Lose 17 kilos in 17 days (without fat-burners)! . From the ABC news: “Shannon Leah Fraser, 30, emerged scratched up, severely sun burnt and 17 kilograms lighter from the rain forest at Golden Hole, near Innisfail, on Wednesday after she went missing there on September 21.” . Like many of you, I listened to this news with great interest, with the obvious story being one of amazing survival and the not-so-obvious (but mildly fascinating) story being one of astounding weight loss. Now, before anyone misinterprets what I’m about to explore, let me be emphatically clear… I’m NOT suggesting that starvation is ever a good weight-loss strategy and neither am I making light of what could have been a tragic story. Fortunately, it wasn’t. . But what did fascinate me was the incredible potential, capacity and adaptability of human physiology. Apparently, when we give a body water and remove salt, sugar, caffeine, fat, bread and processed food (in fact, all food) for seventeen days, the result can be massive and rapid weight loss. Can we learn anything from this? Remember, good questions lead to good learning. . Of course, there’s no way for me to verify what I’m about to suggest (sitting in my office in Melbourne) but apart from the obvious exhaustion and sunburn, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that, in terms of things like cholesterol, blood sugar level, blood pressure, body-composition, resting heart rate and cardio-vascular risk, Shannon Fraser may have come out of her ordeal physically healthier. Hmm... . Okay, so if I’m not suggesting that getting lost for seventeen days is a good weight-loss or health strategy, then what’s the point of this exploration (I hear you ask)? Good question. The point is… when bodies need to adapt, they do. The point is, bodies are amazing. The point is, when we put ourselves in caloric deficit (like Shannon did), our body will use our ‘stored calories’ (body-fat), to produce usable energy to get us through. . Yes, the weight-loss process can be a confusing one (some people like it that way), yes, there are many variables and yes, we can all get hysterical about our personal beliefs, theories and principles around food but the bottom line for MOST of us is, when our energy output is greater than our energy input, it’s almost impossible to not lose fat. . And yes, I’ll be announcing the details of my new seventeen-day rain forest weight-loss program next week. ;)
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 23:20:55 +0000