Reply #57: Gaining weight on only 1000 calories... [View All]

[GoCubsGo]

That brings up something that people tend to miss when it comes to dieting. Drugs aren't the only thing that causes that to happen. So does Evolution. Humans started off as hunter-gatherers. Food was not a regular, reliable commodity. So, early humans would gorge themselves, because they never knew when their next meal would come. Of course, gorging put on body fat. The human body evolved to hold onto that stored energy for dear life, because back then, their lives depended on it. Consequently, if a modern human goes on a very low calorie diet, the body thinks it is starving itself, and the metabolism slows down to conserve body fat. It's why yo-yo dieters find it more and more difficult to lose and keep off weight. The body thinks it's in starvation mode, which technically, it is. It's why the experts tell you to never eat less than 1200 calories per day. Our society has moved beyond "feast or famine", but our bodies have not. Mine sure hasn't. I am paying dearly for all those crash diets I went on when I was young.