Sunday, June 8, 2008

THE WRONG WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT

Written y Neill Abayon

Here are three wrong ways to lose wight. Take a time to read at them.


1. DIURETICS (water pills) - Since the body is about 70 percent water,

it is relatively easy for such pills to remove several pounds of water

quickly. The scales look good - for a few days. ut gradually the body

balances itself y replacing the water, and there goes the weight loss.


2. EXTRA PROTEIN - An overdose of protei will accomplish asically the

same thing. The liver changes excess protein into the blood urea

nitrogen (UN), which causes the kidneys to force water from the body.

It takes much water to wash out the products of excess protein

metabolism than it does to take care of the breakdown products of

either carbohydrates or fats.
Some quick weight-loss diets take advantage of the fact that a

high-protein in take can cause spectacular weight-loss in a short time.

This is a dangerous practice, however. That is why such diets are

usually physician-supervised and limited to short periiods of time,

normally about two weeks. The scales show gratifyingly low numbers, but

most of the weight returns in a short time as the body replaces lost

water.


3. STARVATION DIETS - Many of the quickie diets drop daily intake of

1800 to 250 calories to less than 500 calories in a day. Some of these

starvation diets may go as low as 300 to 400 calories. The body

misreads this dramatic calorie drop as acute starvation and actually

begins to digest its own protein (usually in the form of muscle) in an

effort to protect more vital tissues. Careful testing has shown that

weight loss on these diets can come from both fat and muscle tissues.
So eware! When you think you're losing 14 pounds of fat for

example, you could actually e losing five pounds of fat, one pound of

protein tissue (muscle), and eight pounds of water.
If you feel you need to go on a diet, make sure that you get

enough calories from protein and carbohydrates to prevent muscle tissue

loss. For an average person this means at least 200 calories of protein

(50 grams) and at least 600 calories of carbohydrates a day.

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