Do you know people who complain about having a slow metabolism and how they barely eat anything yet still gain weight? Or have you met people who complain about someone they know who can eat whatever he or she wants including large portions of junk food due to a fast metabolism and apparently never gain weight. In both cases the individual usually ends by saying, "It's not fair!" These scenarios raise several very good questions:

The answer to these questions involves a mix of nature (genetic make-up) and nurture (the environment).

Metabolism or metabolic rate is defined asthe series of chemical reactions in a living organism that create and break down energy necessary for life. More simply, it's the rate at which your body expends energy or burns calories.

Our bodies burn calories in several ways:

Metabolism is partly genetic and largely outside of one's control. Changing it is a matter of considerable debate. Some people are just lucky. They inherited genes that promote a faster metabolism and can eat more than others without gaining weight. Others are not so lucky and end up with a slow metabolism.

One way to think about metabolism is to view your body as a car engine that is always running. When you're sitting still or sleeping, you're engine is idling like a car at a stop light. A certain amount of energy is being burned just to keep the engine running. Of course, for humans, the fuel source is not gasoline. It's the calories found in foods we eat and beverages we drink energy that may be used right away or stored (especially in the form of fat) for use later.

How fast your body's "engine" runs on average, over time, determines how many calories you burn. If your metabolism is "high" (or fast), you will burn more calories at rest and during activity. A high metabolism means you'll need to take in more calories to maintain your weight. That's one reason why some people can eat more than others without gaining weight. A person with a "low" (or slow) metabolism will burn fewer calories at rest and during activity and therefore has to eat less to avoid becoming overweight.

Lean people tend to be more active during everyday activities than people who are overweight. How? They may "fidget" more that is, they tend to be in motion even when engaged in non-exercise activities. Whether this tendency to move more or less is genetically programmed or learned remains uncertain. But it can add or subtract hundreds of calories each day.

Obese people expend more calories, on average, than lean people during most activities, in part because it takes more effort to move around. But they tend to be more sedentary, which makes it harder to get rid of body fat.

It's part truth and part myth that metabolism is the key to weight. The rising tide of obesity in this country cannot be blamed entirely on an inherited tendency to have a slow metabolism. Genes do not change that quickly. Something environmental particularly, changes in diet and exercising too little are much more likely culprits. Age can be a factor, too, although new evidence suggests metabolism reaches a peak earlier in life and slows down much later than previously thought.

The reality is that for most people, excess weight is not all due to bad luck, thyroid trouble or some other unexplained, uncontrollable external factor. For most of us, calories in, calories out has a strong influence on changes in weight over a lifetime.

Regardless of whether your metabolism is fast or slow, our bodies are designed to store excess energy in fat cells. So, if you eat and drink more calories (energy "intake") than your body expends (energy "output") you will gain weight. On the other hand, if you eat and drink fewer calories than are burned through everyday activities (including exercise, rest and sleep), you'll lose weight. Our bodies are also programmed to sense a lack of food as starvation. In response, our BMR slows down, which means fewer calories burned over time. That's one reason why losing weight is often difficult.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about all of this is how little our weight tends to change from day to day. In fact, only a few excess calories each day could lead to significant weight gain at the end of a year. For example, eating an extra apple each day could lead to a weight gain of nearly 9 pounds by the end of one year! Similarly, even a small reduction in calories each day could lead to remarkable weight loss. Eliminating dessert one day a week would lead to weight loss of nearly six pounds in a year.

Many theories exist to explain what controls the amount of food a person eats, when they feel full and why they eat past the point of feeling full. These factors also play a role in determining one's ultimate weight. One theory is that each of us has a set point a weight at which the body is "happy." If you lose weight, you'll feel hungry until you get back to your set point weight. That may be another reason it is so hard to lose excess weight. But how that set point is determined and whether there truly is such a mechanism remain uncertain.

When it comes to weight, metabolismisimportant and does have a genetic component. Whether you can change your metabolic rate, however, is a matter of considerable debate. Clearly, youcanchange how you balance the calories you take in against the calories you burn up through activity, which can change your weight.

