The top 6 diet gimmicks to avoid
- You can lose 10 pounds in a week.
The thing that you want to lose is fat and you cannot lose ten pounds of fat in a week, it is not physiologically possible. You can lose ten pounds of water, lean mass and the contents of your bowels when you go to the toilet! Such a harsh diet would also result in your metabolic rate slowing so that you would have rebound weight gain at the end.These kind of diets play on the insecurities that we have all felt: an upcoming wedding or a meeting with someone we haven't seen for a long time, or the summer holiday. These are times when we can feel more insecure about our bodies and look for quick fixes. Sadly, they really don't work.
- Just follow this diet and the fat will melt away and the problem will be gone.
How many diets do we need to follow before we realise that dieting just isn’t going to work? If dieting worked, we would only ever have to do it once! The real solution to the problem is inside us in our behaviours, beliefs and habits. Which of those do we need to change in order to have success? And then there are feelings. If the weight has come about via emotional eating, no diet will solve the problem, will it?
- This diet works for everybody.
Everybody’s biochemistry and body composition is different and each person has a unique history with food and eating. No single diet can suit all different people with all different individual challenges.A low carb diet will not suit a person with cravings caused by low serotonin (a brain hormone involed with appetite), and could make symptoms worse. Conversely, a carbohydrate-based diet could be bad news to someone with insulin resistance or syndrome X.
- You don’t need to exercise on this diet.
All research shows this to be untrue. The large USA registry of people who have been able to lose a substantial amount of weight and keep it off over a long period of time found that generally people consistently exercise as part of their new lifestyle. It is possible to enjoy exercise and to find activities that you can fit into your weekly life.
- You can eat as much as you like on this diet!
They may say this but they never really mean it do they? If you’ve ever done a low carbohydrate diet you can have that sense of excitement about all that fat and protein food that you going to be able to eat. After a few days, bad breath and constipation are the norm and a piece of toast seems like nirvana! I encourage you to eat and enjoy all foods - in a balance that works for you.
- The new diet shake, pill, patch etc…
How will you ever learn to trust your body again and to enjoy food appropriately when you follow a plan like that? How does that address the issues that have created the problem with your weight and eating in the first place? These products are often created to provide very low calorie diets, so your metabolic rate will plummet and you run the risk of a big rebound weight when you stop. Not only that, you won't have addressed the causes of your issues and learned how to deal with food day to day. My experience is that thse programmes can cause considerable harm. With tablets and patches, ask where is the scientific evidence? There are no quick fixes. The best fix is to take responsibility for your own success and enjoy the journey, and that really is magic.
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