Q&A for: 26-Nov-05
1101. Q:
I don't know why people say starving doesn't work. I did it and I lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks! Its been a month now and i've only gained 1 lb. back. I've been eating healthy ever since I stopped.
A:
People say it doesn't work, because in vast majority of cases it really doesn't work and in the few cases it does, it's not even close to the most optimal way of losing fat. When you are starving you're losing both muscle and fat. While losing fat is great, losing muscle is very or at least somewhat undesirable because muscle is your greatest ally in burning fat and keeping it off. If you are very very overweight, then you can get away with starving a little easier (because your body has a ton of spare fat to burn), but the leaner you get, the worse starvation approaches will work.
I don't know your specific situation, but if you are a fairly average, slightly overweight person, then those 10 pounds you lost were probably roughly half muscle, half fat. So you only lost 5 pounds of fat or so and now, one month later, you gained one of those back, so your net fat loss after 6 weeks is only 4 pounds of fat. On top of it you lost 5 pounds of muscle, which means now you can't afford to eat as much as you used to without gaining new fat.
If, on the other hand you followed a good healthy diet and training, in those same 6 weeks you could've lost 6-8 pounds of fat without losing any muscle at all. That's why pretty much any personal trainer, inlcuding me, will tell you that starvation is not a good approach to losing fat.
1102. Q:
t i seem to lose weight but my man boobs dont decrease, is that something genetic? or do i have to loe more weight to be satisfied
A:
I can't tell you why this is happening unless you tell me a lot more about yourself and your program: age, height, weight, weighttraining, diet, how long have you been following it, how much weight have you lost? It will take time and the more overweight you are, the longer it will take. Figure to lose about 1 pound per week. So if you're 50 pounds overweight, it may easily take a year. But if you post back with the detail I asked for above, I'll be able to give you a much more useful answer.
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