Low calorie diets have been around for a long time. Probably longer than any other kind of diet. They consist of the simplest dieting idea: Eat less. Such a simple idea may sound like good idea. People love simple. But the truth is that low calorie diets are not the best approach to losing weight. In this article you will find out why a low calorie diet plan is not the right choice for losing weight.
Reasons why low calorie diets do not work well:
1. They slow down the body's metabolism. A slow metabolism will cause your body to hold onto fat as a survival method. Your body will begin to burn muscle instead of fat when it goes into this mode. This is why it's essential that you do not eat too few calories. And it's the top reason why low calorie plans are a bad idea.
2. They are very difficult to stick with. Even if low calorie diets were effective (and they're not) they are also almost impossible to stick with over a long period of time. There's only so long a person can go eating very small portions. Most people give up on a low calorie diet just a couple of weeks (or even a couple of days!) after starting it.
3. They don't teach you what to eat, only to eat less. This is extremely important. A great dieting plan will let you know which foods you really should be eating rather than just telling you to eat less. Many people on low calorie diets end up eating a few high calorie foods (like donuts!) instead of eating a lot of high quality low calorie foods (which is a much better long term plan.) It's extremely important to learn the healthy way to eat. That's the only way to long term healthy eating.
4. It's harder to exercise while on a low calorie diet. Exercise should be an important part of any healthy person's lifestyle. It's difficult to have the energy to work out when you are undernourished.
5. Your body may not get enough vitamins & nutrients while on a low calorie diet. While you can eat a multivitamin to help with this problem, it's best to get your vitamins & nutrients from your food, not from a pill.
6. You will gain all of your lost weight back when you go off the diet. It's called "yo-yo dieting" and it happens almost every time someone gets on a low calorie diet. You may lose some pounds (sadly many of those pounds are muscle & not fat) but you're very likely to gain all of those pounds (with interest) as soon as you go off the diet. How sad is it to actually weigh more than you started after you go through this process? It's actually low calorie dieting that is the cause of many people's weight problems.
7. Counting calories will make you obsessed with food. You have to keep track of all of the food you eat and how many calories are in it. This means that you will actually be even more obsessed with food than you may already be when you are on this kind of diet. Isn't that a very bad thing? A food obsession is probably the last things that anyone dealing with a weight problem needs.
Most people have been on a diet. Some people have been on more than others'a lot more. There are a lot of different types of diets out there. There are over 2,000 registered diets with the FDA. That's a lot. Unfortunately there isn't a one-size fits all diet that will work for everybody and bring miraculous, forever results. What the majority of people who go on diets have been made to believe is that when they do go on a diet that they must restrict their calories. Makes sense right? Eat less food, lose more weight. It works, but only for a short period of time.
That's why today I am going to focus on low calorie diets. Most of the diets out there are. But I want to share with you the problems associated with these low calorie diets (LCD) and why if you are looking for permanent weight loss and a healthy body you should never go on one.
I am going to stray away a little from the medical definition of LCD, which is a diet consisting of 1200 calories or less. I'm going to talk about LCD based on you and your size.
We all have what is known as a basal metabolic rate. This is the amount of calories you would burn if you just lied in bed all day watching TV. It varies from person to person, but the major factors contributing to differences are height, weight, body fat percentage, lean muscle percentage, and exercise/activity level. Exercise and activity level will change it the most. So you need to find out how many calories you are burning per day with all the other factors taken into consideration. You can search ?BMR calculators? online to find yours; just make sure it takes activity into consideration.
Now once you have figured that out it is now time to determine if you are on a low calorie diet based on you. It's simple'if you are getting 500-1000 calories below your BMR you are on a low calorie diet. My take on this weird, I know. Even if you are getting 2300 calories a day, if you supposed to be getting 3400, then you are on a LCD.
Let's get into the problems you will experience while on a low calorie diet based on you. First off, your body is starving. Even if you are not hungry the body is. It craves more calories, because calories to the body are energy. And to perform at a top-notch level your body needs energy (calories). When your body is starving it goes into survival mode. In survival mode it does a couple of things. It starts to ?eat? protein from your body, so basically the lean muscle tissue you've trained so hard to earn. Also, when you put more food in the body it will have a better chance of converting to fat.
All the stuff I just mentioned leads to one thing'a slower metabolism! This is the last thing you want if you are trying to burn fat and lose weight. You want your metabolism racing like an Indy car on the straightaway towards the finish line. And to do this you need to eat and create a caloric deficit of between 200-1000 calories under what you burn off for the day. This will create a 1-2 pound loss a week of fat. Anything more than that, and you are losing hard earned, metabolism revving lean muscle tissue, and water. Plus, your body will burn fat off very slowly, and try to preserve it as much as it can. This is why when most dieters lose weight, their body fat hasn't changed much, and they still have folds of fat, and become frustrated with their diets.
So in order to lose fat you have to EAT! I cannot stress that enough. If you starve yourself you may lose weight, but you will also lose lean tissue and water, and eventually you will plateau. Then when you stop starving yourself the weight will come right back on, and usually with a little extra.
If you don't have a lot of weight to lose you want to consume no more than 500 calories under your BMR. If you have a lot of weight to lose that number will be as high as 1000, but never more, because then you will put your body in survival mode. As you lose weight the number of calories under your BMR will drop.
Please note if you are overweight you are going to be consuming a lot of calories at the beginning. More so then you are probably used to. But keep in mind this number will drop as you continue to lose the weight. Remember this is how you do it for safe, permanent, and effective weight and fat loss. You are in it for the long haul. So what if it takes you a little longer to reach your goal.
I hope this was helpful to you. Remember the key to fat loss is you have to eat. You have to EAT! And you have to eat consistently with supportive foods. Foods like whole grains, veggies, fruits, lean proteins, nuts/seeds, healthy fats, and occasionally supplements. Good luck!
Both Marvin J Markus & Jason Yun are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Marvin J Markus has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, Facts about Barack Obama and Family. Nevermind low calorie dieting plans. They are a waste of time. What you need is a solid . The Day Off Diet is the best way to. Marvin J Markus's top article generates over 550000 views. to your Favourites.
Jason Yun has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, Arthritis Signs and Stress Management. Jason Yun, a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Sports Nutritionist, is a Columbus fitness bootcamp and weight management teacher. To book him to speak at your local Columbus organization please contact him by email at jyun@yunbootcamps.c. Jason Yun's top article generates over 110000 views. to your Favourites.