Image:Alexey Yakovenko/Getty Images

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Does Metabolism Matter in Weight Loss? - Harvard Health

Bharti, who once weighed 96 kilos looks absolutely phenomenal, and much fitter than before. While the actress has been a known name in the industry for several years now, it was only recently that she decided to work on her body. In an interview, she said, "The last 30-32 years I havent taken care of myself, and would eat at odd times. That caused a lot of issues and I was even at borderline diabetes. I also got asthma during my stint on Khatron Ke Khiladi, and would also get tired really easily. Now, having shed my extra kilos I am feeling so much lighter and dont even have any health issues.

Bharti also talked about giving fasting a try after hearing of tremendous benefits from fellow co-stars, who backed the trend. I would often talk to all these actors and they mentioned how they would fast for long hours. I decided to give it a try. While initially, I would crave food late at night, I worked hard on it and now my body has accepted the new change."

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Bharti Singh weight loss: 4 things Bharti Singh did to ...

October 11, 2021

Intermittent fasting can produce clinically significant weight loss as well as improve metabolic health in individuals with obesity, according to a new study review led by University of Illinois Chicago researchers.

We noted that intermittent fasting is not better than regular dieting; both produce the same amount ofweight loss and similarchanges in blood pressure, cholesteroland inflammation, saidKrista Varady, professor of nutrition at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences and author of Cardiometabolic Benefits of Intermittent Fasting.

Krista Varady, professor of nutrition, UIC College of Applied Health Sciences. (Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin/UIC)

According to the analysis published in the Annual Review of Nutrition, all forms of fasting reviewed produced mild to moderate weight loss, 1%-8% from baseline weight, which represents results that are similar to that of more traditional, calorie-restrictive diets. Intermittent fasting regimens may also benefit health by decreasing blood pressure and insulin resistance, and in some cases, cholesterol and triglyceride levels are also lowered. Other health benefits, such as improved appetite regulation and positive changes in the gut microbiome, have also been demonstrated.

The review looked atover 25researchstudiesinvolving three types of intermittent fasting:

Various studies of time-restrictedeatingshow participants withobesitylosing an average of 3% of their body weight, regardless of the time of the eating window.

Studies showed alternate day fasting resulted in weight loss of 3%-8% of body weight over three to eight weeks, with results peaking at 12 weeks. Individuals on alternate day fasting typically do not overeat or binge on feast days, which results in mild to moderate weight loss, according to the review.

Studies for the 5:2 diet showed similar results to alternate day fasting, which surprised the studys reviewers. The subjects who participate in the 5:2 diet fast much less frequently than alternate-day fasting participants do, but the weight loss results are similar.

Weight loss with alternate day and 5:2 fasting are comparable to more traditional daily calorie-restrictive diets. And, both fasting diets showed individuals were able to maintain an average of 7% weight loss for a year.

Youre fooling your body into eating a little bit less and thats why people are losing weight, Varady said.

Varady added thereview set out to debunk some myths regarding intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting does not negatively affect metabolism, nor does it cause disordered eating, according to the studies reviewed.

Fasting people are worried about feeling lethargic and not being able to concentrate. Even though you are not eating, it wont affect your energy, Varady said. A lot of peopleexperience a boost of energy on fasting days. Dont worry, you wont feel crappy. You may even feel better.

The study review includes a summary of practical considerations for those who may want to try intermittent fasting. Among the considerations are:

There are several groups who should not intermittent fast, according to the studies. Those individuals include:

People love intermittent fastingbecause its easy.People need to find diets thattheycan stick to long term.Its definitely effective for weight loss and its gained popularity because there are no special foodsor apps necessary. You can also combine it with other diets, like Keto, Varady said.

Varady has recently been awarded a National Institutes of Health grant to study time-restricted eating for 12 months to see if it works long term.

The papers additional authors include Sofia Cienfuegos, Mark Ezpeleta and Kelsey Gabel, all of the department of kinesiology and nutrition at UIC.

This review was supported in part by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK119783).

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Research review shows intermittent fasting works for weight loss, health changes | UIC Today - UIC Today

Navratri is the time to fast, relax, detox and rejuvenate. Many people fast on all nine days of the festival while others for a couple of days. People tend to make certain mistakes while fasting that may affect their health or not allow them to reap full benefits of it. Not eating for long gaps, eating only deep-fried stuff, not taking care of your protein requirements can be harmful for health in many cases. While some people hog too much on vrat stuff, others may experience hunger cravings while fasting.

