The Importance of Regular Eating, Part 2

Once your body has adapted to the restricted food intake (the diet) by releasing glycogen and shedding water, it then will tend to lose lean tissue.  And, the body of an overweight person will attempt to preserve fat just because that is what it is accustomed to doing.


The less food you eat, the less energy you need to digest it.  A diet that cuts 500 calories per day needs approximately 50 calories per day less for digestion.


The liver and associated areas use 27% of body energy, the brain uses 20%, skeletal muscles use 18%, kidneys 10%, the heart uses 7%, and the remainder of the vital organs use 18% of body energy.  65% of the energy is used by the vital organs whose combined weight totals only about 5% of the body's weight.  Most of the remaining energy is used by the muscles, which are more active than body fat.


 A sedentary person's body uses most of its energy from food for vital function.  An estimate of energy needs of a sedentary person are:  65% for autonomous functions, 10% for digestion, and 25% for all other activities.


Copyright 2011 Lynn Borenius Brown  

For more information about video classes and individual sessions, please visit: http://EmpoweredDieter.org

The Importance of Regular Eating, Part 1

Many overweight people eat only one meal per day thinking that the less they eat, the more weight they will lose.  This is, of course, not true.  Since the beginning of the 20th Century, Americans eat 10% less but have come to weight 14% more.  And generally, overweight people eat less than normal weight people.  That both groups remain at stable weights is a result of metabolism.


Metabolic rate is the speed at which your body uses energy for the process of replacing and renewing cells while asleep, for food digestion, and for activity.  Most people use most of their energy for the function of their vital organs, especially the brain, heart, liver, and kidneys.


When starting a diet or severely restricting food intake for any reason, your body's first reaction is to use the energy that is immediately available for emergencies.  This is not fat.  It is glycogen, a form of glucose (a carbohydrate) stored in solution with water in the body's most metabolically active organ, the liver.  The body contains approximately 7.5 pounds of glycogen in solution.  Glycogen burns faster than fat.  About 400 calories are required to burn one pound of glycogen in solution with water.


Copyright 2011 Lynn Borenius Brown

For more information about video classes and individual sessions, please visit: http://EmpoweredDieter.org