If you approach weight loss with a short-term attitude, you may not make it anywhere except on the yo-yo diet train. Without a long-term approach to weight loss, you may lose 10 or more pounds in two weeks and then suffer a rebound when you discover that regimen wasn't working for you. This is all too common when people embark on strict diets such as keto or paleo , or fad diets that promise rapid weight loss.
In reality, for most people, a well-balanced diet that includes all food groups and even some treats works best in the long run. Part of successful, sustainable weight loss -- i. They only last as long as your willpower lasts, and I'm willing to bet that's not more than two weeks to a couple of months. There are no quick fixes, miracle cures or magic pills when it comes to weight loss, despite what the wellness industry might have you believe: Losing weight requires dedication to a plan that supports long-term healthy habits.
The general recommendation for weight loss is a rate of one to two pounds per week, although initial weight loss might surpass that for people who are very overweight, and then slow down to the suggested one to two pounds per week. Studies have shown this to be an effective way to lose weight without losing too much water or lean tissue -- and to avoid a rebound.
Read more: The best adjustable dumbbells for Many people who struggle with a short-term attitude also struggle with an all-or-nothing mindset. I myself began my health and fitness journey with this mindset. I cut out all literally all! I basically existed on chicken, vegetables and berries. This was great until it wasn't, and I ended up on a CVS run for all the chocolate and Goldfish I could hold in two hands. Then, because I'd "ruined" my diet, I would eat as much as I could physically handle, because, "Why not?
I already ruined it. Then, of course, I'd feel bad about the snacks I ate and return to my overly restrictive regimen the next day. This is a destructive cycle to be in, but it's something I see all the time with personal training clients.
An all-or-nothing mindset can keep you in a perpetual cycle of lose-gain-lose, not to mention shame and guilt around food. Trust your body. It knows what it needs.
Listening to and trusting your body really works, although it can be scary at first. Accept your body as it is in this moment. That will happen once I lose the weight.
Perhaps it is time to try loving and listening to your body and seeing what happens. Exercise and a clean diet can make a big difference, but developing a healthy relationship with food is key. Chances are you are not going to drop 10lbs in a week with Intuitive Eating, or even a month, but over a period of time your weight will stabilize, and over your lifetime you will be happier and healthier. Like this post? Pick up your copy of Aches, Pains, and Love at select Indigo stores or online at chapters.
Tags: diet dieting intuitive eating self-care food. Featured Posts. Who Are You? Illness and Identity. Chronic Health Conditions: Curing vs. Secrets of a Woman With Chronic Pain. Introducing Aches, Pains, and Love. Recent Posts. The Wrong Relationships. You may be able to lose quite a lot of weight at first, without much effort. However, weight loss may slow down or stop altogether after a while.
It also contains actionable tips on how to break through the plateau and get things moving again. It is incredibly common for the scale not to budge for a few days or weeks at a time. This does not mean that you are not losing fat. Body weight tends to fluctuate by a few pounds.
It depends on the foods you are eating, and hormones can also have a major effect on how much water your body retains especially in women.
Also, it is possible to gain muscle at the same time as you lose fat. This is particularly common if you recently started exercising. This is a good thing, as what you really want to lose is body fat , not just weight. It is a good idea to use something other than the scale to gauge your progress. For example, measure your waist circumference and body fat percentage once per month. A weight loss plateau may be explained by muscle gain, undigested food, and fluctuations in body water.
Awareness is incredibly important if you are trying to lose weight. Studies show that keeping track of your food intake helps with weight loss. For people with eating disorders, calorie counting and food tracking has been shown to aggravate potentially harmful side effects 3. Protein is an important nutrient for losing weight. It can also drastically reduce cravings and desire for snacking 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. If you eat breakfast, be sure to load up on protein. Studies show that those who eat a high protein breakfast are less hungry and have fewer cravings throughout the day A high protein intake also helps prevent metabolic slowdown, a common side effect of losing weight.
Additionally, it helps prevent weight regain 12 , 13 , Low protein intake may bring your weight loss efforts to a standstill. Make sure to eat plenty of protein-rich foods. You may think that this does not apply to you, but keep in mind that studies consistently show that people tend to underestimate their calorie intake by a significant amount 15 , 16 , If you are not losing weight, you should try weighing your foods and tracking your calories for a while.
It is generally not necessary to count calories and weigh everything for the rest of your life. People frequently overestimate their calorie intake. Eating whole foods can improve your well-being and help regulate your appetite. These foods tend to be much more filling than their highly processed counterparts.
Take Nicky, for instance. She eats sensibly much of the time, with some junk food here and there, but it doesn't really seem to affect her weight. She's not a dieter. She is Naturally Thin Nicky, and it's not surprising that she believes what she sees with her own eyes and feels in her own body.
Nevertheless, Nicky has it wrong. Read More. The long, strange history of dieting fads. We are researchers who have been studying why diets fail for a long time. We have seen that diet failure is the norm.
We have also studied the stigma that heavy people face, and witnessed the blame game that happens when dieters can't keep the weight off. From a scientific perspective, we understand that dieting sets up an unfair fight. But many Nickys we've encountered -- on the street, in the audience when we give talks, and even fellow scientists -- get confused when we say dieting doesn't work, because it doesn't square with their own observations.
An unfair fight. Nicky thinks she's thin because of the way she eats, but actually, genetics play a huge role in making her thin. Nicky gets all the credit though, because people see the way she eats and they can't see her genes. Many heavy people wouldn't be lean like Nicky even if they ate the same foods in the same quantities.
Their bodies are able to run on fewer calories than Nicky's, which sounds like a good thing and would be great if you found yourself in a famine. However, it actually means that after eating the same foods and using that energy to run the systems of their body, they have more calories left over to store as fat than Nicky does. So to actually lose weight, they have to eat less food than Nicky.
And then, once they've been dieting a while, their metabolism changes so that they need to eat even less than that to keep losing weight.
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