coach_izzy
Contributor
That is very close! However, what triggers the hunger mechanism more than anything is a constantly elevated metabolic rate rather than short periods of activity. That's why proper resistance is so important in a thorough weight control program. Catherine, good food is our fried, and with resistance training, your caloric demands will increase, and if you consume several small meals during the day, you will drop instead of gain, as Bill just pointed out. The trick is to PLAN and never let your body go hungry. If you actually get bothered by hunger pangs, you're not eating often enough, and you will have to exercise A LOT of self-control during your meals to avoid binging. Remember that it takes 20 minutes for the brain to receive the signal that we're eating. If you ever find yourself hungry, eat slowly, if you can't eat slowly, then just eat a small meal, drink plenty of water and wait.Bill51:Im not the physiologist but the way I understand it, as soon as you raise your metabolism your body thinks it needs to eat more to make up for it and that urge doesnt always go away when the increased energy consumption drops.
Actually cold immersions trigger the mamalian reflex which diverts all the blood flow to your core and reduces your metabolism. If there's any form of shivering as a result of the inmersion, then you'll be HUNGRY after. Shivering is the mechanical response to cold, the first in the line of defense. The Shaking produces heat, not externally, but inside. You'd be amazed at how significant the calorie usage will be with shivering. The leaner you're, the more you'll burn. If you're hungry after such conditions, eat a small meal slowly. A warm, decaff drink also helps.A similar recent case for me was jumping into cold water for less than 5 minutes, but as soon as I got out I was as hungry as if Id been on a cold water dive for hours and I wound up eating as much if Id been in the water for much longer.
Beautifully said! Perhaps more people should stay at the Holiday Inn!When you push yourself with resistance training it takes much longer for the muscles to completely recover than when you do just an aerobic workout and those muscles continue to burn a lot of energy for a rather long time trying to recover so the entire metabolism stays operating at a higher level. By keeping the metabolism at a rather constant rate, the bodies hunger mechanisms stay at a more constant level and while you might actually eat more, that food is getting burned off at a more steady and continues rate.
What people need to pay attention to depends on their current state and their goals. Some people do need to follow the scale, some people rely more on anthropometric measurements (skin-folds, girths), while some people only need visual feedback. You brought up an excellent point at how people fear eating when trying to control their weights and how the smaller meals produce such a change. Though I do not agree with a lot of things the South Beach diet prescribes (excessive reliance on grains without concern to allergies, recommending margarine (what's up with the transfats), usage of splenda (sucrolose is a messy issue)) it does have some excellent guidelines and if people adjust them to their particular needs and conditions (for instance, somebody allergic to glutten would not go around eating wheat products) it can provide with a solid basis for better nutrition in the long term.As for the weight, I think Id be looking more at the inches instead. My weight fluctuates around 10 pounds during the course of a year and when Im at my heaviest, my waist is 2 less than when Im at my lightest. My wife finally decided to get seriously in shape a couple years ago at the age of 51, and it took her a while to get used to the fact she was actually eating more but losing weight, and then she stopped losing weight but kept losing inches. She found that using the South Beach Diet along with her new found training discipline really helped her because she cut out many foods with a high glycemic index that also were causing her metabolism to spike up and down.
By the way, HGI foods do not increase the metabolism. They do mess up the interactions of blood glucose, insuline, and glucagon, but they're so simple, the body does not need to break them down. Comsumption of protein on the other hand, DOES raise your metabolism since the molecules are far more complex and they need to be broken down to extract their nutritients.
Thank you for bringing up a well written and intelligent post. Your analytical abilities are excellent and the more you learn the better you'll get. Best of luck with your program