Metabolism and Weight Loss

There has never been a weight loss diet I have recommended … until now.

In my continuing research, I came across a PBS presentation with respected nutritionist Haylie Pomroy.  She introduced her fast metabolism diet.  What piqued my interest was her inclusion of all the main food groups, including those that most weight loss programs warn you to avoid.  Pomroy explains how you need to eat to activate your metabolism versus starving your body as many diets seem to recommend. Metabolism, after all, is the process for turning fuel into energy.

I have had a small weight gain every year for the past few years.  That adds up.  My own regular food intake is quite healthy, so in order to continue to fit into my clothes and lose some weight, I felt I had to restrict even the healthy fats and treats I was having.  After months of this restriction, I did not achieve my weight goals and instead found that weight was quite stubborn – more than ever before.

I bought Haylie’s book and started using her fast metabolism diet plan over 3 weeks ago.  I am presently in the 4th week and have noticed a significant weight loss already.  It happened while I was busy eating and cooking the recipes in the book.

Here’s a quick look at the ‘big picture’ to show you why I was so immediately drawn to this plan.

Typical weight loss diets focused on restricting certain foods or lowering calorie intake to what can best be described as a starvation level eventually FAIL or at least stall and become less effective in terms of weight loss.  Why is that?  Well, as living creatures, we have a basic survival instinct and if our eating habits tell our bodies we don’t have enough food to eat, our bodies stop metabolizing as quickly, thus protecting our survival since we are surely starving.

In this fast metabolism diet, just when the body would conclude you are starving for certain nutrients, you take them in and the metabolism does not slow down.  Thus, weight loss continues.  The fast metabolism diet increases your overall metabolism by challenging your metabolism to deal with foods on a rotating basis.

The base of the diet is a one week plan where your food intake shifts through three phases.  In all phases, vegetables and protein are the staples.

The first phase lasts two days, during which you add in whole grains and super sweet fruits like mango, papaya, melons, apples and strawberries.

The second phase, also two days, focuses on protein and vegetables only, especially leafy greens.  These are low carb days.

For the last three days of the week, you add in oils and fats.  You have not had oils and fats for the first 4 days.

It is recommended you repeat that week 4 times for 28 days total.

You can achieve this diet by reading the book.  It does take several trips to the store to get all the categories of food you may not be eating.  There may need to be some adjustments for people that need to be more alkaline.  The nice part is that everything you need to be eating is actually available at the grocery store – no synthetic powders or supplements to buy.

There are many other side benefits Haylie talks about:  lower cholesterol, blood pressure and sugars.  I also noticed in the PBS presentation that weight loss from weight loss diets rarely resulted in creating a sculpted effect on the body.  However, by focusing on increasing metabolism rather than directly on losing weight, the body looked tight – the fat was metabolised and the body was firmer.  Oh, and don’t forget to put weight loss on the list of amazing side benefits, right?

So, in all honesty, I suppose I have to say I am still not recommending a weight loss diet plan since the goal is raising metabolism rather than losing weight. I’m very happy I’ve taken this opportunity to increase my metabolism and tackle the weight gain issue from a different, more sensible direction.  In the end, I am expecting that my body will metabolize more effectively when I am not on the diet and that is the long lasting result I always look for.

I do love sharing information with you that I’ve found useful in my own life.  Thanks for continuing to subscribe to my newsletter.  Let me know if you’d like more information about the Fast Metabolism Diet or any other questions you might have about this or any of my newsletter topics.