You want to go on a diet. But that leaves you perpetually hungry. You look drained and pale. You can't seem to stick to any weight control plans. You hate parties because you find all the good food mocking at you! You simply wish they had found a pill to control weight. No, this isn't a mind-reading exercise. Just about every one thinks like this!

Understanding a few things will help us get around this...

What Our Bodies Need

Our body requires balanced food- protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, etc, and of course, loads of water. Each food type provides the body with some amount of calories.

Protein : One gram of protein contains four calories. Proteins are required for building and rebuilding the muscles taking part in the functions of the body.

Carbohydrates: Also, four calories/gram. Carbs provide direct energy for activating muscles for doing work.

Fat : Contains nine calories/gram and is a concentrated form of energy. Since our body can create its own fat from carbohydrates, it does not need much fat in food.

Micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, enzymes, etc) are required for good health and the proper functioning of various organs.

Get To Know What To Eat

• Don't gorge on carbohydrates. That does not mean you cut down on this important nutrient completely. Reduce your intake of excess bread, rice, pasta and sugar by at least one-third, and instead, consume salads and fruits in moderation.

• Minimise the amount of fats in the diet.

• Focus on protein-rich foods. Leafy vegetables, milk, soyabeans, pulses, egg, lean meat and fish are some foods that are high on protein.

• Aim in your diet to derive about 10 per cent of the calories you are burning (not consuming) from proteins. Most fruits have less than five per cent energy from protein. Vegetables have about twice as much.

Keep Your Energy Levels High

If you take a natural wholesome diet high in protein and essential micronutrients, you are bound to feel more energetic. Your body starts to feel good in anticipation of losing excess weight.

Example: Let's say you weigh 65 kg and want to bring it down to 55 kg. Your calorie requirement at the target weight is 30 x 65 = 1,950 calories per day. With a moderate exercise plan, you enhance the calorie burned by 500 calories. To lose 10 kg of fat in 20 weeks, you need to burn 500 g of fat per week or 500 x 9 = 4,500 calories. Your food consumption will then be 12,650 calories per week. You may thus consume about 1,700 calories a day and save 107 x 7 = 749 calories for the weekend or a party. You thus need to strongly focus on high protein foods as much as possible in order to lose weight at the desired rate, not feel hungry all the time and to lead an energetic and active lifestyle.

Eat Without Guilt

The secret is to earn the calories contained in your favourite food item. If the item has 500 calories, earn yourself first those 500 calories by exercising, gardening, dining, housework, and by eating less of other carbohydrate or fat-rich foods before consuming the favourite food item. You may earn these calories over a day or a week, but do earn before you consume. Borrowing from future earnings does not work, especially if you don't have a good credit history.

Our body's basal calorie requirement (BCR) is the energy needed just to maintain the body at rest. For an average person, BCR is 22 calories per kg of body weight. The more active the lifestyle, the more calories the body needs, on the average roughly 30 cal/kg. See chart for calories required, activity wise.

The muscles require energy to perform any kind of activity. Energy is provided by the chemical combination of sugars and oxygen in the blood carried by arteries to the muscles.

If our food is deficient in any nutrient element, especially protein, the engine becomes weak and we feel tired after little or no work. The body then constantlydemands food so that it can extract these elements from the food in sufficient quantity it needs. As a result, the body startsdegenerating and ages prematurely.

The author is PRESIDENT & CEO, Prosoya, Canada

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