Friday, October 5, 2007

How can I loose weight in 2 weeks for a wedding?

Fast dieting usually leads to fast loss in a week or so but then fast plateau in the loss thereafter. It is thought in most non-medical circles is mostly loss in "water" weight. Many things will happen hormonally when the body is faced with an acute decrease in circulation glucose levels. Much of the body response is due to release of glucagon by the pancreas leading to the breakdown of glycogen in the liver. This goes fast and within a day, if exercise in also started, the action can dwindle stores to very basal levels. If the body continues this path, fat stores are call on to contribute to the glucose production. The built in mechanism to stimulate the body to hunt for more glucose stores is the symptom of craving. The hypothalamus is stimulated by release of hormones and also from the low glucose stores. This is sometimes noticed in "carb hunting" after drastic low-carb diets.
In theory, if the brain can be fooled into accepting the low glucose concentrations in the blood, the short term fasting will be easier to tolerate. Supposedly, the manufacturers of Hoodia say it works by fooling the hypothalamus (though not enough evidence for effectiveness). The drug Redux had also been studied to release serotonin thus depressing appetite and anxiety. It also was reported to cause primary pulmonary hypertension and nerve damage. Much of the same problem occurred with fenfen and Ma Huang (ephedra) which was pulled off US shelves.

More natural ways to fool the brain indirectly would be to increase the fullness in the digestive tract. Water, fiber, frequent smaller meals. Some have tried aroma therapy to sooth the brain when the hypothalamus is prompting the "hunt" to start. Another trick is to exercise which releases a strong fight or flight stimulus. The sympathetic hormones command more response from the body than the parasymathetic hormones so "anger" wins over "eating". The obvious answer is that it isn't healthy to do fast bursts of weight loss. If it must be done over a short term period, consider calories in and calories burned. Use exercise and wise food choices. Keep schedules busy (don't mistake hunger for boredom) and when hunger does come up, don't have high calorie snacks around to choose from, (junk food, simple carbs, candy). Be weary of any supplements that state appetite suppression. Since the FDA doesn't regulate labeling, three of four bottles on the shelf probably won't even have the ingredient at high enough doses in them. Many of the effects from the new cans of energy/weight loss drinks are from the caffeine component, (again stimulating the fight or flight hormone release of epinephrine and norepinephrin) which elevate blood pressure and decrease sleep.

Here is an FDA post of the recall of Fenfen for heart valve problems....http://www.fda.gov/CDER/news/phen/fenphenpr81597.htm

The "Saguil Approach" is to do things in moderation with easy goals every 4-6weeks. The attention span for an average individual is 20minutes to read one of these blogs and I believe 4-6 weeks to perform a specific routine in exercise, after that, muscle develops engrams to memorize routines and it's not asmuch of a stress anymore thus body gets used to the progam and no further gains noted.....the typical plateau people talk about....(that I term sling shot period since re-adjusting the routine, diet or time of work out will "slingshot" you to the next level.) Plateau is such a terminal decription. Diet safely and be patient...push the cardio because that is essentially the only way to burn up all stored glycogen and start to have the body call on adipose tissue for energy. Burn adipose tissue and fat depots will shrink.