Eating to Lose Weight!!!

Posted on February 22, 2009
Filed Under General |

“I skip breakfast because I’m just not hungry in the morning”.  “I had a big lunch and I’m still full so I don’t need to eat before coming to class, besides I’m trying to lose weight”.  Surpisingly, these are some of the things that I hear on a daily basis.  What we were able to get away with when we were younger is not necessarily the case now.  As we get older, our metabolism changes. We need to eat or feed our bodies every 2-3 hours.  Why, you ask?  Case in point:  As I was teaching my Ultimate Conditioning class the other night, I noticed that the energy level was way below what it had been weeks before.  For the past 2-3 weeks people seemed to be dragging.  I put the class on blast and asked what was going on.  I asked what time was their last meal and I was shocked to find that an overwhelming majority had not eaten since lunch.  Well, I can tell you that I wasn’t happy about that.  One woman shouted out that she had a big lunch and that she was coming to class to burn off her lunch (a woman almost passed out in my class the week before because she had not had anything to eat since lunch).  She thought she had the right game plan.  I saw right away that we had to talk. 

I explained to everyone that they must have something to eat (a bar, fruit, trail mix, etc.) at least a half hour before coming to class.  The lunch that they had 5 or 6 hours before is gone.  I told them that they might not be hungry but that the lunch was long gone.  Their body was waiting to feed.  By not eating or putting “gas in the tank” every 2-3 hours, YOU ARE SLOWING DOWN YOUR METABOLISM.   Skipping meals puts your body in starvation mode.  You will store your next meal as fat instead of burning it as fuel making it twice as hard to lose the weight or to lean out.   Not only will eating help you lose weight by keeping your metabolism working properly, it will also ensure that your blood sugar doesn’t drop enabling you to work out or take that class that you’ve been thinking about all day. Have breakfast in the morning, have a snack before lunch, have a portion controlled lunch and definitely have something to eat before working out.  You can then go home and have a light dinner and get ready for the next day.  Make smart and healthy choices and you will be well on your way to achieving your goals. :-)

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