Did you know that the word ‘diet’ generates 100,400,000,000 results when you search for it on Google? The search query ‘how to lose weight’ is the 7th most commonly asked question on Google, with ‘how to lose weight fast’ being the 20th. These figures show us just how much interest there is in weight loss among people around the world.
Most people express an interest in losing weight at some point during their lives. Many people don’t just want to lose weight; they want to do it quickly. People want to lose weight for all sorts of reasons. Some people decide they want to shed some pounds in the run-up to a holiday, and you may have decided to make an extra effort to lose weight in advance of a formal event like a wedding or party.
Your approach to losing weight will depend on how much you know about food and how weight loss works. However, many people know the safest and most effective ways to lose weight but still opt for a more dangerous quick-fix method.
Choosing the right weight loss plan
Some people feel incredibly stressed about the concept of losing weight. When you’re choosing the best weight loss method, there are many things you need to consider. You’ll need to think about your daily routine, your physical needs if there are any foods you dislike, and what your day-to-day family obligations are. With everyone leading such busy lives, it’s no surprise that so many are influenced by the marketing and hype surrounding the riskier ‘diet’ options available to them.
The dangers of quick weight loss diets
Although losing weight quickly appeals to many people, it’s unlikely that any reputable GP or health practitioner would recommend any risky ‘diet’ or ‘plan’ to you. When most people think about losing weight, it’s fat that they want to lose. However, crash diets are often more centred upon the loss of water and muscle.
Diet and physical exercise are the two main factors in weight loss. Dieting works by limiting your calorie and food intake, while exercise enables you to burn away calories.
Why do so many people choose the diet route?
Many people prioritise dieting over exercise when they want to lose weight. Some go to extremes to get the results that they desire. One reason so many prioritise dieting is that people tend to lose weight much more quickly when they restrict their calorie intake than when they embark upon exercise.
What happens when we try to lose weight too quickly?
By gaining a rich understanding of how the body works, people can better understand the risks of quick weight loss. In the modern age, people tend to eat food for enjoyment. However, in the past, humans consumed food to stay alive.
Cavemen consumed food including animals, seeds, nuts and sometimes berries. From time to time, they would go without food. Their bodies would go into survival mode during the starvation period. The body would use its fat stores for energy when little food was available. The next time food was consumed, the body would store additional fat to protect itself in the event of another period without food. This remains the case today. We still store fat when our bodies go into starvation mode, go through an extreme diet or experience a lack of nourishment.
Leptin is a hormone that controls hunger and metabolism and promotes fat-burning. If fat levels within our bodies fall quicker than they usually would, leptin levels drop. This triggers the starvation mode we have discussed previously. Our metabolism then slows down, causing food to be burned off slower, with more of it being stored as fat. We then start to feel hungrier, and muscle is broken down so it can be used as energy.
The starvation response mechanism causes our bodies to regain more weight as they try to protect themselves. Slowing down your metabolism can be risky if you attempt to lose weight. Your metabolism must keep moving quickly so you can continue burning calories. If your metabolism slows down, you will simply store up more fat.
If you picture your metabolism as a log fire, this can help you understand how it works. If you keep placing logs on a burning fire at regular intervals, the fire will continue to burn. However, if the fire doesn’t have a log, it will start slowing down substantially. A substantial effort will then be needed to get the log fire burning once again.
Why consistency is important for weight loss
When someone continually jumps from one diet or ‘diet’ to another, the body doesn’t have the consistency it needs to function to the best of its ability. Your body will only likely become confused if you put it through a series of short-term or ‘yo-yo’ diets. Some food intake restrictions like intermittent fasting can indeed be effective if they are carried out correctly, but those who are forever yo-yo dieting rarely experience long-term results, with
many gaining weight.
Other risks of quick weight loss
Fast weight loss tends to be nutritionally inadequate. The body requires essential vitamins and minerals to process food effectively and function optimally so it can lose weight on a long-term basis. When the body doesn’t have access to these nutrients, it reacts negatively. Symptoms can include lethargy, headaches, stomach pains, heart arrhythmia, poor skin, and an unhealthy appearance.
Lethargy can make it even harder for people on crash diets to get the exercise they need to achieve their goals. If we don’t exercise, we will likely feel guilty and experience additional negative emotions.
Crash dieting can have a significant impact on our mental well-being. When the body doesn’t have access to the food it needs, our brains start receiving messages that can stop us from achieving our targets. Once we begin to feel extremely hungry, we’re likely to make terrible choices around food to get a quick fix. This level of hunger can cause people to embark on the kind of sugary and fatty food binge that is wholly detrimental to the weight loss process and can offset the positive steps people have taken to meet their goals. Once the binge has taken place, emotions like shame and regret are likely to kick in, generating yet another crash diet and causing the cycle to continue.
Think twice before starting a crash diet to lose weight
It’s easy to see why so many people embark on crash diets when they want to lose weight. However, they can have a devastating impact on our physical and mental well-being. The psychological impact of a crash diet can hold us back from achieving our goals and make a self-defeating food binge more likely. A healthy mind is essential for losing weight effectively and meeting our targets. Addressing your thoughts and relationship with food can help you make incredibly positive changes in your life.
A long-term method of losing weight is much more sustainable and easier to stick to. A long-term weight loss plan allows you to eat more food and still lose weight if you consume the suitable types of food.
Which foods should I consume during a long-term diet plan?
The best foods to consume when you’re aiming for long-term weight loss tend to be those that are both fibrous and filling. These can leave you feeling fuller for longer, reducing your reliance on sugary, fatty snacks. Foods based around sugar, fat and salt can cause people to experience the kind of symptoms you might associate with addiction and even create chemical imbalances.
What should I opt for and avoid when losing weight?
When carrying out your weekly or fortnightly food shop, it’s best to completely sidestep the sweets, cakes, biscuits and processed food aisles so you can cut much of the sugar, bad fats and processed foods from your diet. If you are serious about weight loss but don’t wish to embark upon a dangerous or ineffective fad diet, incorporate plenty of fresh raw and cooked vegetables and salad.
Consume enough fruit and opt for a diet rich in good fats. Opt for avocados, coconut, a wide variety of nuts, seeds, and nut butters and try to eat fish twice a week. This can include oily fish like salmon and mackerel. Aim to include olive oil and olives in your food shop alongside wholegrains including oats, whole-wheat pittas, quinoa, brown rice and buckwheat. Eggs and poultry can also be highly effective in weight loss, and you may benefit from a sensible intake of dairy and red meats.
Comentarios