14 DAY TRIAL // Though we often hear that X or Y celebrity has gotten into amazing shape with the help of a fad diet, or that a friend of a friend of a friend also tried out a new diet and can vouch it works, the truth is dieting is not the way to go for sustainable weight loss. Nutritionists have often pointed out that diets come with even more disadvantages than the advantages they may have almost immediately. The top four reasons why diets don’t work are listed below, as summed up by Active’s Nutrition.
The first problem with diets, no matter how famous or seemingly documented they appear, is that they’re made to work in the short run. That is to say, they’re not created thinking of what will happen with the weight lost in a year’s time but rather to help you shake off a few pounds over a very short period of time, from two weeks to a month usually. Many (chronic) dieters know from experience of the yo-yo effect, which kicks in the moment they come off a diet – because the diet does not imply a lifestyle change. Therefore, once it ends, the dieter reverts back to their old eating habits.
Secondly comes the fact that diets make you hungry, no matter how much they boast of letting you eat whatever you want, whenever you want it (some even include sweet treats). This happens because they treat weight loss in terms of cutting down on the calories ingested daily, when the logical approach would be to reduce calories moderately and work out more so that you make sure you burn more calories than you take in. Since (most) fad diets don’t include a workout routine as well, this deficit can only be achieved by fasting, wherefrom the permanent sensation of hunger, experts say.
From this also derives problem number three, namely that diets tend to make you tired. “A chronic problem with diets is that so many of them are simply too low in calories. Because they don’t provide enough energy for you to do your workouts and accomplish everything else you need to do in a day, they’re a short-term solution at best. Even when weight-loss programs incorporate exercise – and, astonishingly, many don’t – they typically ask you to eat like a gerbil and then train like a hamster by running or cycling endlessly in place. You may shed a few pounds in the short run, but you’ll also forsake muscle, and the resulting metabolic downshift will soon take you back to square one,” Active says.
Last but not least, diets “cannibalize” muscle mass. “Diets also tend to pay too little attention to supporting muscle mass during periods of caloric restriction. This is important for more than just aesthetic reasons. And when you lose muscle, your basal metabolic rate drops, and you don’t burn as many calories. Most guys try to burn off the fat first and then build the muscle. To do that, you have to lower your calories so far that you don’t have the energy to train hard in the gym. You burn more muscle than fat, lowering your metabolic rate and setting the stage for weight gain,” the same publication concludes by saying.
So, next time you think about starting on a diet come next Monday (it’s always Mondays), think about making small changes to your lifestyle instead of turning your entire existence upside down for only a couple of weeks. Cut down on junk food and start exercising more and you’ll see results will last longer, though they may also become noticeable a bit later.