As I am starting my own weight loss group (that doesn’t focus on dieting, fads and & unrealistic changes and more on a way of life) it seems pertinent that I write a blog about “dieting” and weight loss. So why is “dieting” not a good approach towards weight loss?
“Dieting” has many down sides. It normally involves calorie restriction, low fat products or diet products and is often deficient in many vital nutrients, such as fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals because of this. All of these may lead to weight loss initially (maybe not in some of you though), but can lead to an imbalance in your metabolism long term, which leads to leads to gaining back the weight.
This way of eating is normally short lived too, as it more than often involves this fad type of approach, such as live on a juicing diet for a week, then go back to a normal diet, or starve yourself for 5 days and pig out for 2, or have shakes for breakfast and lunch and then a calorie controlled dinner, or eat just carbs then eat just protein, the list could go on! This all leads to what they call yoyo dieting. All of these are not healthy and are not sustainable long term, nor should they be! The idea is to eat a balanced diet, sorry not diet, balanced way and make changes that are easy to sustain in the long term, that are also healthy and more importantly lead to you losing weight in the long term. Starvation actually leads to binging and there you go you’re back to square one!
Also sometimes counting calories is not just time consuming, or makes for becoming obsessed, it can also be damn right pointless in some cases, and yes points are counted in this too, as they are just calories in disguise that have been revamped and marketed as something completely new! Sorry to a certain very famous weight loss club!
The more strict the diet the more deprived you feel too, so it’s important to find healthy alternatives to foods you like that are still balanced and of course having treats now and again is fine, but it all depends on what that treat is. If it’s a low fat Muller Yogurt, or a low fat ready meal, or a diet lemonade, then these are actually more harmful than you realise in terms of not just weight loss but health in general. Some dark chocolate would be a good example of something that is a treat but not going to impact negatively on your weight loss.
Also another potential issue that comes with dieting is frequent and compulsive weighing, which can lead to eating disorders in susceptible people sadly, or aside from this it can be completely disheartening and lead to a lot of us feeling like a failure if we don’t reach a certain target each week, and much of the time it is completely inaccurate in terms of real weight loss as things fluctuate so much and it doesn’t take muscle mass gained into account. Also some people end up weighing themselves every day, which is sure to lead to temporary insanity! Measuring or just dropping a dress size approach is a much healthier way of doing things.
There are so many things you can do to lose weight the healthy way and these things support your metabolism, stop cravings or binges on sugary and carb type foods, which are the things that often hold us back. The one that stands out the most in being the most profound in aiding this, is balancing your blood sugar. Once this is balanced the rest is easy! Start with adding a little more protein and a little less carbs to your diet and see how you go!
If you would like to find out more about weight loss support, whether it be my new weight loss club The L.I.F.E. Club, or one to one support, please contact me directly through my website. You can also follow me on Facebook or Twitter.