Don't be Fooled into Starving Yourself

I've recently been realizing just how little most people know about calories, food, energy, proteins, carbohydrates & fats.  I like to think that I educate my clients, introduce them to new ways of looking at food, and help guide them to healthy eating that not only increases their metabolism but that can help reduce risks of heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even cancer!  Teaching exercise for me is easy, but teaching people how to change their diet is really the big challenge.

Today, I happened upon a website of a local gym not too far from my own.  I hadn't heard of this gym before so I wanted to check them out.  I went to their website and saw on the home page an Ad for a "7 Day Diet Plan".  Of course, I clicked on it and my jaw dropped!  I couldn't believe what this guy is selling to his clients as a healthy weight loss program.  Not only is it NOT healthy, it actually could cause you to GAIN WEIGHT!  His "7 day diet plan" allows for a maximum of approximately 750 calories a day!!

	Here's an excerpt from his "Plan": Day 1 Breakfast 1 slice of wheat toast 1 cup of coffee or tea (no sugar) Lunch 2 hard boiled eggs Dinner Green salad w/ lemon juice 1 cup plain yogurt Day 2 Breakfast 1 slice of wheat toast 1 cup of coffee or tea (no sugar) Lunch 2 hard boiled eggs Dinner Green salad w/ lemon juice 1 cup plain yogurt Day 3 Breakfast 1 slice of wheat toast 1 cup of coffee or tea (no sugar) Lunch 2 hard boiled eggs 1 cup of fruit 1 cup of vegetables Dinner Green salad w/ lemon juice 1 cup plain yogurt And so on, but you get the idea...

Anything under 1,200 calories a day (women) or 1,800 calories (men) will slow your metabolism down to a screeching halt!  Your body NEEDS calories to get through the day and sustain your daily activities, body and brain function.  Without them, your body simply goes into starvation mode, which you cannot maintain.  On day 8 you will go back to your old eating habits and probably eat more because you've been starving yourself.  Additionally, the food you used to eat and burn effectively will no longer get burned off at the same rate because you have slowed down your metabolism!  His diet should be called the "How I can GAIN weight in 10 days" diet.

The lesson here?  Do your homework and if something sounds too good to be true...well, you know the story.  If you'd like to know more about how many calories YOU should be eating in order to lose weight, please feel free to contact me via e-mail anytime!

Backyard Bootcamp and Topham Street Gym have classes, private training, semi-private training and weight loss programs that suit the individual, not the masses.  Feel free to stop in, drop us a note or give us a call to set up an appointment to come in and get your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), your BMI (Body Mass Index), your Body Fat Percentage tested.  We're here to serve you!

Leslie Maltz, Owner
Topham Street Gym
Backyard Bootcamp