Speech - Cyclical Weight Loss

¶ … Speech - Cyclical Weight Loss and Dieting

In general, Americans are becoming increasingly overweight and obesity is quickly approaching epidemic proportions. To the extent individuals attempt to implement dietary changes to address the problem, the most frequent types of attempts are those involving radical short-term dietary restrictions designed to produce quick weight loss. This short-term approach to weight control is not an effective solution; in fact, repeated cyclical fluctuations actually increase body fat over the long-term (Larson- (Duyff, 2002). Long-term weight control requires that its restrictions be capable of being maintained for decades rather than one or two years or less.

Introduction and Thesis Statement:

At any given time, a substantial majority of all American women are trying to lose weight and adults of both genders are statistically more likely than not to be overweight. Obesity is now a concern for millions of American school-age children and accounts for the dramatic increase in childhood diabetes in the last few decades (Baldauf, 2008; Taylor, Lillis, et al., 2005).

In the vast majority of all cases of people trying to lose weight, their efforts fluctuate in a repetitive cycle of stringent "fad" weight loss systems followed by a gradual relapse into overeating after every "successful" loss of weight during the short-term. Cyclical weight loss does not produce long-term weight control and raises body fat levels. Long-term weight control requires lifelong dietary changes capable of being maintained indefinitely.

Presentation of Discussion:

According to the experts (Larson-Duyff, 2002), repeated cycles of short-term weight loss followed by a subsequent rebound to the original weight actually increases overall body fat percentage in comparison with simply remaining at the starting weight without any temporary weight losses and rebounding. Generally, weight loss involves a loss of both fat and muscle in comparable proportions; it is impossible to lose only one type of tissue through dieting. A 20-pound weight loss may represent approximately fifty percent fat and fifty percent muscle tissue.

On the other hand, when temporary weight losses are followed by a return to the starting weight, most of the weight regained is specifically fat. Every cycle of short-term weight loss and regain, therefore, (in effect) exchanges more and more muscle for body fat in every cycle (Larson-Duyff, 2002).

Conclusion: