Do I Need To Diet to Lose Weight??
A frequently asked question, do I need to diet to lose weight, can be answered with one simple word; NO! The common belief that you have to starve yourself to lose weight could not be further from the truth. Many people think that by doing this they are not taking in a lot of calories therefore they will lose weight. Part of that equation is true, by not eating, or starving yourself you will definitely be taking in less calories, but the downside to doing this outweighs the less caloric intake immensely! To help some people understand this more clearly, I like to tell them to think of their body as a car. If you don't put gas in the car will it run? If the car doesn't have oil in it will it run? If the tires are flat, will the car run as smooth or go as fast?? The answer to all of these questions is simply no. So if food is the hypothetical gas, oil, and air in the tires, then in order to run efficient and effectively, you need to be eating and eating right!
Your Metabolism SLOWS DOWN when you do not have the proper food, or enough food in your system.
This makes losing weight and keeping the weight off more difficult. If you've lost weight from starving yourself , or dieting and not supplying your body with the right nutrients, ask yourself this; did the weight stay off or did you gain it right back? My guess is you gained it all back and maybe even more, as soon as you stopped dieting. The reason this happens is because when you starve yourself or are stimulant dieting, your body will burn up lean muscle tissue instead of fat tissue(which is what we want to burn). After you end the diet your body will rapidly gain back fat tissue you make up for the other losses. This basically means that while on a starvation or stimulant diet you will most likely lose weight, but not the kind we are looking to loose, and then gain back more fat tissue as soon as you stop. So if you are the type of person that loses weight quickly, but gains weight easily and quickly, this kind of eating behavior is probably why. A simple solution to this is to not starve yourself, but instead do the complete opposite. Rather than eating your traditional 3 big meals a day, you should be eating more often.
You should be eating 5-6 small, healthy meals/snacks throughout the day.
Now days it is easy to find healthy snacks, and healthy cooking methods. Everywhere you look you see recipes for healthy cooking and options for healthy snacks. The main thing to concentrate on though, is portion control. America is one of the worst countries to live in if you are tying to lose weight because of the fact that everything is "supersized" or 20% more. We have become immune to enormous portions and think its normal to eat this amount of food each meal. This is one of main reasons why America has the highest number of obese people living in it.
Tracking your nutrition and food intake is a great assistance in weight loss.
By monitoring your food intake, you can see exactly how many calories you should be taking in and how much food equals that amount of calories. For weight loss, a good number to stay around for calorie intake would be around 1200-1500 calories a day. If you live a more active lifestyle, then you would be on the higher end of this scale. Anything below these numbers, will start to hinder your weight loss goals. The main thing to remember is there is no magic pill or supplement that will safely and effectively help in long term weight loss. Portion control, eating and cooking healthy, and an leading an active lifestyle are the fastest and most effective way to lose weight and keep it off!! For more tips on health, fitness and nutrition check out our weekly blog on www.1teamfitness.com.