I have this friend of mine, and he *grasps hair* is the most stubborn friend one can ever get. He'll come to me and say,
"Wee Kiat, I'm serious now. I really want to lose weight. Tell me how."
"Are you really sure? Will you do whatever it takes?"
"Yes, just tell me and I'll do it."
"Ok, first, you need to eat six meals a day..."
"WTF!! You don't make sense man. Most people will eat less, maybe once or twice to lose weight. How can eating six times a day make me lose weight?"
"You see, I know you're gonna say this already. Why did you even bother asking me for advice again and again?"
To those who think like this friend of mine, I'm sorry, but the "common sense" method of losing weight (eat less, burn more calories, create a caloric deficit) doesn't make sense if you take every biological factor into consideration.
I've seen this MANY MANY times!
The other person (usually a girl) will go "Hey Wee Kiat, I'm eating only one meal per day, and I jog sometimes, why am I not losing weight?"
And I go, "You need to eat more often, up to six times a day to lose weight, and jogging alone won't help. You need to weight train."
"Hellooooo. I'm trying to lose weight, ok? Not build muscle! Why must I weight train?"
Sigh. Life isn't easy.
Here's the explanation of some basics of losing weight -
Why Must I Eat More Often When I Wanna Lose Weight?
Short explanation: Your body will not want to burn fat if it's in a state of hunger. The body will usually go into this state after 4 (or maybe fewer) hours without food.
Long nagging explanation:
You see, the body has many priorities, such as survival, immunity system, reproduction capabilities, building muscle, burning fat and staying lean, etc. And from that list, survival rates as the highest priority among them all. Guess which priority is at the bottom? Building muscle and burning fat. So you see, until you ensure your body that it'll survive and it's free of illness, it won't even care about building muscle or burning fat at all.
Now let's think, what type of body can survive the longest without food? The answer: A body with loads of stored up calories (fat) and very slow metabolism (low in muscle mass) - which is exactly what we DON'T want!
So how does this relate with eating more often? Well, if we eat more often, our body won't be so concerned about survival, because it knows that you're giving it supplies (food) every few hours. Thus, it won't bother keeping fat levels high and muscle levels low. This will make it easier to burn fat.
So THAT'S why eating one meal a day is the worst thing you can do in trying to burn the fat!
Why Must I Weight Train When I Want to Lose Weight, Not Build Muscle?
To my cardio-loving ladies out there who do not weight train, how is your day? Please don't hate me for saying this but I have to - your efforts could have been more efficient if you weight trained. You see, weight training in short increases muscle mass and therefore, increases metabolism, making it easier to lose weight. Plus, it gives ladies the 'healthy' look instead of the skinny look after losing the fat. As for men, need I say more?
And again, ladies, don't worry about becoming bulky because you don't have the testosterone level to become so.
So what's the lesson for the day?
Never expect someone who is your friend to take your weight loss advice seriously. Clients who PAY for it will take you seriously because they PAID for it. What comes free, is never appreciated.
So appreciate me and click here to subscribe to my blog for more free advice! ;)
Click here for a complete guide of how to lose weight fast!
