Fad Diets Don't work

Thursday May 17, 2012

I was thinking today about all the crazy diets people put themselves on trying to lose weight. They starve themselves and end up not losing much of anything so they get discouraged and stop trying. They gain all the weight back that they did lose and even more. The reason for this is that most diets don't work. Sure, you might see some immediate results, but in the long term, you end up just gaining the weight back. The only way to lose weight, and to keep it off, is to burn more calories than you are eating. This is a two step process through eating healthier and exercising.

When people starve themselves, the body goes into "salvation" mode. That means it starts storing fat to use as fuel because it doesn't know when the next meal is coming. The key is to eat 5-6 small meals a day, every 3-4 hours. Keep the body digesting food and it will keep your motabilism up.  When I say small meals, I don't mean a pancakes with whipped cream for breakfast, a couple cheeseburgers for lunch and then 3 slices of pizza for dinner. I'm talking high protein, high quality food. My meal choices usually consist of eggs, grilled chicken, fish (not fried), vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, etc. Have a healthy omelet for breakfast, a bananna and some nuts for a mid morning snack, a grilled chicken salad or sandwich for lunch, a protein shake or protein bar (I recommend pure protein bars and pure protein shakes) mid-afternoon and some grilled or baked fish with steamed vegetables for dinner. It's amazing how full you will be eating quality protein. Protein fills you up.

The second part of all this is exercise. It doesn't matter if you just go for a 15 minute walk instead of sitting around watching TV and eating chips. You would lose the calories of the chips plus burn some calories with the walk. It's like doubling up on the calorie burn.

You just have to do it!!! Start small. Go for a walk tonight. Don't eat that bag of chips or that ice cream. Skip that cheese on the burger. Walk up the stairs instead of taking the escalator or elevator. Little things like this will start to add up and you will notice a difference. And once you start living a healthier life, it will become second nature and you will continue on to reach your goals. Just go for it and do it!! Start tonight!

Mark