If there’s one sure-fire way to lose weight, it’s cutting calories, eating healthy foods and working out. But what happens when you don’t just cut calories by a little bit, but instead periodically don’t eat or dramatically cut calories by 500 or more? While most health professionals and nutritionists wouldn’t tell the everyday average person to dip below getting 1,200 calories a day, there is a small group of people who follow low-calorie diets because they believe it keeps them healthy and prolongs their lives.
While severe calorie restriction (CR) has been shown to increase lifespan in animals, there hasn’t been much research on the practice in humans until now. Although much more research is needed on the quality of life while restricting calories, according to recent research from Washington University, people who drastic cut calories have lower core body temperatures than those who eat more. Having a lower core body temperature better allows your body to operate at maximum efficiency, according to a story on U.S. News and World Report. So what does this research mean to you, and should you try calorie restriction? The pros and cons are below!
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Even though there may be an evolutionary reason why we are tempted to eat when stressed, it isn’t a habit that benefits us. Stress eating is often the villain/antagonist behind weight gain or that stubborn, final four pounds. For many people, stress eating also allows them to avoid their stressors rather than focusing on finding a solution. Stress eating becomes a stressor in itself, creating an awful cycle, when it is a habit we want to break.
Most coping techniques were, at one point, functional to manage stress, but anything done to excess can be damaging. Grabbing a snack that can be quickly converted to glucose can help you think your way out of a problem, but a toll is taken on your waistline when overused. By the time you have gotten there, stress eating is a habit so stopping is slightly more complicated than admitting you have a problem. Awareness cannot just come after the deed is done, but must come prior to your actions if you want to change behavior.
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This guest post comes from
Alesha Sevy, Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge.
Creating healthy habits is a lifelong journey – you won’t always feel the same from day to day, and you may need to make a consistent effort to create healthy habits that leave you feeling good. At the Biggest Loser Resort, we educate our guests on emotional eating and how to identify when you are actually hungry vs. emotionally hungry. If you find that you are snacking from boredom, stress, happiness, sadness – anything that isn’t actually true hunger, try the simple strategy of doing something else. But not just anything else – take a moment to practice self care. It’s still a “treat” that you can give yourself, and you may actually burn calories in the process rather than consuming!
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Crispy, crunchy, deliciously munchy potato chips are one of the most classic cravings we experience. Why do we crave crunch and why is it so hard to stop once we’ve started eating?
Anger and anxiety are the most common reasons why we experience cravings for crunch. The mechanical process of chewing and crunching releases tension that we hold within. Pay close attention to how you’re feeling when you start jonesing for something crunchy. Identify your triggers and learn how to alleviate the emotions without giving in to your craving. Focus on relieving stress and releasing aggression. A few useful techniques are:
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Dennis Grounds is a personal trainer and life coach, and creator of Training Grounds for Life. One of the most sought after trainers in LA. Grounds combines cardio circuit, functional and core training, Pilates and certified life coaching. Training Grounds for Life is an exclusive, luxury studio in the heart of Los Angeles where Grounds gets to the “core” of the matter, helping clients strengthen the core of their bodies as well as the core of their minds.
It’s that time of year again when as soon as you say “trick or treat” in October, in a blink of an eye it’s December. You are dashing from one holiday party to the next trying to avoid putting on the gift you didn’t want: that 9 extra pounds.
In my 27 years of training and coaching clients, I have found that wanting control over diet, exercise, family and unforeseen circumstances is the catalyst to eating and drinking more during the holiday season. Recognizing where these situations occur can help prevent us from indulging in unhealthy patterns.
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