Thank You!
Here’s the scientific truth behind fad diets…
In general, you will lose weight in a short period of time. But the chances are that soon after you will gain back more weight than you had originally lost, leaving you frustrated, depressed, and with a negative neurological association with the process of “healthy eating”.
Fad diets are BS and don’t work.
Nonetheless, fad diet popularity has skyrocketed online over the years, as marketing surrounding them promises those who do them fast results, especially with weight loss.
The human psyche is easily drawn into this appealing concept because let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to lose weight fast and find a “shortcut” to a better body?
Whether Gluten-free, Paleo, the south beach diet, keto diet, carnivore diet, Atkins diet, or juice cleanses, marketers reel consumers in with promises of dramatic weight loss results in short periods of time…
This becomes the focal point of fad diets, blinding fad dieters from the fact that oftentimes, these diets are actually unhealthy, unsustainable, and are known to wreak havoc on the mental/psychological health of those chasing the “quick fix” to their health & wellness goals.
Not to mention the fact that when one dramatically reduces calories and certain macronutrients for a period of time, the body ultimately begins to develop an internal resistance to fat loss – making it harder for the fad dieter to lose fat in the future.
At Nutrition Solutions, we’ve had the privilege of helping thousands of former fad dieters break the cycle and set them up on a sustainable, healthy meal plan that allows them to effortlessly crush their goals…
But as such, here’s what I’ve learned in the process.
The usual cycle a fad dieter will follow week by week:
Calorie intake cut from 3,000 to 1,500 calories / day or less. Significant (valuable) sources of valuable nutrition are removed from the diet.
After two weeks, weight loss is usually 8-10lbs. (Maybe more depending on how heavy the person started at) At least 50% of the weight loss is water as a result of reduced carbohydrate intake. Optimism is high.
Doubt begins to creep in. After 3 weeks, an additional pound or 2 may come off. Typically this is when muscle loss begins to set in.
To conserve resources & energy due to muscle loss as a result of insufficient intake of certain macronutrients, the body elicits the ‘starvation response’. *The more muscle the body has, the more calories it will burn.
Motivation is crippled. Pessimism takes over…
Having achieved some weight loss before going off the rails, diet is resumed.
To guard against future “famine”, the body now stores more food as body fat, effectively laying down more reserves as a survival mechanism, despite the same diet that was producing results being followed. This is of course COMPOUNDED by a lower metabolic rate, due to loss of lean muscle during the short diet phase.
Old habits are resumed & after just a few weeks, (or 8) once the diet has been stopped, not only has the lost weight been put back on, but more weight has also been gained overall, resulting in the dieter being heavier & with more body fat than before the diet began!
If this sounds familiar or you would prefer to avoid this from ever happening to you, keep reading…
When it comes to weight loss, a solid rule of thumb is to follow a healthy meal plan and workout schedule where incremental changes are made in order to achieve a slower, steady, healthy rate of 1-2 pounds lost per week.
Extreme weight loss is obviously attractive and can be a great motivator initially, but it’s just not physically possible to sustain over the long haul & only makes matters worse.
Here’s the upside of following a high protein, healthy meal plan that doesn’t restrict you of calories, carbohydrates, or variety the way most fad diets do…
I’ll leave you with this…
Always remember, your health & wellness journey is a marathon, not a sprint...
And the beautiful thing about it is with this particular marathon, there is no end – because “BETTER” has no finish line!
Are you ready to live a healthier lifestyle and get in amazing shape while enjoying foods you love?!
Click Here & Start Your Journey with Nutrition Solutions Today!!
Weight loss & muscle building meal plans.