The two most dangerous points when you diet

T holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are dangerous points when you're just beginning to diet, and the day you decide that you've lost enough weight and now it's time to maintain is another dangerous point.  (The maintenance part will be a LOT easier if you follow my program, mark you - but I"ll get into that in another post.)

But the two *most dangerous* times  in a dieter's regime is during the first four weeks of the regime, and right after those first four weeks.

During the first four weeks
You know what I'm talking about!  You've cut back on your food, you're working out 3 times a week and biking or jogging every day.

Yet every day you step on that scale and it hasn't moved..or it will be down one day and back up the next.

And you're getting madder and madder and finally you say, "To hell with it, I can't lose weight, so I'm not going to bother."

But you just need to be patient.

In order to lose weight, your body must achieve a state of caloric imbalance and then it must stay in that state.

It takes at least a week for the state to first be achieved...and if you eat too many treats on a Saturday or something such that that state is disturbed, it will delay your weight loss by a couple of days.

What you must always remember is that even if you're not losing weight during these first four weeks, you are actually getting healthier. You are losing some fat (if you're working out - with even light weights) because the fat you're losing is replaced by muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. And once you get those muscles, the weight will start to come off quicker because muscles burn calories quicker than fat does. (Which is why when you're fit and have a toned body and are maintaining, you can eat all the foods you love in decent-sized portions, and not gain back the weight you lost.)

This is why I advise my clients not to step on the scale for the first 4 weeks of their new diet/exercise regime. It will only drive you crazy. As long as you cut back on your food - you don't have to cut out all the foods you love, you just have to cut back! - work out 3 times a week - and go for a walk or a bike ride every day, you will be losing weight. How much weight you lose will depend on how old you are, remember. If you're young you'll probably lose 2 pounds per week, if you're old or have a slow metabolism - 1 pound.

But hell - that's a loss of 52 pounds in a year.

Now, the second most dangerous point in your new diet...is when you step on that scale for the first time after those 4 weeks are up, and see that weight loss. You will be so happy.

But you'll also think - "If I can lose this weight while eating breakfast, lunch and dinner, I will be able to lose more weight more quickly if I skip breakfast and lunch and just have dinner."

And this is not true. It may seem to be contradictory, but you will actually take longer to lose weight if you cut out breakfast and lunch, because your body is going to go in starvation mode, and deliberately slow down weight loss.

So you must eat breakfast and lunch. Small portions. And you must eat supper. And you can have dessert of a couple of cookies after dinner, or maybe half a candy-bar. If the hunger pangs hit late at night - a banana or some piece of fruit.

But whatever you do, you must eat those three meals a day - or five small meals. Do not skip meals!

This is important during your entire diet plan, and it is also important when you're in the maintenance phase. Since you've never skipped a meal, you will be able to continue your "new lifestyle" easily, with just the addition of an extra portion of this or that...and mebbe a whole candy bar for dessert instead of half of one.

So be patient, and you will achieve your goals.