While loosing weight can indeed be a formidable challenge for those suffering from obesity, my experience suggests that most do not really try hard enough to get back to shape! They go through the customary dietary consults and sermons on regular exercise, give the appearance of being convinced and motivated, but turn up after a couple of months without having shed any weight.
Sometimes, their weight paradoxically go up after they start going to the gym. Many manage to get off fats, but increase their consumption of starch and sugars. It is true that one gram of butter or oil provides 9 Kcal while sugars and starch provide only 4 Kcal, but snacking on potato chips or drinking fruit juices can add more to your belly than a thin smear of butter on a brown toast.
On trying to unravel the mystery of why some gain weight after starting workouts instead of losing it, many admit to increasing their food intake in response to hunger that exercise drives up.
What seems to lie at the root of the weight problem is how to cut down on the calories we consume.
Fasting, within limits, may not be a bad thing to try. The health effects of periodic fasting are generally positive and has been promoted by most religions. It helps loose weight by shedding excess body fat, improves diabetes and high BP, and has been shown to reduce cancer risk. Studies have shown that periodic fasters have lower risk of heart disease and tend to live longer.
Glucose is the body's primary fuel source and is essential for the brain’s functioning. When denied glucose for more than 4–8 hours, the body turns to the liver for glycogen, a storage form of glucose, to be used for fuel. At this point, the body also uses small amounts of protein to supplement this fuel. This fuel will last for up to 12 hours before the body needs to turn to glycogen stored in muscles, lasting for a few more days. If glucose is still denied at this point, muscle wasting is prevented by temporarily switching to fat as the fuel source, meaning fat is converted into ketones. Ketones, while not sugars, can be used by the brain as a fuel source as long as glucose is denied.
The body continues to use fat for as long as there is fat to consume. It will generally indicate to the faster when fat levels are running extremely low (less than 7% and 10% of body weight for males and females, respectively) with an increased urge for food.
If you are serious about losing weight, there is hardly any hope if you do not restrict calories. Periodic fasting may be worth a try as long as you do not binge after the fast is broken.?
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