How to Lose Weight Without the Yo-Yo Dieting
Are you trying to lose those extra pounds quick? If you are looking for a “quick way” to lose weight, there are no shortages of fad diets around. Most people today get caught in the “latest and greatest” diet fads, promising to help you lose several pounds in as little as a week or two. Most of these diets claim you can lose weight fast with minimal effort. You may have heard some of the promises, “lose 10 pounds in a week”, “how to lose weight fast”, “shed your body fat in 10 days”. If you’ve been trying to lose weight, these types of diets can be very tempting… but buyer beware! There is no magic pill, or no special combination of foods that will MAKE you lose weight. As a matter of fact, most of these fad diets are not worth trying at all.
The truth is, unfortunately, many of us have followed these fad diets and these types of diets can do more harm to your health than good. Most of these fad diets don’t work to help you lose weight and keep the weight off long term. In addition, the weight most lose initially is put back in with EXTRA pounds. With this being said, to fully understand how to lose weight and keep it off, we all need to come to an understanding of how our bodies work pertaining to dieting. It’s important that we briefly mention the importance of knowing your numbers. For example, know your ideal weight, your blood pressure, your body mass index, your cholesterol levels, etc. Knowing these numbers will enable you to maximize your weight loss efforts with a plan that is just a right fit for your body. An in depth discussion on these numbers will follow later. For now, let’s start by talking about the effects of the fad dieting on our bodies.
Fad diets attract dieters who seek to get quick results. When you try a fad diet, you will likely lose pounds in a matter of days as promised since you will be eating a very restricted diet. When you make significant changes in your body, your body will react. Most of the time, the weight you lose over the course of the first few days is usually just water weight and/or muscle mass. These fad diets are also restrictive and boring, making it difficult to sustain over the long term. Once you stop the diet and resume your normal lifestyle, chances are that you will gain the weight back – with a few additional pounds.
Fad diets also prohibit you from eating certain types of food. Some of these diets restrict or eliminate fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and whole grains. These foods are loaded with nutrients that are thought to help prevent many chronic conditions. The diets that eliminate certain foods from a person’s diet completely put the person at risk for nutrient deficiencies. Research has shown that in order to obtain the amount of nutrients our body needs on a daily basis we must consume a balanced and varied diet. Fad diets do not allow consumers to eat a well-balanced diet in most cases which causes the lack of nutrients to the body. In addition, many fad diets restrict the amount of calories and nutrients you consume which can lead to energy deprivation and serious nutritional deficiencies.
