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Don't Diet – Build MuscleBy Donna S. Ginter Surveys indicate that most people are not happy with their weight or the shape of their body. The sad thing is that a majority of these people are trying to change them in the wrong way, by dieting ‚ which does not work. The diet industry is a multi‚billion dollar industry in the United States, yet Americans are getting fatter and fatter. Throw away those diet books that tell you that you can lose weight without moving a muscle ‚ they're rip-offs. Yes, you might lose some weight, but you haven't lost your tendency to get fat. When someone says, "I lost 20 pounds on my diet." What they are implying is "I lost 20 pounds (of fat) on my diet." But what they are really saying is "I lost 20 pounds of a combination of fat, lean muscle mass and water on my diet." Letís start at the beginning. There are essentially only two bodily tissues that you have aesthetic control over ‚ muscle and fat. These tissues can be affected in only two ways: you can gain or you can lose. So let's say that you lose 20 pounds of weight through diet alone (you have in essence lost 20 pounds of fat and lean muscle). Now, you "go off your diet" and you gain back the 20 pounds. If you haven't added any lean muscle mass through exercise, you have literally gained back 20 pounds of fat; so, in essence although you may weigh the same as you did previous to dieting, you are actually fatter because you have increased your fat to muscle ratio. Now the next time you "go on a diet" you have an even harder time taking off the weight because you have that much less lean muscle mass on your body. Remember, muscle needs calories to survive. Every time you go on a diet, it becomes harder and harder to lose unwanted fat because you are also dieting away lean muscle mass. Many overweight people really do not overeat; they just do not possess the tissue (muscle) necessary to burn fat. So if you want to lose fat, start building muscle. |