Celebrity Dietitian Rajat Jain, Founder of Health Wealth Diet Clinic, Jaipur, answers some FAQs by people regarding Navratri fasting.

Does fasting help you lose weight or make you weak instead?

Yes, if your fasts are taken care of with an appropriate diet plan that fulfils the necessary nutrition requirements, your weight loss will be healthy and not out of weakness. But, fasting does not mean you just go ahead and binge eat in order to be energetic on light foods. It will all make sense only when you have your calories balanced.

ALSO READ | Navratri 2021: A nutritionist tells us what to eat while fasting

Are foods eatable during fasts diet friendly?

Foods like makhane, peanuts, sabudana and fruit based sweets, and not to forget that ghee, are all good enough to balance with the diet. And who would doubt the shuddh shakahari sada bhojan to be unhealthy.

How to get enough nutrients from Navratri diet foods?

For carbs you can have sabudana, kuttu ke atta ka stuffs, roasted makhana, peanuts, chiwda, etc. For protein, dairy products such as milk, paneer, are good.

You can use ghee to cook all your foods in order to get healthy fats. And for the vitamins and minerals you can have fruits and veggies that are allowed during fasting. This way you can get all the required nutrition and feel full and energetic throughout the day.

How to manage hunger and food cravings during fasting?

Try to have most of the protein-rich foods as protein helps you relieve hunger and makes you full for a longer period of time, as well as is a crucial element for weight loss.

What foods can we eat while fasting to get protein

Milk and milk substitutes are rich sources for protein and can be consumed while fasting as well. You can have paneer, milk, buttermilk, tofu etc for the protein rich diet. Along with this, some amount of protein can also be found in nuts like almonds, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, etc.

Will fasting have a negative impact on the progress I've made with my body?

You might feel that a change in diet for certain days may affect your diet or fitness regimen but if you stay consistent and just give your body and diet this little break, it wont affect much. You all have cheat days too anyway.

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Navratri fasting: Managing cravings to losing weight, 6 vrat FAQs answered by nutritionist - Hindustan Times

The holiday season is fast approaching, and if you're someone who's in the middle of their weight loss plan or are thinking about trying to start one, these next few months full of festivities and delicious meals may make things a little tricky.

But fear not, because we talked with a few dietitians about what they consider to be some of the best, most effective habits for losing weight, all of which you can start right this moment.

So don't go canceling all of your holiday parties and potlucks just yet. Instead, continue reading to find out which habits our dietitians want you to try adding to your weight loss plan. And for more healthy eating tips, make sure to check out The 7 Healthiest Foods to Eat Right Now.

People sometimes make the mistake of only focusing on a calorie deficit instead of focusing on the types of nutrient-dense foods they're consuming, which can leave them feeling overly hungry.

But according to Amy Goodson, MS, RD, CSSD, LD, author of The Sports Nutrition Playbook and a member of our medical expert board,getting enough meals with both fiber and protein can help you meet your weight loss goals.

"This combination helps to stabilize your blood sugar by helping you manage energy levels and portion sizes," says Goodson. "Because both fiber and protein slow down digestion, you'll be full faster and will remain full for a longer period of time.

Need more fiber in your diet? Incoporate these Popular Foods With More Fiber Than Oatmeal.

Sometimes it may be easy to get caught up in what not to eat, but some dietitians say it's best to focus on what to add to your diet instead.

"Instead of focusing on the negatives, I like to start out by having my clients find clean, unprocessed foods they enjoy that they can practice adding to their diet," says Courtney D'Angelo, MS, author at Fit Healthy Momma. "From there we can focus on substituting certain junk foods for healthy ones at a later time.

Here are 7 Clean Eating Habits for Weight Loss, According to Dietitians

One of the trickiest parts of weight loss is dining out. When you're at a restaurant or ordering takeout, it becomes much more difficult to control what you're eating. This is why D'Angelo suggests cooking more at home.

