Calories – How High Can You Go?

In the same way a tablespoon measures volume, a “calorie” measures energy, specifically the amount of energy stored in carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Most reducing diets are based on restricting the amount of calories, typically to 1,200 calories a day or under. That’s a sub-par requirement, particularly for women. Here’s why: An average woman’s basal metabolic rate (BMR) is 1,200 calories a day. BMR refers to the minimum number of calories required by the body over a 24-hour period just to breathe, to pump blood through the circulatory system, and to drive all the cellular processes that support life. It doesn’t include the energy needed to do other things like move around or exercise. So you see: most diets are too low to provide enough energy to sustain vital functions, let alone other activities. Thus, the metabolism downshifts greatly – for two reasons.

First, the metabolic rate slows down to conserve energy and accommodate the lower calorie intake. Second, muscle is lost. Since muscle is the body’s major metabolically active tissue, losing it compromises the ability of the body to effectively burn energy. It becomes increasingly difficult for the body to burn fat under either of these circumstances. In fact, the body starts thinking it is starving and begins hoarding fat, rather than burning it.

Still, the misperception exists that the fewer calories you eat, the faster you will lose weight, and the more weight you will lose.

The results of an intriguing scientific experiment prove otherwise. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Syracuse University put 76 obese women on one of three diets: a 420-, a 660-, or an 800-calorie diet. Basically, the dieters consumed a specially formulated liquid supplement. The study lasted 6 months, and all the women lost weight – 45 pounds on average. There wasn’t much difference in the amount or rate of weight loss, either. But here’s the clincher: These women lost weight at the rate of just under 2 pounds a week – what most weight loss experts describe as a safe rate of weight loss. But they did it under near-starvation conditions! On the Parrillo Nutrition Program, you can get the same results, but without slashing calories so severely, without depriving yourself, and without slowing down your

metabolism!

To get the benefits of this increase-calories plan, make sure you obtain a copy of the Parrillo Nutrition Manual. It will show you how to get results. Among the best ways to shift your body into a fat-burning mode is to add more calories. The manual shows you how. Gradually increasing calories recharges your metabolism so that your body can burn fat for energy.

Of course, if you increase calories from the wrong kinds of food, you’ll store those calories as fat. You’ll want to stay away from high-sugar, high-fructose, and processed foods.

With the Parrillo program, you can truly eat more and weigh less.