Muscle not fat
This can work both ways, says Dr Leibel. If someone loses a lot of weight, they often have
persistent hunger, even if they are eating enough to sustain themselves.

And while excess calories can lead many people to put on body fat, one volunteer in the study
defied convention by putting on a lot of weight (4.5kg) while his appearance didn’t seem to alter.
Instead of fat, the weight had gone on as muscle as the volunteer’s metabolic rate had risen 30%.

This is another reason, says Dr Carel le Roux, an obesity specialist who oversaw the experiment,
why some people appear not to get fat despite eating at lot.

“Studies have shown that this tendency to lay down muscle rather than fat when we over-eat is
genetically determined,” she says.

For those who did show any signs of having overindulged after the experiment was over, they
soon got back to normal, and not through a rigorous diet and exercise regime. Thomas found it
happened easily.
“After the first week,” he says, “my trousers fitted almost as well as before, and it didn’t take long
for my belts to be back to the right button hole.”

I’m glad you’ve published this story. Since I was young I’ve had friends ask me straight-forwardly
whether I was anorexic or bulimic. But the fact is in a house of four girls I probably eat the most! I
consider myself pretty lucky; Thinking how hard I find it to increase my weight, it must be a
hundred times harder for those struggling with being overweight to do the opposite.
Sarah, Manchester, UK

This is a fascinating article. I, too, have struggled with weight gain throughout the years and
have visited hospital dieticians several times all in the hopes of putting on just ten more pounds.
One dietician even suggested eating a spoonful of mayonnaise before bed each night! Nothing
has worked and my university friends constantly joke how much they “hate” me. After examining
family photos, I’m learning to accept that I’ll probably be very slim my whole life. I’m glad research
is being done in this field, because for some (heavy or slim), calorie intake is not the simple
answer.
Ali Pezeshkpour, California, USA

Two years ago I had a big accident. Beforehand I could eat whatever I wanted but never put any
weight on. After my accident I have put on two stone. I am eating less but I do not bounce about
as much as I used to and am not as active.
Dom Finn, Nottingham

I work in health promotion in the NHS and I have felt uncomfortable for a long time about people
constantly being told to eat more healthily and exercise in order to avoid obesity. I believe that
many people will need a genetic or chemical treatment to overcome the widespread urge to eat
when food is available, and to know when they have had enough.
Mary Anne, Scotland

A very interesting article. A friend of mine once asked me if I would like to be thin and unhealthy
or fat and healthy. I opted for the second [obviously]. Health and weight don’t go hand in hand –
look at rugby players. Most of them are technically clinically obese but are fitter than the average
person.
Jacquie, Yorkshire

Don’t eat, don’t smoke don’t drink… what can the working population do? We are becoming self-
obsessed ninnies who do nothing but think constantly about our health etc and worry that this
government in particular, will not be able to fund our NHS with our money for treatment. I do
believe in a healthy lifestyle but have people not got other things to worry about today?
Janet Ostins, Birmingham

Extremely depressing, as I am not one of these very lucky people. We do not know what the ever
decreasing quality of food, air, water due to pollution etc is doing to our bodies and how it is
affecting our genes. There needs to be a lot more research on this before wide spread
condemnation is applied. Granted, some do not help themselves but there are a lot of people out
there who eat healthily, exercise, and yet are overweight, and there are lot who eat rubbish, do
not exercise, and are stick thin.
Katharine, Liverpool

I’d be interested if this experiment did shed some light on why some people’s bodies are more
inclined to put on weight than others.

As a tall, exceptionally lean 29 year-old male, who has been trying to gain weight on and off for 13
years, I can’t wait until I hit the big 30 as this is when everyone promises me it will happen,
whether I want it to or not!
Richard Gaskell, Cumbria

I have always been medically “severely underweight” despite eating crazy amounts of food
including two and a half years working in McDonalds where I took full advantage of my staff
discount. I have never put any weight on, no matter how hard I try!
Rich, Wales

I would also love to put on some weight. I eat a very healthy and varied diet but most people are
very surprised I remain a size 10. Even after my first pregnancy, my size came right back down.

