Although there are thousands of diets out there today, and every man and his dog are dieting, we are still facing an obesity epidemic. Why is that? Because dieting is making us fatter. The very principles of dieting are eventually leading to us gain weight.
Diets are generally based on caloric restriction. Now this is obvious if you want to lose weight, you want to eat less than your body needs. However 99% of the diets out there today promote such a severe caloric restriction that our body has no choice but to use up muscle for energy. This loss of muscle is bad, because it slows our metabolism down and results in more fat gain in the long term.
Diets promote fat gain for a few reasons. Firstly, they are severe, and restricting, which causes a loss of muscle and a slower metabolism. Secondly, because of there drastic nature, they are impossible to stick to. They create such incredible urges, and cravings that it becomes too much to bear. This results in us sooner or later giving up and resorting back to our normal eating patterns. Not just that though, but these strong urges that were created through dieting often result in binge eating.
So now once you go back to your normal eating, and maybe after a period of bingeing, you gain a lot more weight, and a lot faster than ever before. This is simply due to our loss of muscle and our slower metabolism. We can no longer burn off all of the food we used to eat because our metabolism is now slower.
The amount of food we need to get by in our day to day activities has now drastically reduced. Problem is, that after dieting our appetites have often increased! So we are burning off less and eating more.
What drives me crazy is that nearly every diet out there promotes this fat gain to happen. I don’t think the authors of these programs are that stupid, I think they are just greedy. They either cut food choices right down so you have to use their magic meal replacement supplement to get by.
Or…
They cut calories so far so that people will lose weight fast. This will get them a truckload of people saying “you are the greatest, I have lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks!” and now they are the next big thing in the dieting world. Problem is, all this weight loss is muscle and water, and 6 weeks later, I guarantee this person has put there weight back on.
I do think that there are a few programs out there that are just oblivious to the fact that cutting calories too far promotes fat gain in the future. I think these people are trying to help; they just don’t know the truth, maybe because they themselves haven’t been through and experienced it.
Wow…I got really carried away there! I think it’s because I myself have just overcome nearly 7 years of yo-yo dieting. I probably lost weight and put it back on at least 15 times and so this subject is really personal to me. I believe many of the diets out there are downright irresponsible and only care about making a quick buck, no matter how tough they make someone’s life to be.
Ok, enough of my rant. Let me tell you how to safely lose fat. This article is getting too long so I’ll be brief.
First you have to eat more food. This will keep your metabolism running high. This is because the body has more than enough energy coming in, it doesn’t have to resort to breaking down muscle tissue to use as energy. A good number to lose weight safely with is to eat 15-16 calories per pound of bodyweight.
And secondly, treat yourself every now and then. Have 1-2 cheat meals a week where you eat as much as you want. This shows your body that food is definitely not scarce. This will help prove to your body that hanging onto its excess body fat is useless, and it will feel more comfortable in using it up for energy.
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