You Are An Efficient Machine

Your body is an extremely efficient machine.  I was in med school, so I know this far beyond a doubt.  At any given second, your body is doing hundreds of different things at once.  Your heart is pumping, muscles are moving, cells are recycling, food is being digested, and your liver and brain can do 500 different tasks, each!  Your body is a far more efficient machine than anything humans could create.  Your brain is a thousand times more efficient than the most efficient computer made.  As a matter of fact, your body is so darn efficient, that it is unfortunately what is keeping you over weight.

Think about it.  The main purpose of food is to provide us with energy.  Energy that will keep us concsious, alert, alive and able to reproduce so that our species can thrive.  As humans, we have quantified that energy that is in food and labeled it "calories".  Yes, the word "calorie" is completely arbitrary and it refers to the amount of energy that is released when our bodies digest food.  So, many years ago, some scientist used some substance as a set point (probably water), and recorded the amount of energy it releases as 1.  Every other substance thereafter is compared to this set point and then given a number based on whether it releases more or less energy.  Still with me?  I hope so.  If you're confused, don't be.  I only described this hypothetical situation to illustrate that the word "calorie" is an arbitrary term.  We just have to give labels and quantify things because that makes it easier for us to comprehend stuff.

Anyway, your body sees energy as very valuable.  Again, it's what keeps you alert and reactive to stimuli.  If you consume more "energy" than you burn off on a regular basis, you begin to notice a weight gain.  Why?  Because your body can not bear the thought of wasting that valuable energy!  What if the energy stops or is taken away?  Your body needs to have a back-up plan in case there is some sort of catastrophe.  Remember, efficient machines waste very little of their resources.  Fat is stored energy!  It is stored calories!  Does that make sense?  Junk food and fatty foods have huge numbers of calories.  If you go to a restaurant, you could easily consume 2000 calories in that one sitting alone.  That is much more "energy" than your body can obviously use at that time, so it stores it and saves it for later.  It's that simple.

I'll let you in on a little secret (a sneak peek at what I talk about in my book).  One of the quickest ways to gain weight is to skip meals!  Especially breakfast.  Yes, it's true and I see it time and time again with the people I am surrounded with.  Whether they are too lazy to eat or are trying to lose weight, everyone seems to love to skip meals.  PURPOSELY SKIPPING MEALS IN AN EFFORT TO LOSE WEIGHT IS BACKWARDS THINKING!  I'll tell you why.  Our minds have evolved much faster than our brains.  When I say "mind", I'm referring to the parts of the brain that think and make decisions.  When I say "brain" I am referring specifically to the parts of the brain responsible for biological processes only.  So, yes, it is logical to think that if you skip meals, thus eating less food, that you will lose weight.  However, it is wrong to do so because when you skip a meal, and then become hungry, or even "starving", your brain sees this as a terrible thing.  Your primitive brain does not know that you are purposely doing this.  All it knows is that there is a "scarcity" of food or some kind of famine of sorts.  So, it induces in you a craving for a high energy meal.  It needs a high energy meal so that it can store that energy so that if you go starving again, you have energy reserves with which to pull from to stay alive and not die.  Your brain is only concerned with keeping you alive.  That is it's number one function.

Think about this for a second.  When you are starving, do you go and reach for some carrot sticks or a salad or an apple?  NO!  Those items do not contain enough "energy" to satisfy the needs of a starving person.  You most likely stop at a fast food restaurant because you're so hungry you don't have the patience to go home and prepare something on your own.  Therefore, you eat something like a burger and fries and a soft drink, and then some ice cream.  Then, your brain goes to work, signaling your body to hold on to every last one of the calories you just ate.  Now, you are on your way to a marvelous weight gain.  The next day, you may feel guilty about eating that mess of a meal the night before, so you refrain from eating all day again telling yourself, "Today, I'm really only going to eat one meal, and it's going to be a healthy one".  And the cycle repeats.

There's just one problem.  When your primitive brain takes over, you are NO LONGER IN CONTROL!  When that primitive brain of yours sends out the signal to get a lot of calories and fast, you cannot resist! You can't do it.  If you try, the brain just amplifies the pain receptors in your stomach (and you know how that feels) and your stomach even starts screaming at you!

why the eating 5-6 times a day really works, you may be more inspired to make some changes.

Just know that when you notice yourself gaining weight or staying overweight, it's a sign that you need to re-train your mind into a new way of thinking.  The concious mind is very flawed and makes mistakes quite often.  The primitive brain never

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