Appetite appears to be controlled by a number of physical and emotional factors, many of which are not well understood. Both short-term controls sensitive to blood glucose and/or liver glycogen as well as long-term controls sensitive to the total amount of body fat seem to be involved. A variety of receptors located in the mouth, throat, and gastrointestinal tract are also involved. These send messages to the brain which are perceived as a feeling of fullness or hunger.
In theory, tipping the energy balance so the body loses some of its fat reserve is very simple. One has only to achieve some mix of increased energy expenditure and decreased food intake. Further, the amount of increased energy expenditure over food intake need not be large, if it is continual. For example, a consistent intake of 100 Cal less than daily expenditure will result 10-lb loss in 1 year.
Increasing energy output is a fairly obvious matter. Once an appropriate activity is chosen such as jogging, swimming, bicycling, or walking t can be done on a regular schedule. This Involves moving weight over a long distance the problem is largely one of persistence.
How to Control Your Hunger
Unless food intake is also effectively controlled, the effort to spend more energy may not accomplish enough. In this respect, we must confront and somehow deal with appetite.
One encouraging fact about appetite which surprises many people is that a moderate increase in activity by an otherwise sedentary person can actually help curb appetite. This phenomenon was discovered in animal studies and has since been seen in human studies. For example, in one study using obese children, the group put on a daily 1-hr exercise program actually consumed less or at least no more than their sedentary counterparts.
Also, experimental evidence indicates that overweight people do not necessarily have an unusually active appetite, nor find taste extremely stimulating. Rather, they seem more responsive to external or environment-related food cues than their leaner friends. A variety of experimental designs have demonstrated this phenomenon. Including speeding clocks, slowed clocks, and the amount of food within easy reach during meal or snack time.
Because of the complex nature of internal appetite regulation, it becomes attractive for overweight individuals to blame their obesity on some malfunction within their system and to seek some sort of miracle drug or cure-all for their problem. Although billions of dollars have been spent on dietary aids designed to depress appetite, long-term successful weight control seldom occurs.
Any weight reduction that does occur often is short term. Once the person eliminates the aid, he or she usually regains their original weight within a short period of time. For results to be long lasting, a permanent change in eating and activity habits must occur. This is true whether or not an inherited tendency for excess weight and body fat is present. Whether the problem is primarily poor eating habits combined with physical inactivity.
How to Control my Appetite for Weight loss?
“Permanent change” is probably one of the most important concepts in weight loss and control. One can lose weight on just about any diet if calories consumed are less than calories expended. Unfortunately, many diets designed to take pounds off quickly are unappetizing, monotonous, and nutritionally unbalanced. As a result one should not stay, on such diets for long periods of time.
Once off the diet, old eating habits return and weight is regained. Often more quickly and to a greater extent than was gained originally. This is because our bodies are very efficient organisms and respond to a lower calorie intake by becoming more efficient in the way they utilize food for energy and store excess calories as fat. While this was no doubt essential to the survival of our early ancestors living in a food-short environment, it does not help the chronic dieter.
Not only does it eventually cause a reduction in the rate of weight loss. But the improved metabolic efficiency remains for some time after reverting back to a higher calorie intake. As a result, there are more calories available for conversion to fat on the same calorie intake after, than before, dieting. This leads to a tendency to quickly put on lost and perhaps even new fat while the body adapts to the new level of calorie consumption.
A more reasonable and long-term solution to the problem is to approach weight loss a little more calmly and with more patience and perseverance. The key lies in modifying behaviour and adopting a new lifestyle. That places less emphasis on eating as a pacifier or reward.
