Weight management is a big challenge to the vast majority of people in the world today. People are either looking to lose weight on accord of vanity, or for health reasons. On account of this the weight loss industry today is worth billions of dollars with people voluntarily seeking out the latest fad diets, or products to assist them in achieving their desired weight.



Sadly and statistically however it's proven that even the most disciplined of dieters will fail in the long term quest for weight management. How can this be, and how can an individual mitigate failure?

To best achieve any goal in life a person would need to ensure that the goal is their own goal, something that motivates them, and something that can be measured. But of primary importance for a person to become successful in pursuit of that goal they firstly need to acquire KNOWLEDGE. With that KNOWLEDGE they can then put in place a plan, a plan that is realistic in its nature, and timescales to complete.

So what to know and understand; firstly evolution has equipped us well to survive all manner of situations, among them starvation. For an individual to successfully achieve a desirable body shape, they must firstly understand their own body, and the fate of a nutrient and the affect that it brings to the body.

Most diets convince an individual that to lose weight they need to engage in a low calorie diet? That is partially correct, but is not the full story. During low calorie diets, individuals do lose weight, as well as an amount of body fat. However, all too often after ceasing a diet and returning to a normal eating, individuals complain that the weight not only creeps back on, but they can find themselves heavier in body weight than before.

So let's try and understand why this might happen. As individuals we are absolutely unique. An individual will have their own resting metabolic rate (RMR) that is simply the amount of energy (calories) that the body needs, at rest for the body to survive. In addition the body will need energy (calories) to perform physical activities for normal daily living i.e. walking, lifting etc. We therefore need to calculate and add those calories to the RMR, which will give us a daily calorific requirement.

Simply put In order to lose weight an individual will need to burn more calories, or reduce their calorie intake below their daily calorie requirement i.e. bring about a calorie deficit. THAT DOES NOT MEAN STARVING THE BODY.

If an individual were to reduce their calorie intake dramatically below your RMR the body will believe it's in famine and will take reactive action to maintain its weight, in other words the body will resort to a "Self Protection" mode. Fact lean tissue (muscle) is heavier than fat. Simply put when the body believes itself to be in famine the body will reduce metabolism thereby reducing the amount of calories it burns for energy. Further the body will give up muscle and water etc but will more hang onto fat, which it requires to break down for energy (to sustain life) and fuel daily activities. Therefore an individual after a period weighs them self and is happy to see that their body weight has reduced. Their overall body weight may have gone down but their body fat percentage however has now increased, and they have inadvertently become highly efficient at storing dietary fat to stave of famine. Once normal eating resumes an individual's weight starts to return and in some cases can surpass the weight they were before dieting in the first place. So in identifying the problem what therefore is the answer?