Industry Figure Tom Chappell

I came across these simple rules the other day in one of the nutrition books that I’ve been reading lately, which are a great synopsis of what we’ve been talking about:

1. If you try to lose weight by dieting, with no exercise, your body will lose fat and muscle.

2. If you go off your diet, still not exercising, then your body will gain fat, but no muscle.

There it is, a simple mechanism by which yo-yo dieting lowers your metabolic rate! There may be others, but we really only need one. Remember how your muscles consume many more calories than your fat does? After you’ve dropped weight by dieting without exercise, and put it back on by eating without exercise, you end up with less muscle, more fat, and a slower metabolism.

It’s why you not only rebound, but rebound to a wonderful new higher weight.

It’s not voodoo, though: if you spend some time exercising, it can all be fixed — you have a second chance.

I personally know several people who have lost a lot of weight, and kept it off for years (one of them for more than a decade, now), which virtually no one in this country ever does, and every single one of them, man and woman, say the exact same thing, when asked their secret: “I exercise.”

If you want to get it off, and keep it off, you’re going to have to exercise a little more.