The idea of keeping in shape often attracts very extreme people. The idea of having razor thin bodyfat and large amounts of muscle mass aswell as high levels of fitness is the human body being pushed to the extreme. This has produced some outstanding results, from champion bodybuilders to athletes and all of them starting off just as everyday people. The negative side to that is often the misunderstanding most people have when considering their extreme goals. This often leads to people cutting down caloric intake far too much inorder to achieve the ripped look.
The idea is simple, cut your calories and burn off any excess weight. When people read this they think “the more calories I cut the faster and better shape I’ll be in, with lower bodyfat!” This works to a degree, but many out there destroy all the hard work they put in by trying to ‘over-achieve’. With people cutting as much as 1000 (or more) calories off their maintenance level of intake, they don’t realise that not only is it too hard to follow for a decent amount of time, but it just plain doesn’t work.
The initial reaction by the body is start dropping the excess fat, so in the beginning things seem to by just working perfectly. But once your body catches onto this fast loss in weight and reduction in food, it will dramatically slow your metabolism, and begin to burn muscle instead of fat. This loss of muscle will slow your metabolism further and eventually the weight loss will stop, and when you eventually give into the hunger and start eating again, the weight will return, usually harder to regain.
The more manageable approach is to drop (on average) 500 calories a day from your maintenance level or calories. Keeping quality organic food packed with nutrients will keep your body fueled up, getting everything it needs to function efficiently, with the small caloric deficit burning off fat whilst keep muscle relatively untouched. This can be looked at as having your body efficiently fueled, making the small weight loss consistent and easy to maintain for a long period, whilst starvation will be extremely difficult to maintain, as you constantly battle against cravings and hunger the results will quickly dwindle, which usually forces people to eat even less, and exercise even more making their lives extremely difficult, whilst destroying their muscle, health and immune system. This makes starvation not only harder, but less effective entirely.
As Isabel Des Los Riod of the Diet Solution preaches, you want to keep your body nurished & healthy while making small changes to drop the fat. Stick to healthy organic food, with a balanced intake of protein , carbs and fats. This is a recipe for weight loss success!
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