I enjoy food and long for some curves.
Wendi, London

When I was growing up, there was the myth that having started a baby on fruit rather than cereal
determined whether one was slim or not.
Candace, New Jersey, US

I think changes in routine, environment as well as diet have a lot to do with changes in weight.
Whenever I am on a two-week holiday to my extended family in Malaysia, as well as not going to
work, the hot weather (lethargy) and fabulous, nostalgic food in constant supply – my siblings and
I pile on the weight. But as soon as we get back to the UK, we seem to fall back into our usual
routine and weights, albeit, a little bit heavier each time!
Yong Lee, Maidstone, Kent

A coaching weight loss system helps folks in two techniques, coaching and meals. Coaching is
very important in losing fat as there’s a person around to usually keep you motivated for a healthy
way of life which includes diet plan and exercise. A fat loss coaches philosophy is to coach you in
specific approaches. Their entire concept is always to teach you how to consume and how to
maintain what you consume healthy. A beneficial coach in any sport and program will not let you
down as they need to see you win’ the same goes with a diet plan coach.

Drink milk.
Load up on low-fat dairy: Women who consumed milk, yogurt, and cheese three to four times
a day lost 70 percent more body fat than women who didn’t eat dairy in a study published in
the January 2003 American Society for Nutritional Sciences Journal of Nutrition. The reason:
Calcium, along with other substances in dairy, actually revs up your metabolism, telling your
body to burn excess fat faster, according to study author Michael Zemel, Ph.D., director of
the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. And no, fortified o.j. won’t
do the trick. The best results come from dairy products instead of from other calcium-rich
foods (like broccoli), calcium-fortified products (such as orange juice) or supplements.
Women reap the largest fat-burning benefit when they consume three servings of dairy and
1,200 milligrams of calcium a day, Zemel’s research shows.

Pump iron.
Experts say weight training is the best way to crank up your resting metabolic rate. “As you
get older, your resting metabolic rate drops, but weight training can rev it right back up
again: A pound of muscle burns up to nine times the calories a pound of fat does,” explains
fitness expert Westcott. In fact, a woman who weighs 130 pounds and is muscular burns
more calories than a sedentary 120-pound woman of the same height. Regular strength
training can increase your resting metabolic rate anywhere from 6.8 to 7.8 percent. (That
means that if you weigh 120 pounds, you could burn around 100 more calories a day, even
when you’re just watching TV.)

Don’t think you have time to hit the gym circuit? You can get great results with only two
15-minute lifting sessions a week. Westcott’s research, published in the journal Medicine &
Science in Sports & Exercise in January 1999, found that doing just one set of 10 reps reaps
about the same muscle-building benefits as three sets, as long as they’re performed to
muscle fatigue. Bonus: Weight training also gives your metabolism a short-term boost. When
women lift weights, their metabolisms remain in overdrive for up to two hours after the last
bench press, allowing them to burn as many as 100 extra calories, according to a study
published in June 2001 in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

Macro-nutrients and their calories – There are three macro-nutrients, or fuel units, that can be
present in a food – Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat. Fact, 1g of protein yields 4 calories, 1g of
carbohydrate yields 4 calories and 1g of fat yields 9 calories. So basically fats can provide more
(double) calories to the body compared to the other two nutrient units. But please refrain from
coming to the conclusion that fats are bad for you, they are not. Many healthy fats are essential
for the harmonious functioning of the body and foods that provide these fats need to be an
integral part of your diet.

The reason for the “Flab” – One important point to understand is that a human body, under normal
conditions, has “limited” fat cells and there is a limit to how much fat can be stored up in these
cells. Once these cells reach their limit, the fats start getting stored up in muscle linings.

Fat cells are usually present in the regions of your chest, waist and hips. As more fats get
deposited in these cells, the larger they grow in size and this enlargement is what shows up as
flab around the chest, waist and hip regions in men and women. Once the fat cells reach the limit
of their expansion, the fats start getting stored in the muscle linings of arms and thighs creating
flabbiness in these limbs also.

• Some foods contain certain vitamins or minerals that help improve the metabolism, and improve
the fat burning capacity, of the body and act as virtual fat burners.

