Friday, March 15, 2013
• Napa, CA 94559
As a fitness coach I get asked the same question again and again, "what do you think of--fill in the blank--diet?
I usually have several problems with most diets out there:
First, the diets are usually too restrictive in terms of the types of foods you are allowed to eat and the number of calories you are consuming. Eventually, you will get sick of eating the same foods again and again. Your energy will be low and you become temperamental from a lack of calories. So, you stop the diet and go back to your normal eating habits. The problem is now your metabolism has dropped significantly as a response to the dramatic decrease in calories. It can take several weeks, even months for your metabolism to return to normal. This means you are eating "normally" but burning less calories, inevitably gaining the weight back - returning to square 1. This drop in metabolism explains why yo-yo dieters often gain more weight after a restrictive diet than their pre-diet weight.
Secondly, the diets don't teach you anything. With highly restrictive diets you are left with two choices; either stick with the diet - eating the same food everyday, or go back to your old eating habits. This is the reason I believe so strongly in making lifestly choices instead of dieting.
First, the diets are usually too restrictive in terms of the types of foods you are allowed to eat and the number of calories you are consuming. Eventually, you will get sick of eating the same foods again and again. Your energy will be low and you become temperamental from a lack of calories. So, you stop the diet and go back to your normal eating habits. The problem is now your metabolism has dropped significantly as a response to the dramatic decrease in calories. It can take several weeks, even months for your metabolism to return to normal. This means you are eating "normally" but burning less calories, inevitably gaining the weight back - returning to square 1. This drop in metabolism explains why yo-yo dieters often gain more weight after a restrictive diet than their pre-diet weight.
Secondly, the diets don't teach you anything. With highly restrictive diets you are left with two choices; either stick with the diet - eating the same food everyday, or go back to your old eating habits. This is the reason I believe so strongly in making lifestly choices instead of dieting.
In a lifestyle program you learn:
- how to classify different types of foods (protein, starch, fat, etc)
- how to pair foods together for a balanced diet
- what a serving size of each type of food is
- how many servings of each particular type of food you should consume.
You can eat any food you want (in moderation), and are able eat a variety of foods. This will help you make a lasting, permanent change.
The key to success is to make a lifestyle change, a new way of eating instead of a temporary diet. Diets don't work because you simply cannot diet forever.
Over the years, the clients that have been the most successful in losing weight and keeping it off are the ones who make a slow, gradual lifestyle change. Clients who focused on losing 0.5-1.0 lbs per week, kept a daily log, and chose one thing to focus on per week instead of making dramatic changes all at once were the most successful. The most important thing is to find something that you can stick with. If it's too restrictive, you won't stick to it and you will eventually gain back any weight you lost. There are no quick fixes!!
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