Can?t Lose Weight? It May Not Be Your Fault!
Are you frustrated with your weight problem and don’t know what to do about it? Do you find that you lose weight at first, only to gain it all back later, and maybe more when you stop dieting, or when you find yourself bingeing? Are you fed up with weight loss programs that don’t work?
There is a good reason for that. You don’t lack willpower. You are not doing anything wrong. It is just that dieting doesn’t work!
Facts About Dieting
* Dieting rarely works. 95% of all dieters who lose weight regain their lost weight and more within 1 to 5 years.
* Dieting can lead to eating disorders. The obsession to be thin can lead to anorexia, bulimia, bingeing and compulsive exercising.
* Dieting impacts your mental health and restricts your brainpower, leaving you mentally unfocused.
* Dieting robs you of energy and slows your metabolism down.
* Numerous studies link chronic dieting with feelings of depression, low self-esteem and increased stress.
* Dieting increases compulsive eating.
* You are fatter after a diet than before!
Why Dieting Doesn’t Work
Quick fix diets usually never give long lasting results. The reason is most of the weight loss is due to loss of water. When you restrict calories, your body interprets it as impending starvation. When the body is under stress of starvation, it hoards the fat and burns the muscles first. The weight lost comes from water and the break down of muscles – the places we don’t want to lose it from.
So, the last thing you want to do is drastically cut calories. When you do, the body will start breaking down muscle protein to produce energy for vital body functions. The body will use muscle protein as fuel, before it starts burning fat, so you end up losing more muscle mass than fat during dieting. The body then uses large amounts of water to flush the broken down muscle tissue out. Thus you lose weight fast. No matter how much you drink, you can’t prevent this loss of water. The only way to get control of your water balance is to stop starving yourself.
When dieting, the body starts saving energy by turning some functions off and running others at a slower pace. Fat is designed to provide the body with energy and protect it from starvation. If you go below 1000 calories a day, your body will slow your metabolism down to compensate. That is why weight loss slows down dramatically after a few days on a crash diet. And a slow metabolism is exactly the opposite of what you want to lose weight.
Another reason that diets don’t work is bingeing. Bingeing doesn’t happen because of a lack of willpower. It is a direct result of dieting. As your body senses a restriction in calories, it goes on the alert for an impending threat to survival. As a result, it tells you to eat, which results in your bingeing on calorie and fat filled foods. The more successful you are at starving yourself, the more the body will increase it’s efforts to eat more foods. Eventually the body wins because survival is our strongest instinct. Bingeing is also a result of depriving yourself of something, which psychologically makes you obsessed with what you can’t have.
After the Diet
After the quick weight loss diet you go back to your normal eating pattern, and what happens? The body that has shut off functions in order to conserve energy is now, suddenly, fed. The cells in your body have an immediate response to the sudden abundance of food, and that is to keep on saving energy, storing up for the next famine. As your body saves energy, it also begins storing all the extra energy – as fat. So, you end up having lost fat burning lean muscle tissue and added more fat! That wasn’t your goal when you started your diet.
In addition to building fat again, the body has no ketone-bodies to get rid of. Consequently, less water is secreted and your water balance is restored. As you replenish your emptied water stores you rapidly gain back the weight you lost. So, by building fat, and replenishing water, you will gain weight quickly the first few days after a diet.
And each time you diet, you are teaching your body how to deal with starvation by hoarding fat, so each round of dieting increases your overall body fat!
Freedom from Dieting
So, how can you lose weight if dieting and restricting calories don’t work? There is no quick fix answer. Any healthy weight loss needs to come gradually. The goal is to give up dieting forever and get back in balance. Stop trying to lose weight. No more counting calories. Instead make a commitment to get healthier.
When you get off the diet roller coaster, you will feel better, become healthier and lose the weight for good. When the body is well fed with healthy foods, it will shed the extra fat. It doesn’t have to store it anymore. And when you give the body the nutrients it needs to be healthy, you stop having all the cravings for less healthy foods.
Enjoy the freedom from counting calories. You will find yourself moving slowly and safely to your perfect body weight, and you will feel better than you ever have before, lean and full of vitality, energy and health. This means developing some new healthy eating habits, as well as other health habits such as exercise.
Try to avoid extremes, such as eating a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. There are many complications associated with unbalanced low carbohydrate diet regimens. At the other end of the spectrum, some diets are saying avoid protein and fats, but eat as much carbohydrates as you want. Too much of the wrong kind of carbohydrates, especially refined sugar and white refined flour will turn to fat in the body also. Most commercial breads, breakfast cereals, and prepared foods are loaded with empty, fast-release carbohydrates, causing levels of blood-sugar to rise, leading to obesity and hypoglycemia.
All of the experts agree that unprocessed complex carbohydrates such as fruit and vegetables, whole grains, potatoes, and legumes are far superior to other forms of refined carbohydrates and should play a significant role in people’s eating habits. According to the American Heart Association, a healthy diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables along with regular physical activity can help most people manage and maintain weight loss for both cardiovascular health and appearance.
Losing weight and becoming healthier requires a lifestyle change, not a six week diet "quick fix". The first step is to eat a balanced diet, filled with plenty of healthy foods, such as whole grains, fresh organic raw, fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and organic meats.
