WW: How Dieting Makes You Gain Weight and How To Actually Lose Weight With Food

I grew up with the "common-sense" belief that starving makes you lose weight. You don't put the calories in your body, thus your body burns the fat you have, and boom! Insta-bikini body, perfect for pre-dates and weddings. Right?

Wrong.

The body is not a machine or a math problem, what you put in does not equal what comes out. The human body is a complex biological system with the sole purpose of surviving. When you stop eating, your body slows down your metabolism, going into a defensive mode of storing as much fat as possible because it is in the belief that you are starving. So once you stop starving your body because being weak and light-headed isn't all that fun, you end up weighing more than you did before.
It gets worse, too. If the fasted diet continues, it actually starts to eat away at your muscles and replaces them with fat. Muscles on their own actually burn calories just to maintain their structure, so its a harsher choice for your body than most people realize. 

So how do you lose weight by only changing your diet?

Speed up your metabolism and clear out all the junk.

How to speed up your metabolism

The best way to lose weight is to have a small, almost constant flow of food into your body. This speeds up your metabolism, burning everything you eat and not storing it. If you are eating every 2-3 hours (about 6 small meals a day), than your body knows you aren't starving and just processes it as energy rather than storage. So not only do you lose weight from the lack of need for fat, but you also have more energy. Seems pretty win-win, huh? It kind of is.

Drink loads of water: A gallon a day keeps the body fat away. Drinking water not only helps clean out all the gunk from your body and helps it function as its supposed to, but it also gets rid of acne, makes skin glow, keeps hair full, but it also makes you feel more full. So not only do you eat less, but you also lose weight faster and you feel better. 

What is considered "junk"

Its tough to know whats really good for you with all the health fads and the constant changing of "what to eat, what not to eat" from the government. When I was in grade school, there was this famous food pyramid with breads on the bottom to take up to 40% of your diet. That is so wrong it makes my head spin, no wonder there is a weight problem in this country. Surprisingly, it was also wrong about fats, too. Fats, if from the right source, is great for losing weight. Fats from nuts and fruits like Avacado are good for you. (But don't go stuffing cake in your mouth).

Why wheat is bad: This isn't a gluten-free run (gluten is just a protein used to keep the bread fibers together and give it the spongy texture, some people are allergic to it and they get bad cramps but it doesn't nothing in the term of health or weight loss), however bread hardly has any nutritional value besides calories. Its cheap and easily made to be delicious, but other than that you can completely cut it from your diet and eat more nutrient-dense food like oatmeal and rice.  

Sugar is the real enemy: Sugar is actually an extremely addictive chemical that your body almost instantly stores into fat (I'm still trying to get away from it and my cravings for it months after my diet change). Companies know that its addictive and put it in most of their food products, especially most fast food chains. The best way to try to combat this is read the labels of things, or even make the food you want yourself. I make my own smoothies as I know exactly whats in there, especially after the whole Naked using poisonous chemicals rumor. I don't know if its true as anyone can post on the internet, but I don't want to risk it. Plus, with my own smoothies I can fill it with Kale and get a full meal of vegetables, fruit, and fiber out of it (such as putting chai seeds or oatmeal in the mix).

What to cut or eat less of from your diet

Soda (as in all together)

Most processed sugars

Wheat like bread (cupcakes, scones, noodles)

What to replace it with in your diet

Water

If you need sugar, get Raw sugar or something like Stevia (derived from a plant, not bleached chemicals)

More vegetables

Rather than bread have sweet potatoes, rice, and/or oats

If you still want noodles, there are rice-made noodles available in most grocery stores now

Going Healthy and All Natural: and The Things They Don’t Tell You About It

I grew up like most Americans, for the most part

My dad loved ice cream trips. He would also give my sisters and me a candy bar at the end of errands if we were good. So did my grandpa when we helped get feed from the mill. We sneaked our parents’ soda from the fridge, whined for McDonalds, always wanted French fries: normal (for the 90s).

