Thanis Lim

All Rounder Chef and Food Journalist

Never Starve Yourself to Lose Weight

The internet's a wonderful thing but sometimes there can be too much misleading information on how to lose weight. There are many myths that we tend to hear about:


We just have to eat very little in order to lose weight. Consume less than 1000 calories a day.

We can eliminate certain foods, such as fats or carbohydrates since they have too much calories and focus on just eating proteins.

Most people who go on these diets DO lose weight and DO lose it very quickly. However, most of the weight loss is from the loss of water and muscle tissue, and not actual body fat.

This is actually like sabotaging your body since muscle tissue is necessary if you want to have a healthy metabolism, plus, muscle tissue actively burns calories even when you are at rest. These diets make you lose weight by burning away your muscle tissue. Therefore, a drop in the amount of muscle tissue in your body will lead to a drop in the number of calories you need each day to maintain your weight, making it much harder to keep your weight under control the moment you stop following your so called low calorie diet.

A typical tragic story
According to the dailymuscle.com, (click on the link for more detailed information)it includes statistics and the story of how a guy decides to take in only 1500 calories a day with some exercises in order to lose weight quickly. The guy will lose a lot of weight in around six weeks, but what he has done is actually burning away a lot of his muscle tissue. This guy lost 21 pounds but 11.5 pounds lost were actually MUSCLE TISSUE! The other were a combination of water loss and fat loss. He'll still lose some weight and look different but what happens when he goes back to his normal diet? Can he maintain the diet in a long term?
When this guy loses muscle tissue, what happens is that he's actually decreasing his metabolism. That means, compared to BEFORE the diet, he actually has 11.5 pounds less muscle tissue to help him burn calories. Therefore, if he used to be able to burn 2200 calories per day before the diet, now he would probably burn only 2000 or maybe even less. Therefore, if he suddenly goes back to his normal eating habits. He will grow back to his original size in six weeks or more.

Now comes the scary part. This guy set out to lose weight and look good. He did succeed in a short run, but in the end, he goes back to square one but WORSE. He has less lean muscle tissue than when he first started and lower metabolism than before. This will make it even harder to lose weight the next time he tries.

If he keeps repeating this process over and over again. It will do him no good and worse, make him feel that he'll never seem to be thin and fit. Now, some of you might say, what if he continues to eat only 1500 calories for the rest of his life?My god. He'll be a miserable guy and he'll be slowly destroying himself, since he'll end up starving his body of essential nutrients and energy.

Want an even better testimonial?

Sad to say, I did the same things as that guy. I would always go on a strict diet, lose weight, feel thinner and better for a few months and then go back to the same state, for what? Having less muscle tissue and lowering my metabolism, making it easier for me to get fat, each time I had an unsuccessful diet. The result? A guy who has low self esteem, who never understands why its so easy to gain weight and always thinking it must be the DNA.

Thanks to the internet (dailymuscle.com). I found out what I was doing wrong and in order to lose weight, you must never starve yourself or go on those fad-diets, but just do proper exercises and weight lifting to gain more muscle tissue to increase my metabolism. Muscles burn calories even when resting.

From now on, I will eat a healthy balanced diet combined with lots of exercise and weight lifting. Hopefully this time, I will feel better about myself and finally have a fit and healthy body. So this goes out to all those who always seem to fail in their dieting.


NEVER STARVE YOURSELF TO LOSE WEIGHT! The best way, although takes more time, is to exercise and eat a well balanced healthy diet. No more skipping meals. I realise that after hitting the gym, I can eat good food and still lose weight, because I am burning calories and building muscle. Just make sure not to overeat.

Now that's the way to live - eating the foods you love but you need to work hard for it. Usually on days I don't exercise, I don't eat as much but make sure I don't skip or skimp my meals.

Some Ideas on how to lose weight.
Eat five small meals a day instead of three big meals.
Never skip breakfast, as this will lower your metabolism for the day.
Make lunch your main meal of the day, instead of dinner.
It's okay to eat your favourite foods, just make sure in small portions and don't overeat.
Exercising is a must! If possible, do some weights, you won't look like KingKong one, so girls should try it too.
Eat less on days you don't train.

There are probably other good ideas out there. So post your comments here. I hope this post has been educational and informative for you. I hope this will help change your life. This information has certainly changed my life and I hope it can do the same for you.




PS: I know this post is not about food but I feel weight control or weight loss is important for food lovers out there. Cheers ;)
7 comments

7 comments :

  1. Anonymous7:35 PM

    here are some tips...

    never skip breakfast - choose wholegrain cereal (not kellogs frosties) with soy milk or goat's milk (not cow's)

    take a multivitamin tablet - it won't replace your meals but complements it (i recommend swisse men's/women's ultivite) although i dont believe it is available in brunei...an alternative would be nuskin's lifepak (which is widely available)

    do lots of exercise but dont overdo because your body needs to heal - try to be consistent with your workout

    drink lots of water or you can subsititute part of your liquid intake with that of tea (preferably green or even better - white tea)

    no soft drinks

    limit your intake of fatty foods (KFC, etc)

    take omega 3 tablets - the key is a 1:1 ratio of omega 3 to omega 6. omega 6 is plentiful in everything we eat today but sadly not omega 3. a very distressing trend indeed.


    while all the above may not directly be related to weight loss but i believe that a healthy body is in a much better position to help reach an optimal metabolism rate.

    as usual...google is your friend...

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  2. Yup. Those are very good tips. You know? No Soft drinks - is one of the best ways to keep fit. You can be surprised how much extra calories you can avoid by not taking soft drinks. It's often easy to drink too much soft drinks and they are easily 200-300 calories at least per can.

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  3. Anonymous12:13 AM

    Try using safe diet pills, they work wonders for me. I get them at http://beautyspashop.com/146192/feature.html

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  4. Anonymous2:30 PM

    i would be wary about diet pills and the like...soem of them contain questionable ingredients. One surefire way to suppress appetite is grapefruit juice...dont drink on an empty stomach though. available at supasave

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  5. I've got no tips, coz' I was never sucessful in loosing weight, but,I hope you'll be sucessful, since you have your plans already~ GOOOOD LUCK... I know I'll see you being sexy soon~ nyekk...

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  6. Jee - you are probably the lucky ones that are always fashionably thin. ;)

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  7. Anonymous11:55 AM

    This is a great and comprehensive article, Cookie. I've got a major yo-yo dieting record and terrible comfort eating habits. Sigh.

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