Why Diets Can Make You Fat
Why Diets Can Make You Fat
The dieting industry is a multi dollar/euro industry that preys on people promising them they can have the “Perfect Body”. The real issue is that most diets are biologically flawed. Dieting makes food your enemy and then you fall into a constant battle with your body.
Let’s define dieting; dieting is when a person manipulates food to lose weight by constantly counting calories, weighing food and eliminating food groups. Most diets look to your weight as the problem and they work on the outside.
The cabbage soup diet or low fat diets are not the answer to weight loss. I think we all know or have heard of someone who went on a starvation diet and the weight eventually went back to their pre- diet weight or they become even heavier. To add even more frustration people will set unrealistic weight loss targets that cannot be meant and this will cause more feelings of disappointment.
Fad diets lack essential nutrients and they teach us nothing about healthy eating and blood sugar levels (you need to have your blood sugar levels balanced to lose weight). The lack of awareness around food and crazy diets leads to the beginning of yo-yo dieting which can bring on more health problems and research has shown that dieting and compulsive weighing oneself can lead to eating disorders.
Constant dieting leads to weight gain because it’s stressful. Stress hormones act on fat cells to increase abdominal fat. Research has shown that weight anxiety and dieting can predict later binge eating and weight gain. On another level if you suddenly reduce your food intake, your body will slow down your metabolic rate in order to store energy more efficiently and that’s why weight loss slows down dramatically after the first couple of weeks.
Weight loss in the early weeks of starvation diets is not all fat. You lose carbohydrates stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen and you will also lose a lot of water, which may make you feel less bloated and appear slimmer, but in fact you are still carrying the same amount of fat on your body. Since your metabolism has slowed down, your body will store energy instead of using it. So, in other words, you end up gaining more weight.
To achieve weight loss we need to understand why the weight is there. We have to learn to be more conscious and what the need for the weight is at this moment in time. Is it down to bad diet, stress, or is the weight serving you a purpose at this time.
What works?
There are four main aspects that I work with when working with my clients. I have mentioned them in many articles. I mention them again here today because they work!
Spirit – Mind – Emotional – Physical
Spirit – Research suggests that spirituality improves self-awareness, coping skills and helps a person connect to their own power.
Mind – Bring more consciousness to your beliefs, thinking styles that are creating or maintaining the need for the weight.
Emotional –Learn to explore your feelings which you are eating in response to. Develop skills to help you change the way you respond to your feelings.
Physical – Start to explore and address behaviour (triggers, barriers to change), body image and nutrition (labelling reading, how to balance blood sugar levels).
Start today by
Mindful eating
Sit down to regular meals
Understand you body signals
Eat when you are hungry and stop when full
Understand why you have created the weight in the first place.
Give yourself permission to eat as much as you want. Eat what makes your body feel good.
Exercise regularly or take up a new activity.
The dieting industry is a multi dollar/euro industry that preys on people promising them they can have the “Perfect Body”. The real issue is that most diets are biologically flawed. Dieting makes food your enemy and then you fall into a constant battle with your body.
Let’s define dieting; dieting is when a person manipulates food to lose weight by constantly counting calories, weighing food and eliminating food groups. Most diets look to your weight as the problem and they work on the outside.
The cabbage soup diet or low fat diets are not the answer to weight loss. I think we all know or have heard of someone who went on a starvation diet and the weight eventually went back to their pre- diet weight or they become even heavier. To add even more frustration people will set unrealistic weight loss targets that cannot be meant and this will cause more feelings of disappointment.
Fad diets lack essential nutrients and they teach us nothing about healthy eating and blood sugar levels (you need to have your blood sugar levels balanced to lose weight). The lack of awareness around food and crazy diets leads to the beginning of yo-yo dieting which can bring on more health problems and research has shown that dieting and compulsive weighing oneself can lead to eating disorders.
Constant dieting leads to weight gain because it’s stressful. Stress hormones act on fat cells to increase abdominal fat. Research has shown that weight anxiety and dieting can predict later binge eating and weight gain. On another level if you suddenly reduce your food intake, your body will slow down your metabolic rate in order to store energy more efficiently and that’s why weight loss slows down dramatically after the first couple of weeks.
Weight loss in the early weeks of starvation diets is not all fat. You lose carbohydrates stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen and you will also lose a lot of water, which may make you feel less bloated and appear slimmer, but in fact you are still carrying the same amount of fat on your body. Since your metabolism has slowed down, your body will store energy instead of using it. So, in other words, you end up gaining more weight.
To achieve weight loss we need to understand why the weight is there. We have to learn to be more conscious and what the need for the weight is at this moment in time. Is it down to bad diet, stress, or is the weight serving you a purpose at this time.
What works?
There are four main aspects that I work with when working with my clients. I have mentioned them in many articles. I mention them again here today because they work!
Spirit – Mind – Emotional – Physical
Spirit – Research suggests that spirituality improves self-awareness, coping skills and helps a person connect to their own power.
Mind – Bring more consciousness to your beliefs, thinking styles that are creating or maintaining the need for the weight.
Emotional –Learn to explore your feelings which you are eating in response to. Develop skills to help you change the way you respond to your feelings.
Physical – Start to explore and address behaviour (triggers, barriers to change), body image and nutrition (labelling reading, how to balance blood sugar levels).
Start today by
Mindful eating
Sit down to regular meals
Understand you body signals
Eat when you are hungry and stop when full
Understand why you have created the weight in the first place.
Give yourself permission to eat as much as you want. Eat what makes your body feel good.
Exercise regularly or take up a new activity.