Let’s talk about fad diets! You’ve all heard of at least one. They come in a variety of names and all claim to get you FASTER and BETTER results!
The thing about fad diets that usually gets consumers is the buzzwords revolving around commitment. “You can lose X amount in X amount by only paying X amount”. If you were told to plug away at something consistently for a year and you’d get slow results, CONSISTENT AND SUSTAINABLE slow results, you might be interested, or you might choose that quick fix.
You know what’s interesting about that quick fix? Statistically, a person will lose that weight…then gain back that weight and more after the diet time frame is all finished. The YO-YO diet! The fluctuations with a yo-yo diet can be quite drastic, but that doesn’t mean that what you lose will always stay off. Just look at the contestants on the show The Biggest Loser. Some of those contestants lost over 100lbs with medical supervision and professional trainers. A year to 2 years later, the weight is back on and then some.
Why does this happen? How can someone lose so much and then it all comes back? Let’s look at what happens comparing two different diets:
Caloric Deficiency Diets
– When you restrict the amount of calories you consume and exercise regularly, you will lose weight. It’s math. Pretty simple. The only problem is usually the number of calories you consume changes aggressively with a diet. So your body more or less decides that you’re starving yourself and starts to burn whatever source of energy it can to survive. This included protein, fats, glucose stores, and water weight. Now, when you are limiting your intake continuously, you will continue to burn, and the number on the scale will decrease. However, the moment you drop that diet, if you aren’t responsible with what you put in your body, your body will hoard all of those hungry little calories and the weight fluctuation will continue. It may not be noticeable quickly, but an increase will occur.
Elimination Diets
– This is where you take an entire food group or part of a food group out of your daily eating routine. Let’s consider the common elimination of refined carbohydrates. When on a carbohydrate restrictive diet, the dieter’s metabolism switches from burning glucose as fuel to burning stored body fat – this switching is called ketosis. Low glucose levels result in low insulin levels. Ketosis is triggered when our insulin levels are low. In other words, when our glucose levels are low our bodies switch to using our own stores of fat as a source of energy. This is called lipolysis, which is common because it is considered an effective method for fat-loss.
If you have done the GoClean course, or have sat with any of the Movimento staff to talk about your nutrition, you may have seen some differences to what we prescribe, you may also see some similarities to a diet. Sure there are some things that are similar, but we push for a LIFESTYLE CHANGE! Long term is the best way to go when it comes to your weight-loss journey. Eat often, but eat the right things. Drink plenty of water. Get plenty of sleep. Limit your intake of refined carbohydrates to days where you come to the gym and consume within 2 hours of your session. Make sure you’re coming to your sessions at the gym. Preparation is key, even for the weekends. All of these suggestions are effective for producing changes in your life in the long term. You may not see your immediate desired results in “as little as four weeks”, but you will see a sustainable long-term improvement.
Sustainably losing weight will require you to make difficult changes to everyday habits. Don’t panic, these changes don’t need to be made overnight. Slowly build up a calorie deficit by moderately cutting intake and increasing physical activity. Slow changes are much more likely to stick than abrupt ones over time. Slow change is the key to losing weight, keeping it off and improving overall health. Even if you want to be bikini ready and stay that way, pump the brakes a bit and work at your weight change just a little bit at a time to create lasting success!
