Debunking the Myth: Can Dieting Actually Eliminate Fat?

How is your January fitness keeping up? Have you initiated a plan? Got your exercise program? Planned out a ‘diet’? You may want to read this quick article about dieting and how a diet, if not planned properly, will make you fatter than when you started!

WEIGHT LOSS AND FITNESS MYTH #1:

Dieting eliminates fat.

Your body can’t discriminate between intentional calorie deprivation (as in a diet), and starvation. When you dramatically reduce your caloric intake, your body shifts into a protective mode by slowing your metabolism down and holding onto fat (an important energy source) and burning muscle instead. In the beginning of a diet you WILL lose weight by dramatically cutting calories. But it won’t be fat loss. It will be water weight and lean muscle tissue – the exact OPPOSITE of what you want to get rid of.

Not only will harsh diets slow your metabolism down to a crawl, causing your initial weight loss to come to a gradual halt, they will also inevitably bring about a ‘rebound’ effect. This rebound will make you even fatter than you were before starting the diet. When you rebound, not only do you generally put on more weight than you actually lost with the diet, your percentage of body fat generally increases because your body cannibalised muscle tissue as an energy source during the dieting process. Thus the yo-yo effect that almost all dieters’ experience.

To permanently lose the fat stores in your body, you’ve got to burn more calories and increase your metabolic rate (the rate at which your body burns fuel throughout the day – even when you’re NOT exercising) with a precise exercise routine and proper nutrient ratio adaptations (that means eating the right stuff at regular intervals). Even if you don’t exercise (but I recommend you do), just eating 5–6 small, high quality meals each day (and by a meal, I mean anything from a nutritious snack to a sit-down dinner) will substantially increase your metabolism – and you’ll burn more calories!

Learn how to put all the components needed for a successful weight loss program together by contacting me on 07971 22 22 35 to schedule your time TODAY!

Blog Written by Tanvir Heer Coaching

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