• Some foods contain less calories while requiring more complex digestion and assimilation
causing the expenditure of energy and thus acting as virtual calorie burners

• Some foods create a sense of satiation even when consumed in small amounts while also being
low of calories

• Certain means of cooking reduces the calorie profile of the food and thus helps in reduce fat
creation.

Eating these foods, in the right quantities, over a period of time will ensure that the fat profile
starts reducing. When we talk about burning fat it also includes foods that help reduce the
possibility of new fat creation, because this would indirectly help you burn fat at a faster pace
through your activities (like exercising).

A list of practical foods for burning fat (and reducing fat deposition)
A lot of people try to starve their nutrition in a bid to reduce fat. This approach can have spurious
effects on the harmony of the body and is not a wise or healthy way to reduce fat. The right way to
reduce fats would be to eat foods that reduce the possibility of further fat deposition, or foods
that assist in burning fats, while also taking up calorie-burning exercises (like aerobics, yoga and
resistance/weight training) to use up the past-stored fat in your body. So here’s a compiled list of
some easily available foods that can help in this process of burning fats or reducing the fat
profile of your body.

Citrus Fruits
I would rank these as the best fat burning foods around. Eating a breakfast of citrus fruits, or
other Vitamin C rich fruits, is one the best ways to start reducing the fat profile of your body.
Citrus fruits provide the body with easy energy to hike up its metabolism while also supplying a
rich amount of Vitamin C which is scientifically known to help burn fat as it’s a vital chemical used
by the body in the process of fat metabolism.

Some citrus fruits you can try are Oranges, Kiwi fruit, Grape fruit, Tangerines, Kumquats,
Clementine and Fresh Lime. While fruits like Strawberries, Apples, Tomatoes, Plums, Grapes,
Cherries, Raspberries, are also good sources of vitamin C. Depending on your budget, and fruit
availability, try to use a mix of these fruits for your breakfast to combine health with taste. You can
also try out a “citrus fruit only” breakfast for a few weeks to see how effectively it helps in
burning fat around your waist and hips. I’ve personally seen excellent results with this method of
eating a fruit only breakfast.

Fruits in general are excellent foods for fat reduction because they are natural, they are rich in
vitamins & minerals, high in water content and low on calories compared to refined foods. Fruits
are known to improve body metabolism and reduce bad cholesterol. Papaya, bananas, mangoes,
sapote, pomegranates and blueberries make for excellent snack foods as well as breakfast foods.

Oats
The benefit of eating cereals like Oats is that they contain a huge proportion of their calorie
profile in terms of insoluble fiber. This insoluble fiber not only gives you a feeling of satiation and
thus keeps you from feeling hungry for a long time but also does not contribute to any calorie
addition to the body. In fact, any foods that contain a good amount of insoluble fiber would help
you in the process of reducing the fat profile of the body. Raisin and Barn cereal is another good
example of breakfast food that’s rich in insoluble fiber, so is cooked barley.

Vegetables
Except for certain calorie rich vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes or yams, most other
vegetables have a low calorie profile while containing essential minerals and vitamin that
improve the metabolism of the body. When you eat potatoes, if possible, cook them with their skin
on because their skin is a good source of insoluble fiber. Veggies like broccoli, spinach,
artichoke, lima beans, peas, cabbage and carrots are excellent sources of minerals while being
low on calories. Veggies don’t contain fats either and their carbohydrate count is very low (even
compared to fruits). Cucumbers are excellent as a salad food, low on calories and rich in water
content.

The best way to cook veggies would be to boil them or stir fry them with healthy oils like olive oil,
sunflower oil, Soybean oil or sesame oil.

Lentils
These foods, also known as edible pulses, are not only filling and nutritious (in terms of minerals)
but are also low on calories and rich in plant proteins/amino-acids. In countries like India, it’s very
traditional to have lentil soups, broth and gravies with breads (wheat rotis) and rice. You can also
make several food items using the flour of ground lentils. They are excellent sources of dietary
fiber and are known to lower the bad-cholesterol (and thus contribute to heart health).

