Early weight losses on crash diets may be dramatic but they are deceptive, being losses not of fat but of glycogen, a granular carbohydrate stored in the liver and muscles, which binds with three times its weight in winter.
Three pounds of water lost for every pound of glycogen! No wonder crash dieters feel their diet is working. But what they do not appreciate is that glycogen is always replaced, water retained again, and weight regained on a return to more normal eating.
There is, anyway, a limit to how much glycogen you can lose. Non-dieters probably have 2.7 - 3.6 kg (6-8lb) of glycogen in their bodies, of which they might lose half. Habitual dieters have rather less because their systems have not had the chance of replenish themselves. Once glycogen stores are depleted, weight loss slows down and may even stop.
The honeymoon period of rapid weight loss can never last indefinitely, even if you jump from one diet to another. Very restricted diets rarely require you to follow them for more than a fortnight because once the glycogen stores have been stripped they appear to have stopped "working". Follow them for that amount of time and you will lose lots of weight but you will also regain it almost immediately.
The way to lasting weight loss is to keep glycogen levels stable and that means keeping intake moderate and the proportion of starchy carbohydrates reasonably high. This is why this diet starts off so gently and places such emphasis on wholemeal foods such as wholewheat bread and pasta.
Although the amount of weight lost in the early stages may be disappointing in comparison with previous diets, at least you can be confident that every pound lost is a will appreciate the difference when the diet is over and you manage to keep off the weight you have lost.
"keeping glycogen levels up will also make you feel better, more energetic"
some arithmatic...
1kg (2.2lb) of glycogen = 4000 Calories
1kg (2.2lb) of water = zero Calories
1kg (2.2lb) of fat = 7000 Calories
If you lose 1kg (2.2lb) of glycogen, you will lose 4 kg (9lb) overall because you will also lose 3kg (6.6lb) of water. This loss represents just 4000 calories. It can be regained in the space of one weekend.
If you lose 4kg (9lb) of fat, the loss will register identically on the scales, but this time represents 28,000 calories. This could only be regained after several weeks of overeating.
As the upper limit to the rate at which you can mobilize fat out of the fat cells, into the bloodstream and out of the body is about 1000 calories a day (that means burning 1000 calories more than you eat), and as it takes a deficit of 7000 calories to shift a kilogram of fat, the most you should aim to lose in a week is one kilogram (2.2lb). Any more will be glycogen/water of lean tissue...Neither is advisable.
This interesting diet article taken from :
Vogue Diet Programme, by Deborah Hutton
