Never Do This If You Want to Lose Weight

Why You Should Never Diet if You are Trying to Lose Weight

Reason #1: Diets Fail in the Long Run

Sure many diets will help you to lose weight while you are on them, however 95% of people who lose weight from a diet will regain the weight and then some, once they go off of it.

Reason # 2: Restricting Calories Backfires

Most diets help you to lose weight because they force you to consume fewer calories. Restricting calories and avoiding foods that are high in calories can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food and it can even lead to a full-fledged eating disorder.  What’s more, many healthy super foods such as olive oil, avocados, organic butter, and nuts and seeds are very high in calories but also essential to your health. These foods are essential because they provide healthy fats and the fat soluble vitamins – A, D, E and K.

Reason # 3: Diets Reduce Your Metabolism

When you restrict calories or don’t eat often enough, it compromises your metabolism in two ways.  Firstly, your body goes into starvation mode and starts to hold onto all of the calories that you do eat as opposed to burning the calories off as fuel, which results in a lowered metabolic rate.  Secondly, many diets result in a loss of muscle mass and the less muscle you have, the less calories you will burn while at rest.

Reason # 4: Diets Can Actually Increase Weight Gain

Many diets involve restricting food intake, or completely avoiding certain types of food. This leads to feelings of deprivation and the more deprived you feel, the more your body will drive you to ‘cheat’ on your diet. Unfortunately, cheating on a diet often times leads to feeling of failure and weight loss sabotaging thoughts such as “oh well I already failed by eating that cookie, I might as well eat 6 more and start my diet again tomorrow.” Then you find a reason to cheat again the next day and the whole cycle repeats itself. Instead of losing weight, you end up with a bad relationship with food and weighing even more than before you started the diet.

RELATED READING:  The Fall Foods That are Killing Your Diets

So if you want to lose weight and keep it off, then quit counting calories and ditch the diets.    Avoid the diet mindset and create a healthy eating plan that you can stick to and enjoy for life. Instead of trying to change all of your unhealthy eating habits overnight, make changes gradually, and allow yourself to occasionally indulge in foods that you know are unhealthy, so that you don’t feel deprived. Add in regular exercise to this healthy living regime, and you have a sure-fire recipe for successful, lasting weight loss.