How to Lose Weight the Safe Way
if you lose weight too quickly you risk…
nutrient deficiencies
losing MUSCLE, not fat
gaining the weight back
- A reasonable weight loss goal is no more than 2 pounds per week
- Do not want to lose a lot of weight quickly it is dangerous
- You have to make the lifestyle change for the rest of your life or the weight will come back
How many Fewer Calories Should I Eat?
- 1 pound of fat contains 3500 kcals of energy
if you decrease your energy intake by 500 kcal per day, you should lose 1 pound of fat in a week
Tips for Keeping Calories Low
-eat smaller portions
- avoid high fat foods
- Avoid high sugar foods
- Eat more fibre
- avoid high calorie beverages – they fill you up less
eat out less often – big portion sizes
- Eating smaller portions works very well
- High fat foods and high sugar foods can be very energy dense
Why should you Record What You Eat
- Generally helps you eat less
Physical Activity and Weight Loss
- Its difficult to lose weight using physical activity alone
- However, physical activity is important for maintaining muscle mass and keeping the weight off
- Physical activity and dietary modifications at the same time is effective and very important
Fad Diets - Do they Work
- Yes - kind of
- Might lose weight to quickly
- Can be dangerous
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Depends of how sustainable they are
- The extreme ones are not a good idea
Why is Losing Weight so Hard?
- When you lose weight metabolic rate drops:
- You are burning fewer kilocalories
- Doing exercise helps keep muscle mass so it helps a bit
- Set Point Theory:
- Your body has a certain weight it wants to be at (usually the highest weight you are at) so it defends
- We don’t know how to change our set point
How Much Weight Can People Lose and Keep Off?
- On average, people who are trying to lose weight are successful as losing 3-5% of their body weight
- Dramatic, sustained weight loss is rare
- Some people can eat less and still gain weight depending on metabolic rate
- Depends on genetics and how much your body’s metabolic rate changes
Bariatric Surgery
- Works better than diet and exercise
- Possible for people to die
- May save people with very extreme obesity
- Roux-en-Y-Bypass, most of the stomach and intestine no longer function, feel full very fast, most invasive
- Gastric band: also gives you a full feeling but it is less invasive, can squeeze and un-squeeze the port for different reasons
- Hard to lose weight at all ages
What are Vitamins
- organic molecules that we need to eat for our bodies to function
organic: relating to or derived from living matter
vitamins are either water soluble or fat soluble
water soluble: dissolves in water
fat soluble: dissolves in fat
Water Soluble vs Fat Soluble Vitamins
- Water soluble:
- Dissolve in the chyme
- Transported into intestinal cells using facilitated diffusion or active transport
- Fat Soluble:
- Are best absorbed when eaten with fat
- Are absorbed into intestinal cells in micelles with lipids
- Water soluble:
- Transported in the body with blood proteins
- Fat Soluble:
- Transported in the body with blood proteins or lipoproteins
What B Vitamins have in common
- They are water soluble vitamins
- All involved with energy metabolism
They are all similar in function so have similar names
- All involved with energy metabolism
B Vitamins as Coenzymes
- Enzymes can build things up or break things down
- Something that has to bind to an enzyme for it to do its chemical reaction
- Once the coenzyme attaches so can the chemical and the reaction takes place
Where do you find Vitamin B?
added to white flours, pasta, and breakfast cereals
found abundantly in meats, meat alternatives, milk, grains & fruit, and vegetables
severe deficiencies are rare
possible low intakes of:
folate among non-vegetable eaters
vitamin B12 among vegans
Fortification of Flour in Canada
- Folic acid
- Iron
- Gluten free flours are not fortified
B Complex Vitamins
- Does not help in anyway, just leaves the body in you urine
- No evidence of it boosting metabolism
Thiamin
- Needed to burn carbs for energy
- Needed for amino acid metabolism
- Whole grains naturally contain it
- Pork also has it
What Happens when you Don’t Get Enough Thiamin?
- Muscle wasting and weakness
- Beriberi: is the thiamine deficiency
- Causes extreme nerve damage
- Added thiamine to food items and the problem was resolved
Beriberi in Canada
- Caused by a combination of alcohol intake and poor quality diet
- Dementia, confusion
Vitamin C
- AKA ascorbic acid
- Is not stored in the body
- Not stored very well in the body
Evolution of Vitamin C
- Only moneys and apes, guinea pigs and fruit bats can’t make their own out of glucose
- We don’t have the right enzymes to do it
What does Vitamin C do?
- Need for Collagen:
- Helps hold our body together
- DNA
- Is also an antioxidant
- It is water soluble, so it mostly works in the extracellular fluid
- It also recharges vitamin E by giving it electrons
What is Oxidation?
- The stealing of electrons by free radicals
Why is it called oxidation?
- Molecules containing oxygen are often the electron stealers
- Reactive oxygen species
