And as much as possible, focus less on being a size 6 if you're a woman and six pack abs if you're a man. Lean more toward being a healthy weight and having plenty of energy. When you eat well and get to a healthier weight you will be able to maintain that weight with your new good habits. And you won't be held captive by the scale.
I've learned to weigh myself only a few times a year. I can tell by my clothes if I've been overdoing it and I refuse to have more than one wardrobe, so it's an easy way for me to pay attention without obsessing over half pound ups and downs that diet plans would have you do.
And be patient! We don’t gain excess weight all at once, so it should not come off rapidly. If it does, it’s likely that you are not eating enough. My programs show you how to do it gradually by eating simple whole foods and becoming more aware of both your good and your bad habits. By taking a series of simple steps you will crowd out damaging foods with fresh foods that you like. Then watch your energy rise and the number on the scale go down.