Why "Diets" Don't Work...
If you had a dollar or lost one pound for every time you went on a diet, you would have no reason to keep going on diets.
In the world of social media and immediate gratification there is always some new fad diet and quick fix. I am sure you have heard of gimmicks like there: "Take these "pills" and drop 10 lbs this week!"... "I drank this "tea" and I lost 20 lbs in 30 days!"... "I tried the "X" diet and am back at my high school weight!"... So you try one of those fad diets. You may even see success. But shortly after, gain it all right back, sometimes even more. Now your excitement to try anything starts to fizzle, and you begin thinking there isn't any hope.
You are not the only one that feels this way. Sadly for most people, diets are more frustrating than the process of actually losing the weight. Why? The reasons are simpler than you might think. At the end of the day, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A DIET. Just because a diet works for one person, doesn't mean that it will work for you. Diet's are destined to fail, but that should not be a surprise. After all "die" is within the word "diet". That should be the first sign to avoid them. You want to have balance and happily live and enjoy your life.
Your goals honestly come down to three simple components. Avoid these common mistakes and you'll be well on your way to achieving success and reaching your goal weight.
Top 3 Reasons Diets Fail
1. You're choosing a diet to achieve a short term goal that you won't be able to sustain long-term.
The number one reason why diets don't work is because they are not sustainable for the long term. You may have a goal for an upcoming event, so you're looking to achieve an immediate result. Once that result is achieved then the diet is stopped and most likely you return to your old eating habits.
What's the Solution?
Creating a nutrition regimen that you can stick to long-term. What's "long-term"? Something you can stick to for a lifetime.
If you're starting a new meal plan and you cannot see yourself eating those foods and that way for the rest of your life, then don't even bother trying it. When eating a sustainable meal plan, the weight may not drop as fast as on a fad diet, but it will come off and it will be long lasting. In addition, as you start making healthier changes, like drinking more water, eating more fruits and veggies, you may naturally choose to make other healthier switches too. Compounded over time, you will continue to get healthier and healthier.
2. Most diets are based on the premise of counting calories. So you get so obsessed with what you're eating and often end up eating too few calories.
To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you are consuming each day. Many people believe, well if I eat less, then I will lose more. But everybody processes and burns calories differently. Every calories is not created equal. (I will explain why you need to eat more in my next blog post).
Most women believe that they should be eating fewer than 1,200 to 1,400 calories a day. This is not only dangerous to your health, but can have an adverse effect on your weight loss goals. When you are consuming too little calories your body goes into "starvation/survival mode." It begins to substantially slow down your metabolism and starts to hold onto any fats and sugars consumed to store for energy. Your body will also start to break down any muscle you may have to help fuel and maintain your vital organisms to continue to function properly.
This is what leads to your mid-day and late night sugar or carb cravings. The real result of low caloric intake: more hunger cravings and no change to your waistline.
What's the Solution?
Get to know what works best for you and your body goals. Along with what food options are best. As mentioned, not all calories are created equal. Calories consumed from spinach or sweet potatoes are much more nutrient-dense than calories consumed from a processed, low-fat muffin. Also every body type is different, what may work for one person, may not work for you. You also want to know what macronutrients you need throughout the day (proteins, carbs, and fats). To get to know what your optimal macro/caloric intake should be for your goals click here:
What Should Be My Macro Goal/Calorie Count? You may end up surprised by the amount you actually should be eating to lose weight.
3. You're not exercising. You don't have a weekly fitness regimen to help elevate your heart rate often.
Yes it is true that nutrition is 80% and exercise is 20% of the journey to success when it comes to weight loss, but not if all you are doing is "dieting". Due to dieting, and eating to little calories, your metabolism has slowed way down. Your weight and body mass determine your basal metabolic rate (the amount of calories you burn doing nothing). It takes more fuel to run a semi than a sedan. The more weight you lose, the fewer calories you'll burn per day.
The more weight you lose (without weight training), not only are you losing fat, but you're also losing muscle. And if you cut out too many calories, you'll lose even more muscle. Muscle is the key element needed to rev up your metabolism. That is why weight-training is so important when it comes to any weight-loss plan.
What's the Solution?
Invest in some weights to start losing weight. Research as proven that those who regularly performed strength training versus just aerobic exercise alone over the course of 12 months gained significantly less belly fat and put on more lean muscle, leading to more calories burned while just sitting on the couch.
Still needing an extra push?
Invest in a personal fitness and nutrition coach. A coach will not only help guide you in the right direction, but also create a plan custom tailored to your specific goals and needs. They can also help hold and keep you accountable every step of the way. If you are tired of guessing and need extra accountability and motivation to jump start your weight loss goals, apply to join the B-FIT Family today :-).
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