danger???

[gypsy28]

My friend, Marie, has been teased a lot lately about her weight. (She's slightly overweight,) She feels horrible because her family tease her about it too.
She's confided in me about a crazy new eatin plan that she has, and I personally think it sounds dangerous at the worst..and just not healthy at the best...but I thought I'd get other opinoins before I jump to conclusions.

She says that every other week she's going to eat the "right amount of food" (i'm taking it she means to maintain her weight? or lose weight?) and then on the other week she said she's going to do a low-clorie thing (i don't know low she means) and then at the end of that week she's going to reward herself by eating whatever she wants for the whole day.

Should I tell her it's dangerous? Or am I wrong about this one?

 

[Ethan01]

Remind her that the best way to lose weight is to eat 500 fewer calories per day than required to maintain her weight, and regularly exercise (you can help her in that department.) Anything else is either unhealthy or wont last.

 

[dswithers]

There are many diet plans that call for a cheat day or 2 every so often. Most I've heard of suggest cheating every weekend (5 days on/2 days cheat) or every other weekend (12 days on/2 days cheat). I've also heard of some that alternate either 1 week or 2 weeks on calorie restriction with 1 week or 2 weeks on a higher calorie intake. These are based on 2 effects, the first being that when you first go from a high calorie period to calorie restriction your body tends to use stored fat very readily, so most people who go on calorie resticted diets loose some weight quickly. Unfortunatly your bodies natural survival mechnaism kicks in after a few days and your base metabolism rate declines and you stop loosing weight. Your body is trying to preserve itself in case this famine lasts. The second effect is that when you go from a calorie restricted period to a period of excess calories your body tends to generate more HGH and testosterone (obviously more pronounced in males), and tends to build muscle and continue to burn fat for a few days. The theory is that both of these effects came from our distant past when we were hunter gatherer's and might score a big kill and eat a lot and then go for a period of time without finding food. So the best able to survive these periods of shortage and plenty were those individuals in whom these effects were most pronounced. For dieters the theory is that by mimicing this behavior you can keep your body continuously burning fat and building muscle by alternating calorie restricted periods with calorie excess periods.

And at a much simpler level the psychology is that one can suffer through a calorie restrictive period if they know they can splurge every so often. The hard part of any calorie restrictive diet is maintaining it for the rest of your life so you don't yo-yo up and down in weight. That's why a lifestyle change involving a sensible diet and exercise program is usually more effective in the long term than fad diets.