"Making a habit of doing your own cooking will give you full control of the ingredients you're putting in your body, like cooking chicken and broccoli at home instead of ordering it for takeout, which would automatically have more sodium, fat, and sugar," says D'Angelo.

Cooking can also help keep you motivated throughout your weight loss process. D'Angelo says, "when you work to get really good at cooking, you take pride in your food and look forward to trying new recipes, and you'll most likely save money, too."

This is one of the easiest tips to add to your weight loss plan. D'Angelo says that drinking plenty of water is not only good for your overall health, but can also help you avoid drinks like sugary sodas, sweetened iced tea, and other beverages that can sneak in too many calories.

Plus, water can also keep you full longer. A study from Virginia Tech found that adults who drank water before their meals ended up consuming fewer calories and losing more weight over time.

Here's the One Major Side Effect of Not Drinking Enough Water, Say Dietitians

"The impact of sleep on weight loss is grossly underestimated," says Kayla Girgen, RD, LD. "Not getting adequate rest puts your body in a heightened state of stress, which negatively impacts the hormones involved in weight loss."

Not getting enough sleep can also lead to more snacking throughout the day, and studies have shown that it leads to snacking on foods that are higher in carbs, sugar, and fat.

To get better sleep, "try reading, some gentle stretching, dimming the lights, and ditching the screens about 30 to 60 minutes before bed," says Girgen.

For more healthy tips, read these next:

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Weight Loss Habits Dietitians Want You to Try Right Now - Eat This, Not That

Navratri is here, its the season of festivity, cheer and joy. The nine-day-long festival that accompanies a period of fasting incites happiness and rejoicing among everyone. This period of abstinence is aimed at renewing our spiritual energy.

For many, Navratri fasting is the ideal way to detox. Observing a fast not only

enhances the digestive capacity of ones body but also ensures that the harmful

toxins are flushed. Although fasting can be a great way to shape up your body and lose some weight, if not properly executed, the gains made during such fasts can be lost within a very short period of time, much to our chagrin.

Instead of going into a calorie deficit for weight loss, some people increase

their meal frequency in the name of fasting and they, in turn, increase their

calorie consumption, says Dietitian Rajat Jain, Weight Loss Expert & Founder of Health Wealth Clinics Jaipur. Kuttu ki puri, singhade ka halwa, Sabudana Vada, sabudana khichdi are some of the favourite dishes loved in Navratri. And these fasting dishes are much more palatable and tempting and you might end up eating much more in your fasting days than you normally do.

The secret of losing weight is not changing the quantity but the quality of your intake. During Navratras when we aspire to come closer to the divine, the process becomes even simpler as we naturally are inclined to consume Satvik food during these pious days. Sattvic diet has high fibre, low fat with a higher satiety factor, says Aman Jaiswal, Chef Patron , La Marinate.

Fresh fruits, fresh fruit juices, sprouts, nuts, taken during fasts provide high nutrition and also help to detoxify the system.

Stick with roti/ cheela made with flours that are ok to have during fasts like kuttu/ rajgira /singhara instead of deep fried dishes made from the same. Add roasted peanuts, curd and paneer to amp up your protein intake. Dry fruits are great way to spike up your energy levels with quick snacking. Makhanas, almonds, walnuts, raisins and pistachios should be your go to snack, says Diksha Chhabra, Certified nutritionist and a fitness trainer.

Nutritionist Harshita Dilawri, Know Your Nutrients suggests healthy recipes like potato with mint chutney, pumpkin halwa, potato lauki muthias (dumplings), carrot kheer, pineapple apple carrot smoothie, rajgira paneer paratha, green peas sundal (stir fried). You can make your own healthy combos with the right combinations. Start your day with a cup of green tea and two dates. Opt for sabudana khichdi/ rajgira roti with lauki/ arbi sabzi and a glass of chach with rock salt. Another combination which works well is starting with vegetable soup, a bowl of salad with kuttu ka atta/rajgira roti and sabzi followed by low-fat lauki halwa or carrot halwa, says Dilawri.