Poultry
If you are a non-vegetarian it would be a good option to eat more poultry than red meats. Poultry
like chicken are low on fats and carbohydrates while have a good protein profile. Proteins are not
only more complex to digest & assimilate (and thus require a higher expenditure of energy) but
they also require more energy to be stored as fats. Go in for lean cuts and avoid eating the skin
of the poultry as it contains a lot of fat. Red meats, or white meats, from lamb, beef or pork, can be
consumed in moderate quantities a few times a week, instead of eating them regularly in your
diet, because they have a high fat profile (but these meat are a good source of minerals and
proteins that can assist in the over-all health of the body when consumed in moderation).

Eggs
An average adult can consume one or two eggs a day (whole eggs with yolk) and obtain
necessary protein and minerals from it while also keep a low calorie profile. Eggs are not high on
calories and are also low on unhealthy fats. The possibility of a variety of food preparations using
eggs make them ideal as snack foods as well as regular meal foods. It’s been found, in many
studies, that eggs don’t contribute to increasing your bad cholesterol profile but can serve to
improve your good cholesterol (necessary for a healthy body) when eaten in moderation.

Almonds and walnuts
These are excellent snack foods and can help you feel satiated with just a fistful of these nuts.
These nuts are a great source of healthy fats. It has been seen that people who don’t consume
healthy fats are more likely to gain weight than people who do. This is the reason why it’s very
imprudent to eliminate healthy fats from your diet in a bid to reduce weight. Remember that
healthy fats are needed for a harmonious functioning of the body because most of the body’s cell
structure is made from these fats.

Salmon
Fish is a good source of protein and healthy fats (rich in omega-3, omega-6 fatty acids), and makes
for a great lunch or dinner meal. Salmon, mackerel, trout and tuna are not only tasty but are
excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids while also being low on calories and saturated fat
content.

Water
Though water would not count as a food, because it has no calories, it would need to mentioned
that water helps improve the over-all metabolism of the body and thus helps burn fat. And of
course, water helps flush out toxins and thus improves the capacity of the body to stay healthy.
Certain foods are rich in their water content and thus help in the process of fat reduction (also
foods rich in water content make you feel satiated quickly), some examples are water melons,
cantaloupes, cucumbers, snake gourd, papaya and chard.

The benefit of eating these water rich foods is that they supply minerals (electrolytes) along with
water and hence do not cause “water intoxication” which can results from drinking too much
water while not balancing out the minerals (especially during work outs).

You may have various reasons to lose fat, however the most important reason to lose fat is to
get healthier. Being fat is being unhealthy in many ways – I don’t need to state the various
health risks that you run because of high body fat percentage. However, I don’t condone the
fear-based advertisements that are being run into order to get people into new diet-programs,
because though fear is a great motivator it’s also a negative motivator and usually causes you
to do more harm to yourself than good.

Your true motivation, to lose weight, should come from a place of love – when you truly starting
loving yourself for who you are and want to better your body as an expression of love for
yourself, that’s when you really get on the right track. It’s so easy to see that people who feel
negative about themselves, never seem to acquire their ideal body no matter how much action
they put in, they seem to constantly sabotage their efforts with the negativity in their mind. To
lose fat, and get a healthy toned body, starts first in the mind state, the first step is to get your
mind moving in a positive track and let actions come from this place of positivity. Developing a
positive mind state is a precursor to effectively lose weight and become healthy.

The right mind state for losing weight
Become aware of your thought patterns in the mind about yourself, and observe if they are
predominantly negative or predominantly positive. A few questions you can ask yourself are:

•How do I feel about myself, as a person?
•Do I feel good about my body?
•Am I more self-critical or self-loving?
•Do I place my joy above meeting expectations of others?
•Do I feel positive about my life or am I looking at life negatively?
•On a given day, how many hours do I feel joyful or at peace with myself?
If you spend time to introspect on each of these questions, it will give you a very clear
indication of whether your vibration is “positive” or “negative”. If you sense that your vibration
is mostly negative, it’s time to work on your way of thinking, your mindset and your attitude
towards yourself and life. Any action you take from place of negativity, just ends up creating
some reflections of negativity back at you, and you’ve lived life enough, and observed life, you
will always know this to be true.

