Low Metabolism

Some people have a low metabolism and some people have a high metabolism.  However, people who are at their ideal weight seems to have a higher metabolism than those who are overweight.  As people gain weight, their metabolism slows down.  By the time they gain 65 pounds of excess fat, their metabolism might have slowed considerably.

If a man needs 2,200 calories a day to maintain his ideal weight, he would gain weight if he consumes more than the 2,200 calories a day.  The extra weight will slow down his metabolism.  After the weight gain, he will never be able to consume 2,200 calories a day and keep his same weight.  His weight will continue to go up with the consumption of 2,200 calories a day.

As he continues to gain weight, his metabolism will continue to slow down.  This will make his nutritional allowance obsolete for his age and height.  His new nutritional allowance should be based on the amount of stored fat he has and his metabolic rate, rather than on his height.  For instance, a man who has a certain height might have a nutritional allowance of 2,200 calories per day.  However, because of his slow metabolism, he might need only 1,700 calories a day.  He may have to cut his original nutritional allowance by as much as 50% to lose weight.  This means that he should be able to consume about 1,100 calories a day and let his body supply the other 600 calories from stored body fat.

This explains why such a drastic lifestyle change is necessary to lose weight.  The old idea of cutting back a few calories each day does not work.  If a person who is consuming about 3,000 calories a day wants to stop gaining and lose weight, he or she might have to cut back by two-thirds.  This would give them a new weight loss nutritional allowance of 1,000 calories a day, which would require a major lifestyle change.  For instance, with the Skip-A-Day Diet, this person could lose weight by consuming 3,000 calories every other day and exercising.

As a woman gains weight, dieting usually becomes part of her lifestyle.  She might have started watching her weight as a teenager.  When she starts dieting, her body puts up its defenses to preserve its excess body fat.  When she starts cutting back on the amount of food she eats, her body reacts as though the time has come when there will be little or no food available; this is it!  This is why it has been saving and protecting the fat.

To protect its fat, the body lowers metabolism even further in expectation of a long period of food deprivation.  A determined dieter might continue the fight and lose a few more pounds at this point.  This is no problem for the body because it has just begun to defend its stored fat.

Your body operates as though its stored fat will be used to save your life someday.  If you have tried dieting and failed, it is probably because of the efficient measures your body used to protect its precious fat.  During a food shortage, your body would only give out fat gradually because that is how Mother Nature has programmed it.  Perhaps the fat will be used to take you through the coming winter when there will be little or no food available.  The body will not give up its emergency reserve easily.  Any food you consume during this apparent food shortage will be given the highest degree of protection.