Everywhere you look, the world is telling women they must be dangerously thin to be attractive and "healthy". The fashion industry sets the standard, and women up for failure who cannot meet these unrealistic ideals. The advertising executives who created the "super size" craze while selling hoodia pills, are making things worse with mixed messages people can't logically sort through. It's time for a change.
Everyone has heard about the big flaps taking place in the fashion industry and the desire to have ultra-thin models on the catwalk showing off the latest and greatest worldwide fashion houses have to exhibit each season. Spain has decided no models under a certain age or body mass index (BMI) can participate in fashion events, in an attempt to force a healthier body image among women. Even Saturday Night Live took a shot at this topic by showing what was supposed to be an ultra-thin model licking the outer rim of an appetizer plate being passed by and stating how “full” she was. In a simple video game I played recently, they had a character that was a beauty pageant winner asking for water, but to hold the ice because ice was “fattening”.
Two days ago I met a woman working in my local grocery store. She started the conversation because she had seen something large on the scale (portabella mushrooms) and couldn't identify it from a distance. We started a chat while I was scanning, and she casually mentioned she had lost 80 pounds on her diet, but still wanted to lose much more weight. Her problem is that she was stuck in a plateau. “I'd be happy if I could just lose another 20 pounds for now," she lamented quietly so the other customers wouldn't overhear our conversation.
After a few minutes of chatting, I decided I'd hang around for a few more and find out what she might be doing right or wrong. I'm not an expert on diets, exercise or plateaus, but I think I've learned enough to figure out what might be wrong with an approach. Shoot, I've mapped out every wrong turn there is out there when it comes to this subject, but I'm finally succeeding with a very healthy 25 pound loss and another 50 to go.
Within a few minutes, she said a few key things that told me she wouldn't get any further on her quest if she didn't modify her behavior and the way she saw food. “I eat under 1,000 calories a day, and I'm still starving! I keep doing the same exercises, but nothing's changing.” I asked how many meals a day she eats, to which she replied the typical 3 a day. I could see three big problems right away with her approach to this diet, and I quickly told her what they were.
She needs to split those 3 meals into 5 smaller meals so her body is consistently “tricked” into thinking it's being fed more than it really is. This also helps to stabilize your blood sugar and knock out cravings when your blood sugar's too low. Your body also needs a clean protein source whenever there's a carbohydrate to prevent an insulin spike; protein keeps your body from releasing too much insulin, resulting in food cravings and energy crashes.
When I told this woman her body was in starvation mode, she looked a little strangely at me. I told her the lowest caloric intake a woman should have is 1200 calories, and 600 calories is considered full starvation. She looked at me oddly and then confirmed she was always hungry. “Your body is cannibalizing itself because it's in starvation mode. You need to up your calories or you're going to hurt your body – it's eating all your muscle as a food source!” She didn't like hearing her body was breaking down, and she surely didn't like the idea of increasing her calories. This was counter to what she'd learned about dieting and healthy living, and that was obvious from the horrified look on her face.
Her basic metabolic rate (organ functions) plus her daily movements requires she consumes nearly 2,500 calories per day; on a quick guess, I told her to increase the calories to at least 1,600 to push her out of starvation mode. I based that at the time on the 1,200 minimum caloric intake, plus I split the difference between her weight and mine since I didn't have the formula in my head at the time. My number was still low, but it added at least 600 calories to her diet. Should I see her again, I will tell her the formula so she won't ever have to starve.
She mentioned her exercise program briefly, and when I asked her if she ever changes or deviates from it, she answered no. Her muscles have become used to the exercise and the movements she's performing are no longer useful or load bearing anymore. Her exercise program is now failing her even though she's trying hard to make it work. I told her to change her exercise routine completely once a month because her body was becoming efficient and she needs to work different muscles in order to keep the body “guessing” what will be worked next – and how it will be worked. There's a reason you can find a dozen different exercises for any single muscle in the body – because you have to change up when the results are “stale”.
