Most diet and weight loss \t\tprograms have a depressingly high failure rate, with people either \t\tnever reaching their weight goals or reaching them and regaining all \t\tthe weight they lost (and sometimes more) in about one year.<\/p>\n
Getting the weight off fast \tis so desirable that many of us are willing to sacrifice health and \tignore common sense in the hope that some new weight loss program or \tscheme will work. This pipe dream can unfortunately outweigh the \tnegative consequences. So let’s examine the downside of dieting.<\/p>\n
Your body can only lose a few \t\tpounds a week on a consistent basis. If you lose more than that initially, it’s \t\tlikely just water loss. So any weight loss program that promises you will lose \t\tfive pounds a week, or 25 pounds in 3 weeks, is guaranteeing you will be losing \t\twater and muscle mass<\/i> not fat.<\/p>\n
Almost every popular weight loss \t\tprogram out there falls into one of the following diet categories: low calorie diets, \t\tmeal replacement drinks, packaged foods, unbalanced nutrients, and ketosis diets. \t\tLet’s see how they stack up.<\/p>\n
LOW CALORIE DIETS<\/span><\/p>\n Whenever you drastically reduce your calories, the body enters an unnatural state and \tits defenses kick in. So when calories drop below, say, 1000 calories a day, your \tmetabolism will shut down in an effort to conserve energy. And weight loss with a sluggish \tmetabolism is very difficult.<\/p>\n Your body will start using muscle tissue to \tprovide energy, which again leads to a decrease in the metabolism. Taken to an extreme, \tthe body will break down its vital parts (such as the heart muscle) trying to meet its \tenergy needs.<\/p>\n In addition to these drawbacks, trying to \tmaintain the weight loss over time is nearly impossible because your body is now used \tto making do with very few calories. Going back to "normal" eating causes the weight \tto pile back on.<\/p>\n For this reason, low cal weight loss programs \trarely work over the long haul.<\/p>\n MEAL REPLACEMENT DRINKS<\/span><\/p>\n One of the most unnatural things for your body is to go without solid food, which is what \t \tmeal replacement plans ask it to do. Some people think that dieting will be easier if they \t \taren’t confronted with daily food choices and the pounds will just fall off. This may be \t \ttrue while they are on the liquid diet. But what about afterwards?<\/p>\n Where will the good eating habits come from after \t\tyou’ve lost the weight? This is something that takes time, practice and knowledge. Dieters \t\tneed to establish a healthy attitude towards a life-long eating plan. And no "fad" weight \t\tloss program or liquid lunch can help you with that.<\/p>\n Getting hooked on meal replacements can become a \t\tdestructive way to view food. It often leads dieters to fear food or binge to "feed" their \t\tcravings after a long period of deprivation. And that’s just the psychological side of the \t\tequation.<\/p>\n The lack of fiber in such weight loss programs \t\tcan be a threat to good physical health. And when the body is denied enough solid food, the \t\tintestines go into overdrive absorbing calories and nutrients. This helps you during the diet \t\tperiod, but later it makes it much easier to regain the weight.<\/p>\n Another yo-yo weight loss program that hurts you in the end.<\/p>\n UNBALANCED NUTRIENT PLAN<\/span><\/p>\n Be cautious about any weight loss program that has strict rules about good foods and bad \t\tfoods. Sure, high fat and high sugar foods might be considered bad for the waistline, but \t\tmoderation not abstinence is key to success.<\/p>\n Why? Because eating the same foods every day (say, \t\tgrapefruit or high protein meals) is going to result in two things: nutritional imbalance \t\tand boredom.<\/p>\n All foods are made up of the same nutrients in \t\tdifferent amounts: fat, carbohydrates, and protein. It is the right proportion of these \t\tnutrients that will bring about weight loss – not the avoidance of "bad" foods and the \t\tconsumption of only "good" or magical foods.<\/p>\n In the world of dieting, no one food or nutrient \t\tgroup is magical. Variety and moderation are the keys to a healthy diet and a successful \t\tweight loss program.<\/p>\n PACKAGED FOODS<\/p>\n To stay at your ideal body weight, you have to \t\tlearn how to make proper food choices. By following a packaged food weight loss program you \t\tare postponing the inevitable, and spending plenty of $$$ in the process.<\/p>\n Another problem with this kind of weight loss program \t\tis that the foods provided are not always healthy. Read the package label and you will see \t\tchemicals, preservatives, sodium, sugar and saturated fats. And when all you can eat is packaged \t\tfood, how do you plan meals with other people? Going out to restaurants and parties and enjoying \t\tfamily meals becomes a big hassle.<\/p>\n Your weight loss program then becomes a burden, not \t\tonly to you, but to those around you.<\/p>\n KETOSIS DIETS<\/p>\n Ketosis has been defined as:<\/p>\n "An abnormal condition marked by excessive production \t\tof ketone bodies. Often caused by high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins diet."<\/p>\n Atkins and certain other weight loss programs \t\tare based on the principle of restricting carbohydrates to the point that the body \t\tenters into ketosis. On the surface, a ketogenic diet seems to work for two reasons: First, \t\tyou’ll lose large amounts of weight, which is very pleasing to the dieter. Secondly, you \t\tdon’t experience hunger.<\/p>\n But there are serious drawbacks. Your weight \t\tgoes down due to water loss (which occurs when you restrict carbohydrates) and a loss of \t\tlean muscle tissue. This is NOT true, lasting weight loss.<\/p>\n The loss of appetite comes from having ketones \t\tbuilding up in the body, which can harm your health. Side effects of a ketosis weight loss \t\tprogram can include fatigue, kidney stones, gout, and muscle loss. The longer you follow \t\tsuch a diet, the greater the risk to your health.<\/p>\n Clearly not a wise choice of weight loss \t\tprogram, not for the short term or the long.<\/p>\n There are always new weight loss programs coming onto \tthe market and going in and out of style. To evaluate if a weight loss program is healthy and \tsensible for you, ask yourself the following questions:<\/p>\n HELPING YOU SUCCEED<\/span><\/p>\n When used along with a healthy, balanced weight loss program and an active life, studies have \t\tshown that Xenical<\/a><\/span> \t\tcan help you lose weight by blocking fats from being absorbed. It also helps keep \t\tthe weight off over time, to prevent the yo-yo effect.<\/p>\nWEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM QUESTIONNAIRE<\/h3>\n
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