For those fitness enthusiasts who have been relentlessly hitting the gym and feel the fast will be a spoiler for their customary fitness visits, Vikas Chawla, founder and director, Vedas Cure has a tip, The pro tip is to stick on to the home-cooked meals and avoid packaged foods like salted chips, and keep the body moving as much as possible. Physical exercise and walking are not only energy boosters but help in burning the calories at a faster rate, he says.

Yash Vardhan Swami, health coach and fitness educator cautions all those fasting peeps, Losing weight during Navratri fasting is actually possible. But remember, its just 9 days, so do not expect to lose a lot of kgs. All we need to do is to ensure that the Navratra food is not fried, we are moving enough and are having enough protein.

Happy Navratri, happy fasting!

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Navratri fast: Fasting like a boss and losing weight too - Hindustan Times

Navratri marks the beginning of festivities. It is an auspicious occasion across our country. People celebrate this nine-day festival with great pomp and show along with fasting for nine days to show their devotion.

The scientific concept behind fasting is to detox and cleanse your body by giving it a break from eating regular foods. Navratri promotes eating gluten-free grains and light foods. Sometimes people who fast only consume fruits and water during the nine days. The fasting food items should be simple and rich in nutrients. If done in the right way, fasting can help promote weight loss too. Yes, you read that right.

So, if you are planning to lose weight, Navratri is the best time for you to start. Here are some simple tips that can help you achieve your weight loss goals while you observe the Navratri fasting.

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Navratri fasting: The best 5 tips to follow for weight loss - Times of India

At least 50 per cent of your plate should be vegetables if you are trying to lose weight, according to Daniels.

Vegetables are really good because theyre high in fibre, antioxidants, they are going to fill you up - because theyre high in fibre - but theyre low in energy, Daniels explains. So while they fill you up and make you feel full, theyre not providing you with a lot of calories.

Diets often recommend cutting carbohydrates because they can speed up weight loss by targeting water weight. However, not only is this not sustainable (youll put that weight back on the minute you reintroduce carbs to your diet), but carbohydrates are essential to your diet.

Carbohydrates should be the biggest food group in our diet because they provide us with sustainable energy throughout the day, says Bond. They are useful for fuelling our brain so we can concentrate, and giving us the energy to do exercise. She recommends brown rice, wholegrain pasta, porridge, and quinoa.

Interestingly, Daniels argues that its not even the type of carbohydrates, but how youre pairing the carbohydrates as this can affect your blood sugar levels. She recommends pairing carbs (i.e. white bread) with protein (i.e. chicken) and fibre (i.e. salad) as this ensures the sugar is released more slowly into the bloodstream.

Alongside carbs, be sure to keep fats in your diet especially monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which boost good cholesterol, make us feel fuller, and are good for our hair, skin and nails. Daniels recommends rapeseed oil, extra virgin olive oil, avocado, and oily fish.

Consider the humble broccoli floret. Agriculturally tweaked to be a bit more palatable than its prehistoric predecessors, sure, but mostly unprocessed and, at 170 caloriesa head, basically impossible to overeat. Compare that with Custard Creams at 58 calories each, youve probably eaten three while you read this article and you get a sense of the problem: processed foods are often extremely calorie dense, engineered to be deliciously moreish, and all too easy to overeat.

Sugar, for instance, can feel addictive enough in its own right, but combined with salt or fat, its almost inhumanly addictive. Make sure the bulk of your diet is whole, unprocessed foods meat, eggs, and veg all fit the bill and youll find it tough to accidentally overindulge.

If you implement the recommended deficit of 500 calories a day, you should be able to lose between one and two pounds a week. People think that is not very much but, actually, when you look at what a pound is a bag of sugar its actually quite a lot of weight loss, Bondsays.

Daniels and Bondagree that, within a couple of months, you should start to see some changes. If you carry on with those changes, six months quickly passes, and you find that youre feeling better, your clothes are fitting better and you barely notice it because it was just little things that youve changed in your diet rather than something drastic, Daniels says.

Youve set your goal and youre at your ideal weight. Now the hard work really begins.

It starts with maintaining those slight changes to your diet, which should help to wean ourselves off having that desire for sweet food, says Bond.

Below, experts share more practical tips on how to keep the weight off permanantely.

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How to lose weight and keep it off for good - The Telegraph