Avoiding Nutrient Deficiency
When attempting to make long terms changes, you have to be sure to fuel your body properly. As you are reducing your body fat percentage, you still need to take in all the micronutrients, vitamins, minerals, proteins and carbohydrates that keep things running efficiently and healthily. Cut back too much and some of these building blocks are bound to be in short supply. Also, rapid weight loss can cause your body to go into defense mode and actually slow down your metabolism. A slow and steady approach will keep your furnace working at peak performance and your organs happy.
Healthier Hair
When I had my bypass surgery ten years back, they recommended using special shampoo (Nioxin) to help reduce hair loss. That was because not only does the gastric bypass result in a malabsorptive system, but the greatly reduced amount of food will cut the levels of vitamins, minerals and fatty acids essential to healthy hair in anyone's system. Maintaining a new healthier lifestyle instead of speed dieting promotes that bounce and luster in which all the shampoo commercials claim to give you. Trust me. Which shampoo you choose has a lot less to do with it than what you eat.
Prevent Loose Skin
Your skin is your body's largest organ, so it makes perfect sense that you need to give it great consideration when losing weight. I have spoken time and again of my upcoming need for surgery to remove excess skin. But that is for me, due to the vast gap between my heaviest and my intended goal weight. However, I will still yield some of the benefits from slow weight loss in the skin department. My face will look less deflated and my lower legs won't get as much like the proverbial 'elephants wrinkly ones' that some brat compared his mother's to in a seventies pantyhose commercial. Alas, my arms, thighs, chest and belly are already doomed. For the rest of you without these extremes, slow weight loss gives your body a chance to let your skin contract onto its new frame. Give your skin a break. Go slow.
Build Muscle Instead of Feeding Off Of It
When your system is taking in much reduced fuel, its ancient programming kicks in, thinking that it needs to safeguard against starvation. It will look for sources of energy other than food...namely your muscle cells. Feed your body just the right amount food to promote weight loss and it won't scare itself into a cannibalistic machine. The end result will be a firmer, leaner body.
Longer Lasting Success
This spills into the psychological realm as well, but when you permanently change your lifestyle it will be easier to maintain the weight loss for the long term. You will steadily reset your internal thermostat to work properly. This careful reprogramming will become essential in your metabolism's ability to assess reality, because it has had a continual pattern to recognize instead of frequent anomalies throwing it for a loop. It will be less apt to lapse into the yo-yo effect that is so bad for your heart and other organs. You turn into a finely tuned instrument, optimally processing food for fuel, rather than storing fat for future crises.
In today's society of microwaves, computers and everything 'on demand', we are prone to expect immediacy. It is very easy to be taken in by fad diets and potion's claims to help you get thin fast. The old adage that says nothing worth having comes easy, is very true in this case. A thinner, healthier you is very worth having, but it takes dedication and time. If you are serious about wanting a better, more active healthy life, then slow down. Take your time, because five years from now when you are still the svelte you you desired, you'll be glad you did.
Cya Wednesday,
M
What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Kashi 7 Grain Nuggets w/banana, toasted pecans and almond milk
Lunch ~ A big salad w/mixed greens, tuna, cannelini beans, roasted red peppers and quick marinated mushrooms (recipe sometime soon), all lightly coated in a homemade balsamic vinaigrette
Dinner ~ TBD
Exercise ~ A 30 minute walk
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