Bring a positive outlook towards your body
You need to start feeling good about yourself, if you want positive results in your life. A good
health is basically an external evidence of your inner state of positivity. If you notice, people
who enjoy good health consistently are the one’s who feel good about themselves in their mind,
and this mindset allows them to make the right choices towards their health. If your argument is
that – “people who feel good about themselves have better conditions than I have”, well it’s
just your mind’s way of being self-defeating. You need to make a choice, are you willing to
continue fueling your mind’s negative thoughts or are you willing to make a positive shift in
your life by first starting to love yourself for who you are. If you don’t love yourself, through and
through, you can never really sustain a positive health – your self-hatred is what will constantly
sabotage your well-being more than any diet or external factor.

Spend time with yourself, alone, and connect with your body and being. Get a sense of what a
beautiful gift your physical body is in all its uniqueness. Life is a journey, and the whole beauty
of this journey is in the journey itself, there is no real destination to reach – the whole purpose
of your life here is to express/experience yourself in your wholeness and savor the journey.
Everyday is an invitation to live life more fully and your body is the vehicle through which you
are going to experience life. Learn to appreciate your uniqueness, stop comparing yourself with
others, know that you are a unique expression of life, and come to a place of feeling
unconditional love for being who you are with all your imperfections. We are not here to
become “perfect”, we are here to enjoy, express, and experience, our uniqueness just as we
are and the whole goal of having a healthy body is to enjoy yourself, and your life experience,
even more.

Whether you’re aware of it or not, you have a mental tape running constantly that affects your moods
and ultimately, your behavior. When these thoughts are negative, outdated or confining, they
undermine the process of change-whether you’re conscious of them or not. It stands to reason that
without an awareness of this mental chatter, you cannot really know why you do what you do so it is
harder to change it.

Your thoughts are the primary creator of your emotions, which inspire your actions and therefore lead
to your results. This thought > feeling > action > result cycle is a “causal loop.” In other words, when
you think a certain thought, it causes you to feel a certain way, which causes you to act in a certain
way, which causes certain results, which then “proves” that your original thoughts were correct.

These patterns are often repetitive and self-reinforcing. Thousands of repetitions of a particular
experience create auto-pilot thoughts, feelings and actions, and therefore, predictable results.  

This thought > feeling > action > result cycle applies to all of your thoughts, not just those
surrounding food, eating and weight. It applies to your thoughts about your relationships, your
career, your finances, your habits and your abilities-any area of your life that is within your sphere of
influence. Even when a thought pattern leads to poor results, you can stay locked in the trap because
it’s comfortable and familiar.

The next time you find yourself eating in a way that feels out of control, uncomfortable or unsatisfying,
ask yourself what you were thinking before you took the first bite. If you recognize that your self-talk is
inaccurate, ineffective or limiting, you can choose to change it to more positive self-talk in order to
change your outcome. Repeating new positive thinking and empowering mantras will result in the
rewiring of your brain.

Interestingly, you don’t even have to believe what you’re saying to yourself at first. There’s power in
simply saying it. Your mind doesn’t tolerate incongruence so if your thoughts are telling you something,
your brain will find a way to make it true. In other words, “fake it until you make it.” When you act “as if”
it were true, it soon becomes reality.

Let’s take a look at an example of negative and positive self-talk that is common in people who struggle
with their weight:

Change Your Mind: The Inner Critic
The Inner Critic is harsh and hypercritical and says things like:
“I am weak-willed and I have no self-control.”
“I am too heavy to be attractive.”  
“I am lazy and too undisciplined to exercise the way I should.”
You might talk to yourself this way because you believe that you’re keeping yourself “in line.”

But most people aren’t motivated by criticism-even when you’re the one criticizing yourself. Instead,
this hypercritical self-talk causes feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness. As a result, you probably
won’t do your best or you’ll give up easily. The results only prove that the Inner Critic was right and lead
to more harsh self criticism.

To change this pattern, begin to use an encouraging, gentle inner voice and positive self-talk to
motivate yourself toward the changes you want and literally think yourself thin. For example:

“It’s challenge to turn down tempting food but I know it will taste even better if I wait until I’m hungry.”
“I look really nice in this dress-especially when I smile!”
“I’ll feel so much better if I take even just a short, comfortable walk.  Everyone has to start somewhere.”

Banish your negative thoughts before they lead to negative feelings and behaviors. Switch to kinder,
gentler, positive self-talk that will coach you toward the results you really want.