This article has been taken from " Why Diets Don’t Work," a special Free Dieting Report by Dianne Ronnow, ? 2005 Mohave Publishing. All rights reserved. To get a full copy of this free report as an instant PDF download, go to the Enzyme Health web site at Enzyme-Health.com.
Dianne Ronnow’s best selling book reveals how thousands of people are losing weight and getting healthier adding coconut oil to their diets. To find out what the secrets of coconut oil are, Check out her site at: Coconut-Oil-Diet.com. Get the book now and start losing weight today!
By: admin
About the Author:
Top Thirty Weight Loss Tips and Tricks
Here are some everyday, helpful hints to get you started, keep you going, and help you stick to your diet.
1. Never leave home “starving.” Always have a light snack before eating dinner in a restaurant, such as a piece of fruit, a glass of juice or a carrot.
2. Don’t go food shopping on an empty stomach! You’ll be tempted to buy everything in sight.
3. Don’t be tempted by treats. Store them out of view, off counter-tops and as out-of-reach as possible.
4. Don’t eat in front of the TV. Watching the boob tube — instead of watching your plate — lulls you into overeating. Also avoid being tempted by food and snack commercials.
5. Make it a rule in your house to confine your meals to the dining room or kitchen table! Never eat standing up! This leads to mindless snacking.
6. Think before you drink. Alcohol adds lots of calories, but no nutrients. Also, it weakens your willpower to avoid the wrong food choices. Hangovers can cause wicked cravings for fatty or high carbohydrate foods that can sabotage any attempt at weight loss.
7. Fill up on soup first. Begin every meal with non-cream hot soup; it forces you to eat slowly and fills you up so you won’t overeat.
8. Take time to taste your food. Don’t gobble food down! Rushing through your meals doesn’t give your brain the time that it needs to signal your body that you are full.
9. When dining out, request sauces and low-calorie dressings on the side.
10. There is no law that requires you to finish everything on your plate.
11. Prepare a shopping list (with menu ideas in mind) and stick to the list. Avoid being tempted by bargains that grocery stores place on the outer aisles and at the back and the front of the store. The healthiest foods are usually in the long narrow aisles.
12. Use non-stick pans to reduce the need for cooking with fat.
13. If you must use oil, try a flavorful one like olive or sesame oil. Now remember, a little goes a long way! Make just a spritz of oil go even further by buying a Misto. A Misto is an aerosol can that you can fill with a good fat such as olive or canola oil.
14. A pinch of grated cheese or blue cheese will provide a flavorful kick without adding a lot of calories to a salad or grain dish.
15. If you cook in large quantities for your family, store leftovers in individual serving size containers. This is a way to practice portion control for yourself so you don’t eat too much at one sitting.
16. Nibbling off someone else’s plate may seem harmless — but those calories do add up!
17. Drink six to eight glasses of water a day. A beverage before mealtime will also help you feel full faster and longer. Water also helps your body digest food, which is especially important now that you’re eating a fiber rich diet.
18. Store really tempting treats in opaque containers or silver foil — and stick them in the back of the refrigerator. Out of sight out of mind!
19. Are you stuffing yourself? If you have to loosen your belt a few notches after meals you’re definitely eating too much!
20. Mashed bananas, prunes and apple sauce are great baking substitutes for fat, especially in bread, brownie and cake mixes.
21. When you choose to eat “fast food,” choose wisely: skip fried foods; avoid large portions; and opt for a small hamburger.
22. Saut? foods, if possible, in chicken stock, low-sodium soy sauce or water, instead of fat.
23. When cooking, broil, bake, roast, boil or stir-fry and let the fat drain. A George Foreman grill is an excellent investment for those who want to eat meat and avoid eating the fat drippings too!
24. Sauces and soups can be thickened with a puree of potatoes instead of cream.
25. Instead of eating any product directly out of the box, pour a reasonable portion onto a plate or bowl, and put the box away. This also prevents mindless snacking.
26. If a recipe calls for ? a cup of oil, cut that amount in half, your taste buds won’t know the difference — but your waistline will.
27. Add spice to your life instead of fat; fresh herbs will perk up any dish without adding calories. Experiment with different ethnic foods and seasonings; they’re full of flavor — not fat.
28. Freeze leftovers immediately so you can’t raid the refrigerator later.
29. Watch portion size by dishing out meals and bringing plates to the table. Don’t set “bottomless” bowls and platters where they’ll tempt you to reach for more, unless it’s a salad or a bowl of vegetables. You can never get enough of those greens.
30. Start saving for that new outfit now! When you reach your goal weight, you can buy yourself some fashionable new clothes!
Publisher & author: Roy Barker. Roy has an indepth and long established background with the vitamins, minerals and health industry and has researched and experimented with many diets over a thirty year period. Roy is also the author of Safe and Easy Weightloss, a downloadable e-book based on the famous Mediterranean Diet and often used by those with heart conditions and those who seek an effective and safe way to shed weight and more importantly, keep it off. It can be viewed at safe-and-easy-weightloss.com. More articles and related sites can be viewed at weightloss-diet-health-vitamins.com The information on this and any adjoining pages may be reprinted and used on other sites providing this information remains on the article and all pages and credits remain as they are found here in its current compilation with all links in tact.
By: admin
About the Author: