Skip to main content

Can You Lose Weight Through Diet Alone?

There are people who believe that exercise alone can help you lose weight as long as you don’t ‘overeat’. This view is evident by the sheer number of people who purchase gym memberships specifically for weight loss. Whilst physical activity is beneficial, there are a myriad of risks involved when people follow the advice of gurus who aren’t educated about the anatomy and physiology of the human body.


At the other end of the spectrum, there are believers in nutrition who could swear by its effectiveness in weight loss. It’s easy to blame a particular macro, be it fats or carbohydrates. It’s much harder to back that claim with evidence.

Does that mean we leave everything to chance and do whatever we feel is right? Absolutely not.

Looking at the basics of nutrition content, a low carbohydrate diet has been shown to help with maintaining a low energy uptake, which in turn will reduce your weight (As carbohydrates and sugars are well known to be empty calories). Although fat was given a bad rap, it has been proven to be quite essential for certain physiological processes like hormonal balance. With that being said I myself don’t promote any rigid diet, but I certainly advise everyone to be more aware of their daily energy intake and the sources of all those calories.

When you reduce your energy consumption, you also reduce the thermogenic (heat-producing) effect of food. This thermogenesis is an energy-consuming process and is seen in some people as profuse sweating after a heavy meal.

When you start losing weight, you also reduce your resting energy usage.

These two things can easily be covered by physical activity. While the recommendations for exercise vary from region to region and are constantly undergoing revision. It’s always good to intentionally increase your activity. There are endless ways to do so and can be determined by one’s capability and the situation.

As I mentioned earlier, the energy expenditure rate reduces with the weight. This is counteracted by an increase in muscle mass. Unlike fat tissue, muscles are an active structure and require energy to just maintain function. Thus an increase in muscle mass is going to increase the overall energy spent during rest.

If you’re thinking that you could get away with either diet or exercise, you’re mistaken. Studies have proven time and again that a combination of diet and physical activity produces greater weight loss over a long period, with fewer relapses. Also, the longer a plan is, the better the overall results are.

I have written numerous articles on the multiple factors of weight loss while taking into account the science. Some things seem obvious only once it is pointed out, and I wish that my readers are led along the right path. So head on to those posts to know more and grow.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Toe vs Heel strike: Injury Risk in Runners

When we observe runners, there are just so many variations in running technique and patterns. The length of the stride, body lean, amount of bending at each joint, the first point of foot contact and the arm swing are just a few of the places where we can notice the differences. Heel striking is one of the most criticised biomechanical variations in running. It is said that a heel to toe pattern impedes the forward motion of the runner and wastes more energy than landing on the forefoot. The first thing to get out of the way is that it’s not necessary that everyone who lands on their heel places it ahead of the body and that everyone who lands on the forefoot does so right under the body, which makes it invalid to connect the two factors. Forefoot Strike Technically there are three types of foot strike patterns: forefoot, rearfoot, and midfoot strike. The mechanics of the midfoot strike have more common features to the rearfoot strike and hence both of them will be considered under the...

Artifical Sweeteners: A Weight Loss Hack

Sugar has been around since centuries, and it looks like it’s here to stay. However since the ingestion of sugar was found to be responsible for fat deposition and has been linked with increased risk of lifestyle diseases, we have tried to find alternatives to it. Because, let’s face it. This is one addiction that has plagued the entire world in one swoop. Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener to be discovered, which was purely an accident. This is what led to the revolution to hunt the perfect sugar substitute. Artificial sweeteners were advertised as a very comfortable way to lose weight in the 19th century. It was used in sodas first, and later trickled down to other sweet foods and beverages. It promised to take away the calories from the sweetness making indulgence completely guilt free. This sounds too good to be true. After various research and medical organisations put forward their concerns regarding the safety of artificial sweeteners, the government imposed certain re...