gaining weight. Why?

Doctor I do not eat much. But I am gaining weight. Why?

This is the frequent question that I got from some of my patients on a weight loss plan of some sort they decide to go on.

There are two things wrong in the question.

1.       It is wrong that you do not eat.

2.       There is also something wrong with what you are eating.

Do you know that not eating regularly also is can make us fat ? !

Ideally we should eat four times a day at least: breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. Snack can be taken in between lunch and dinner or dinner and bedtime. Depending on what time is the dinner time for you.

Our brain will recognize us to be in “starvation mode” if we do not eat for 10-12 hours while awake. During the sleep, energy expenditure drops about 10 percent. But if our body put us in the ’starvation mode’, the energy expenditure drops up to 40%.

What does that mean? In starvation mode, you do not burn the calories, instead you save them. Body saves  “energy” as “fat” especially in ’starvation mode’. End result, you are gaining weight by accumulating fat when you don’t eat regularly.

Remember! It is very important that you must eat, if you want to lose weight. Trying to lose weight by not eating is totally wrong thing to do.

Let me share with you the one difficult consultation that I have had. Rebecca (Name has been changed) has about 22 pound excess fat. But she looks just fine in her body proportions. I was surprised that she wanted to see me for weight loss program. I have consulted with patients who weight more than 423 pounds and it was not as difficult to treat them for weight loss, as this lady. The problem is she is too scared to eat. She went hungry all the time and she always struggles not to eat. She, by herself, reduced to half the frequency and the amount, that I had instructed to eat. And she will increase to double, the exercise/ physical activity that I instructed her to do. For first few months, she struggled with what she thought was right. Finally, I had to tell her that you are doing it all wrong. Time and again I reassured her and encouraged her to try atleast one month, in the way that I want her to. She very reluctantly started eating regularly and it took her 7 months in total to lose 18 pound of fat. Yet, my other patient, the 422 pounder has lost 178 pounds over 7 months.

Again! Trust me. We were born to eat. We just need to eat right!!

There are two types of food group: one make you feel satiated and make you feel full and enough. The other is the food that makes you eat more.

Imagine yourself eating the Meal I and Meal II as follows.

Meal I : a 16 oz glass of water, a 6 oz size grill chicken breast, 1 cup of steam broccoli or green, 3/4 cup of cook wild rice.

Meal II: a 16 ounce (diet) Coke, a ham burger, a medium size French fries.

Lets’ forget about the calorie difference between them. Just imagine how you feel after eating Meal I and Meal II.

By eating Meal I, you will feel full, enough, and you might feel hungry again after 4-6 hours. But you do not feel bloated, tired, fatigue, sluggish.

By eating Meal II, you will feel stuffy, gassy, bloated, initial burst of energy followed by sluggishness within one hour, fatigue and foggy mind. So you need to lift yourself up with another (diet) caffeine drinks in few hours which will give you another temporary energy, ensuring that you will need your pick-me-up chocolate or sweet treat in a few hours again. You will be busy chasing the energy burst and decline by drinking or eating the wrong kind of food all day long.

So how can we know what are the right food for us? Simple! Remember to observe how do you feel after what you eat. Your main drink is water, just plain water and nothing else. First, start by avoiding all kinds of soda, sweet tea, beer, diet drinks.

Don’t be disappointed yet. I also drink soda but I will tell you how we should drink soda at later section.

Posted on Sunday, January 6, 2008 at 05:04PM by: Myo Nwe, MD

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