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How to make weight loss permanent and avoid rebound obesity

You have some pounds you need to lose…………….

Both physics and the experts tell you, you need to adjust the calorie equation.

In a nutshell, you have to get the calories in, to be less than the calories out.

No PROBLEM !    You’re willing and able to restrict calories, to make it happen.

BUT…………

The weight loss CRISIS

Your brain doesn’t always get the memo.

The reason calories are reduced is to make you LOOK GOOD & FEEL BETTER.

The sudden drop in calorie consumption is perceived as a crisis.

Your brain is thinking……….

OMG !  The world has turned NASTY – we’re experiencing A FAMINE.

I must respond APPROPRIATELY !

The appropriate response

I must conserve calories, who knows when we’ll eat again.

And so……….. APPROPRIATE responses are made, among them resting energy expenditure drops.

Your body is able to run on fumes.

The DANGERS of the FAMINE SITUATION have been mitigated.  BRAVO !

The fat loss stalls

Of course, this helps you the dieter diddly squat.

You’re effectively starving, but you are NOT losing weight !

You’ve hit the DREADED………….PLATEAU.

Eish !  The dieters dilemma…..

Eat less move more

Now the gurus might look at you somewhat sceptically and say, the reason you’re not losing weight is YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG i.e. you’re still eating too much and moving too little.

But odds are you’re NOT doing it wrong …… you’re COMMITTED  !

Biology RULES !

So what can you do ?

A group of researchers from Australia set about looking for a way to “trick” the body…

Enter………… the MATADOR study.

The MATADOR study

The study was designed to address the biology and find a way of

So did they succeed ?

MATADOR dieters

The team took 51 obese, weight stable, sedentary gents and put them on diet.

For 16 weeks.

• One group dieted for 16 weeks straight.
• The other group dieted at 2 week intervals, for 16 weeks.

The nature of the diet

Both groups followed the same diet.

This was a traditional diet,  carbs were not restricted, calories were.

The macronutrient ratio was

• 25–30% of energy as fat,
• 15–20% of energy  as protein and
• 50–60% of energy  as carbohydrate.

The calorie restriction was 33 % less than needed.

NOTE :  The guys in the study didn’t have to worry about getting it right, all their meals were provided by the university kitchen. 

Less calories in meant weight loss

Calorie restriction WORKS……

Both groups lost weight, when dieting…………………….

The group, dieting in two week bursts, lost more weight than the guys dieting continuously.

This was what the team predicted.

Intermittent dieting stops the panic

When the team assessed the resting energy expenditure,  those doing intermittent dieting managed to keep the body ticking over at a higher rev count, despite losing weight and dieting.

This didn’t happen in the continuous dieters…………… the body became more and more perturbed as time when by.

By the end of the dieting period, their bodies were able to run on approx. 600 less kilojoules per day. Eish !

This is why weight loss stagnates – the starved body is seriously EFFICIENT !

It’s counter intuitive but LESS is more.

Dieting success 

The benefits of MATADOR dieting were evident at 16 weeks, but this was only the beginning.

Most dieters will share their dieting successes.

Pounds are lost, dresses and pants fit better.

But, it never lasts…….. the weight that is lost is usually put back on, with a little extra.  That drop in resting energy expenditure is more than likely to blame.

But, matador dieting protected against the rebound obesity.

6 months post diet

The continuous dieters were pretty close to being back to square one.

16 weeks of “suffering” amounted to a 3 kg weight loss.

Pretty depressing…….

This didn’t happen in the guys who had dieted “intermittently”, their 16 weeks of dieting, spread over 30 weeks, yielded around 12 kg weight loss.

That’s IMPRESSIVE…..

MATADOR dieting

Works and is probably easier……..

Let’s face it calorie restricting is HARD.

Taking a break, every two weeks, will help make it tolerable.   So why not try MATADOR dieting.

Just a quick NOTE if you’re eager to try it.

The off weeks aren’t pig outs

You still need to be mindful of the calories in.

The aim of the game, is to balance the calories in, with the calories out.

You’re not RESTRICTING per se, but you can’t eat EVERYTHING in sight.   After all,  you are still ON DIET !

The difference….doing it this way, you increase the odds that the fat loss is PERMANENT.

Other dieting option that can protect from compensatory mechanisms

• Time restricted feeding
• Intermittant fasting

Further reading

This is one of the 31 tips & strategies, in our free, zero-to-one weight loss course, for more tips & strategies enrol NOW….