Why dieters end up eating like sumo wrestlers

guest — Tue, 10 May 2011 15:18:16 GMT

Do you know how sumo wrestlers "get fat"? They skip breakfast!

To their detriment, many athletes think skipping breakfast will help them "get thin" by saving a few calories. Wrong! Think again!

My typical weight-conscious client complains, “Every time I go on a diet, I end up blowing my diet and gaining weight.” This has little to do with will power but rather physiology. Just as a person cannot breathe normally after staying underwater for too long, a dieter cannot eat normally after having eaten too little food for too long. That’s the physiology of hunger. The body wants to overcompensate for the perceived “famine” (diet).

My words of wisdom to dieters are: If you want to lose weight, enjoy a hearty breakfast and lunch, and then “diet” at the end of the day so you can lose weight when you are sleeping, not when you are trying to train and perform well. Please, do not eat like a sumo wrestler!

With best wishes for high energy and low body fat,

Nancy

For more information, refer to the weight reduction section in:

Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook

Blog Posts From Active Expert: Nancy Clark RD CSSD Tagged With skip_breakfast

Why dieters end up eating like sumo wrestlers