Several people I speak to have recently remarked how many “New Year Resolution” posts that they are not seeing. Me? I’m still seeing them a lot. It is the first month of a new year so some of us still use this time to set goals that we want to achieve during the year. If you are someone who has set goals, I’m guessing that one of your goals is to start a diet / get your eating sorted / something similar and lose weight.
Do you get frustrated with losing weight?
Want it to happen faster?
I think that most of us have considered doing a fad diet that promises major weight loss in a short timeframe. Those of us that have done it (attention: those considering it!!) – know that it isn’t lifestyle sustainable. There are so many restrictions with diets that promise major weight loss in a short time. Most will to eliminate whole food groups like carbs for example. I’ve seen diets where you only drink cabbage water for days on end or only eat eggs and very low carb salad.
Lettuce anyone?
Of course, for those who carry excess pounds or kilos, losing weight and keeping it off long term is great for your body and your health. Fad dieting however, is routinely bad for your system and can potentially end up with nasty side-effects. Take it from someone who thought taking some Keto Supplements as a kick starter to an eating plan wouldn’t hurt. My liver and kidneys disagreed with me. The fast weight loss plans can deprive you of essential nutrients that balanced diets offer. Some bodies will cope well with short term deprivation. Other bodies – not so much!
These are some of the things that Fad diets offer, and promote:
- Fast results. If you are eating just an egg a day plus some low carb salads for a number of days, of course you will lose weight fast. But what happens when you need to eat more than that? And you do at some stage…
- Elimination of Carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the priority source of energy for the body in all processes. Elimination of carbs stresses the body to use other sources of stored energy. For a short period of time, that may be useful (in certain circumstances). It is NOT a great long term strategy for ANY ONE.
As I’ve already mentioned from my own personal experience – Fad diets can cause health problems. I think that you would find it pretty hard to find a respected nutritionist or dietitian that would promote these kinds of diets.
Cutting food intake with fad diets can cause you to experience:
- Dehydration.
- Weakness and fatigue.
- Nausea and headaches.
- Constipation.
- Inadequate vitamin and mineral intake.
As a health and wellbeing coach, my advice is to find what works best for YOUR body with all YOUR circumstances considered. And that is why I love the program that I work with. There is NO one best fit or best way to achieve your goal weight. Different foods have different value to you and your health at different parts of your health journey.
Just one example – are you in the group of people that believe everyone should eat broccoli? Broccoli is a Super Food, right?
For people with thyroid issues, broccoli is NOT a super food. It can make their health worse under certain circumstances.
Is that my only example? Nope – here is so much more (but I can’t put it ALL here right now)…
Your weight is not only about the calories in and calories out equation. There is more to it (of course there is I hear you say). For some people, dieting indicates to their body that there is a crisis (in primitive times – a food availability crisis). Their bodies will conserve energy, no matter how little is being put into the system. So for today’s environment, where food is available (calorie dense or otherwise) – cutting calories will cause them to increase weight. ARGH!! But – it’s a normal adaptive mechanism for their bodies.
What diet are you currently following?
Are you on a fad diet?
Do you want to change your diet or eating routine?
Or even, before doing that, do you want to know your health type?
I can help you, just leave a comment below and I will reach out to you.
