CALORIE INTAKE
Increased calorie intake "might" cause increased weight; but this is not necessarily so!
The type of calories eaten will be significant in affecting weight.
It is an efficient metabolic process to convert triglyceride fat molecules from foods, into triglyceride molecules stored in body fat.
It is NOT so efficient for the body to convert protein or carbohydrate molecules into body stored fat molecules.
Because of this.....fats are more fattening than carbohydrates or sugars.
LOW CALORIE DIETING
Eating very low quantities of calories is ineffective in reducing weight; and can be dangerous to health. Side effects of calorie deficiency can include:
- feeling depressed or deprived
- excessively strong cravings for food.
- Low calorie diets (also called crash diets) may in fact encourage binge eating, which can exaggerate obesity problems.
- A pattern of crash diets followed by binge eating is called "weight cycling". This may lead to replacement of muscle tissue with adipose tissue, and it may not result in any significant long term change in body weight.
INSULIN RESISTANCE
Abdominal obesity has been linked to insulin resistance (ie. sufficient insulin is produced, but insulin receptors in the cell membranes are not responsive enough to that insulin, hence blood insulin levels are increased. This in turn may lead to fluid retention, and raised blood pressure. Weight loss may help bring insulin back into balance.
(NB: Extra fat in the hips & thighs is not normally associated with insulin resistance).
