Question of the Day

I believe there is a certain weight that our bodies try to settle at. This is known as homeostasis and is the way the body attempts to "keep things the same."
This point, however, can be manipulated. For example, when I was eating nothing but junk food and drinking beer, my body gravitated to 240 pounds. I gained rapidly to reach that point, but then hovered there despite eating an enormous amount of calories - up to 10,000 - per day. Of course, it was slowly increasing and had that trend continued, I would be onwards to 300 pounds or more.

» Learn more about Your Metabolism

On the other hand, while I had to fight tooth and nail to reach low digits body fat to see my abs, maintaining at 190 was relatively easy and I did this for many months until I went through a stressful period. Since that period, despite cutting, my body wants to maintain at around 205. It's just the current level.

I can lower that by increasing my veggie intake and low calorie fruit, eating more fiber and healthy fats, and increasing my activity to lower that set point down. My goal is to maintain easily at around 195.

As we age, that set point will change as well, because our metabolism slows but our appetite usually remains the same ... so we gain. So it is a constant process of being aware of who you are and where you are at.

Tell me - in this quest to lose weight - what professionals have you hired as your team to help you reach there? I see many people who say "I've tried everything" but upon scrutiny, they've tried everything themselves. The fact is, there are qualified nutritionists, trainers, and other professionals who have the knowledge and experience to help you reach that level.

I used to think I could do it all on my own - even after receiving my certification as a Fitness Trainer and a Specialist in Performance Nutrition. However, the greatest lesson I learned was that I was not being objective with myself and I needed to hire someone else to coach me there. That was my personal experience - that is how I've experienced my greatest breakthroughs in both health and business. I know it is popular these days to say you can get all you need on a forum or with a Google search, and that works for some people, but when you have so obviously tried so many extremes, perhaps it is time to consider "bringing in the cavalry?"

You might also enjoy reading How to Repair a Damaged Metabolism by guest author Tom Venuto.

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