The best time for people to embark on this program is when they are at their top weight and have been stable at that weight for a while. This is because their fat-stimulating biochemicals are not riled up from dieting—remember lipoprotein lipase? When these biochemicals are satisfied and their bodies have the fat they need, they are in a neutral zone, out from under the influence of famines and the fat production famines provoke. This is the situation for people who have completely rebounded from their most recent diets.
For dieters who have lost weight more recently and are thinking about applying these principles for the first time, this information is particularly relevant. The only way off the feast or famine cycle is on the feast side, so those who have most recently lost weight on a diet are biologically set up to gain that weight back. In other words they have to feast before they can end the war with their bodies. This is a little complicated so let’s put it another way.
Exercise Tips For Weight Loss If You Have Recently Succeeded on a Diet Photo Gallery
We understand that the famine experience in famine sensitive people always stimulates the production of biochemicals that cause fat storage. The main reason for excess fat storage is protection against starvation. Getting off the feast or famine fat producing cycle boils down to eliminating these fat-producing biochemicals so eating and activity can normalize. You know the only way to do this. Many people who start their recovery have recently been in some type of diet famine. So what happens when they start their recovery by eating according to their body signals? They may tend to overeat, and depending on their diet history and famine sensitivity, they may gain weight. What? Even on high-quality food? Yes.
If you have recently lost, say, 50 pounds on a diet, your body is set up to regain that weight in order to protect you from famines in the future. Your body doesn’t “know” you’re never going to famine again. It must prepare for the future based on your eating pattern in the past. Therefore, you may experience initial weight gain. If you are in this position, you may even gain all the weight back that you lost. Even great food will not prevent this rebound because diet rebound is physiologically driven. Some people who learn about the adaptation principles try to maintain their weight loss by continuing to diet, but they inevitably gain all the weight back and then start their recovery.
It’s probably difficult to accept the possibility of weight gain at the beginning of recovery if you have recently lost weight dieting, but when you consider the near 100 percent likelihood that you will regain that weight anyway, it may be less painful. I am often asked the question: Can a person who has recently lost weight on a diet just apply the principles to maintain that weight loss? That may be possible, anything is possible. But the need for excess fat is so crucial for survival in environments where famines occur regularly, that bodies use any type of food to store fat. This means bodies can use food on the Real Food list. Studies have demonstrated that people do gain weight on a high quality food diet, and this is why they do. Our ancestors stored extra fat on their bodies in preparation for famine and they had only raw plant and animal foods with which to accomplish this. They had no pastries or fried chicken or ice cream or Nachos.
Does this mean you might as well eat food from the Borderline and Pleasure lists since you’re going to gain weight anyway? I don’t advise it for three reasons. First, it is essential to learn to choose only quality food from the very beginning because this is one of your top skills in recovery. Even if you gain at first, you are practicing making the best choices. Secondly, your nutritional status needs some attention if you’ve been dieting, and you will recover that the quickest on quality food only. Thirdly, you can minimize your weight gain and send your body the right message: Quality famines are over.
