Blah - friends

I wrote this yesterday, but t-mag didnt like MSN or IE… so had to use netscape

My sisters friend, has been starving himself to lose weight. He has alot of things screwed up, and has been told so many things by uninformed people. Of course, he wont listen to me.

This boy isnt overweight, He has some deifnition in his abs, but not a six pack. He really couldnt be more than 15% body fat from the pictures i’ve seen on here, and he believes he needs to loose 20lbs of weight. Quoting him “I just want to see the # on the scale go down”.
His health class told him that anorexics burn fat before muscle. Which I know is not true as the body tries to preserve precious fat that surrounds the brain. He’s also in high school football, and even the dimwit coach tells some of them(the small ones who need to be agile) to not eat much.

So he has it in his mind he will loose fat & gain muscle if he barely eats 1 meal a day (and that he wont be considered anorexic because he actually eats something) and works out like crazy. I mean, dangerously crazy.

I know that i cant force him to eat, nor can i say “Use me as an example, I barely ate & managed to gain 40lbs!”… nope… But im hoping I can help him make a better decision. But i need facts, does anyone have links or can send me some studies. Something that wont make his eyes glaze over when he starts reading it. I know this is alot to ask, but it would help alot.


since i couldnt post this yesterday morning when i wanted to, heres an update :
Later that day he tells me he had his mom go to the gym he attends & talk to someone there. He wouldnt tell me if it was someone who worked there or a trainer or just a random person. Anyways, when she went there she actually tried to discredit what I had told him, asking the person if i was correct. The guy said i was “mostly right” lol BUT said he only needed 7-9 small glasses of water a day & to not go over so he wouldnt “over hydrate”, 3 large meals a day of unprocessed food but had no mention of if he should eat low carb/low fat/low calorie, and to drink super icy cold water during his workouts.
Im seeing this kid as a lost cause. But hey, at least he’s eating now. :\

Lauren

Have him read the articles here, and tell him to eat 6 times/day CLEAN and lift weight/workout for 2 months. If he does not see any positive changes, then he can go back to being anorexic. I honestly don’t know how people can starve themselves as I feel like crap whenever I don’t eat.

His health class told him that anorexics burn fat before muscle. Which I know is not true as the body tries to preserve precious fat that surrounds the brain.

Actually, it is true. The body has a preference for what it uses for fuel. In most people (the ones who aren’t ketogenic and eat “normal” food), it’s: carbs, then fat, then protein.

This is the basic reason why low-carb diets will work (since if there are no carbs the body is forced to use fat as its fuel) and low-fat diets don’t (if carbs are present, the body won’t touch its fat stores).

If protein were burned before fat, then both anorexics and concentration camp inmates would go through at least some period where they were fat but could barely move around (due to a lack of muscle). But they don’t. Instead, they get skeletally lean, with the muscle being the absolute last to go.