One part that I am grateful for that was healthy and educated growing up was meat. I’m a fourth generation butcher (not classically trained like my dad, grandfather, or great grandfather who butchered in Germany) but I know my way around well enough. Such as how to cut the meat, when it’s about to go bad, preserve it, sanitize before and after, the works. I can also cook a mean steak, even on a frying pan.

Although, after an –mandatory- Environmental Science class at school, I realized just how big food is a part of us. And how much crap and chemicals we eat in this country. It was very unnerving. I used to consider myself a vulcher, I could stomach anything. Yet, the amount of artificial crap and nauseating amounts of sugar started pushing me away.

So, I decided to eat healthy, in a natural way. With hardly any education except the internet, I ventured to my local Trader Joe’s (as I’m poor), and these are the few things I have learned in the process, about 4-5 months into it.

- Sometimes it can actually be cheaper. You just have to know how to cook, and how to buy. I know living within your means (especially as a college student who has been out of the house for four years). But my runs to Trader Joe’s I can actually get way more food than if I went to Harris Teeter/Food Loin/ Kroger/Piggly Wiggly or even Target. Sometimes I go to Target for soup and juice though (love me some Juicy Juice). Yes, the idea of fresh vegetables is tempting, but I tend to get the frozen ones as you get more bang for your buck and you can take your time eating it. The best way I cook now is I get a bunch of chicken breast, put each one in a marinade zip-lock bag and then put that in the freezer. When I leave for work, I pull whatever flavor I want out and when I get home its thawed, seasoned, and just needs to be put in the oven with whatever frozen vegetable I’m in the mood for. Average cost per meal is around $2.75-$3.00. Not bad for healthy and all natural eating.

- Food goes bad – QUICKLY. Watch expiration dates, I’m serious. I used to be a pack rat, getting everything I need for the month as full time student, full time retail worker (plus military once a months) killed any time and going to the grocery store was out of the question. Moving back on campus after a bad apartment roommate issue, I downsized almost everything, especially my freezer turning from a cupboard to the size of a shoe box. (being good at Tetris is a necessary life skill). So, I have to finagle around my work schedule to get food about every week or two weeks (depending on what I need).

- Only get what you know you’ll eat. I’m trying to up my diversity, but sometimes that is throwing a lot more food than I would like to admit. Growing up on a farm, we don’t waste. Food scraps went to the animals (even corn husks were fed to the horses). Any organic material they couldn’t eat we put in a manure pile or compost heap, and used them in the garden or crops. Can’t do that in the city, at least not college dorms (not nicely, anyway). I almost have to cover my eyes when I put moldy bread (which my finky self only ate half of before the death date) into the trash room. Say la ve.

            Since going on this change of diet, I have noticed a significant change in how I feel overall. My body feels a lot better, and my skin looks clearer. I don’t feel groggy anymore from eating, and I look a lot better. My belief of health being the best beauty amplifier is proven as my face glows.

            Now that I am eating better, it’s actually hard for me to stomach processed food. There goes my iron stomach trait. I actually think candy bars are way too sweet (poor Halloween!) but dark chocolate (which I used to hate) is hidden around my room for snacking and bad days. Sugar fixes are done with juice (I love the Cherry Cider) and its easy to stay on track. And I have no intention to go back to those groggy, acne ridden days.

            So yes, there is some down sides to eating healthy, and even more (generally) unspoken new rules. But it is one of the decisions I know I will never regret making, and I would suggest it for anyone who wants to make a conscious decision in their life to feel better and become healthier.

            (Quick note – I am already in fantastic shape, so I can not speak about whether natural eating does or does not increase or decrease one’s weight significantly. I know that my natural lean build is easier to maintain now than it used to be, but I eat basically the same things, just it’s none processed siblings. It’s just my diet was already vegetables and a ton of white meat to begin with).