My opinion of diets is not very good. I think they suck. 99.9% of them. If someone is trying to lose weight the last thing I recommend is for somebody to go on a diet.
Why? You see most diets do nothing but cause you to lose weight. It’s a serious problem. I know your asking yourself ‘…but don’t I want to lose weight?’ Yes and no. I’ve probably confused you by now. You see, you don’t want to lose weight, you want to lose fat!
When you lose weight you are in an all out quest to make the scale move down. With no regards to the most important thing in the world when it comes to fat loss—your metabolism. Diets usually cause a loss of weight, but they make your hard earned muscle tissue shrink and cause you to lose a lot of water. Muscle and body water levels are two of the most important factors when it comes to metabolism.
Now from a nutritional standpoint you need to get a good, healthy balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fats in your diet to rev your metabolism up. Now I might confuse you a little more. I have 2 definitions of diets. 1.) The food you eat is your diet. 2.) The fad things that you ‘go on’ to lose weight is a diet. Now you want to skip #2 in favor of #1. And you want to make #1 a lifestyle and not a chore. You need to make #1 a habit in your life. Just like Grey’s Anatomy, or Oprah, or College Football Saturday’s. Then, and only then, will you to start to get the ball rolling towards the body of your dreams.
Let’s use two people as an example. I’m sure you are quite familiar with one or the other. Maybe one is you, or someone you know. Person A we will call her Adrian. Adrian is a person who goes on a variety of diets, whatever is the flavor of the month at the time. The reason she does this is because she continues to lose weight on them. But as soon as she stops the diet the weight comes back on. Sometimes more than before. You may know this as Yo-Yo dieting. The reason she stops the diet in the first place is because she stops seeing the results. Which usually means her metabolism is running on empty and her body’s lean muscle tissue has been eaten away.
Now Adrian is angry and the drive that was there when she started the diet is gone, because she is putting in all this effort and getting nothing in return. And most of the time when she reaches this point in her diet, she starts getting sick a lot and starts to feel little aches and pains everywhere. This is because a slow metabolism and poor nutrition will lead to a decreased immune system.
So this is the point Adrian decides to ditch the diet, and go back to her ways before the diet. Then a few months down the line when Adrian has put the weight back on and usually more she finds a new diet to go on, and the cycle continues on and on. However, this isn’t a problem for person #2, we’ll call him Donnie. Donnie found out early on in life that limiting his food intake led to poor performances in everything from school, sports, job, and life.
He focuses on eating nutrient dense foods throughout the day and drinking plenty of water. He doesn’t let himself get hungry so he feeds himself with good food choices every 2-4 hours eating at least 5 times a day.
It isn’t a hassle for him either. He knows it’s more of a hassle if he skips a meal or puts junk in his system. That is when he starts feeling bad inside and out. He rarely is ever sick, and maintains a high level of lean muscle tissue and low body fat year round.
Now both of those people and scenarios were made up. But I have known quite a few people on both sides of those fences. It is all about choosing between A Diet, and Your Diet.
Remember what A Diet does? Weight loss- plateau- frustration- anger- failure- weight gain-continuing cycle.
Your Diet results in: Fat loss- increased metabolism- lean muscle tissue- habit- lifestyle- body you want.
It is not rocket science. Its just nutrition made simpler for you.
