
Alright, I’m going to try and make sure this doesn’t end up as a rant because I’ve got some important info that you NEED to hear and I have a habit of ranting about this stuff.
So I’ll try my best not to!
Firstly; Low calorie diets are dangerous. I’m going to say this right now. The effects on the body go way deeper than just losing a few lbs. If you run a super low calorie diet then you put yourself at risk of fucking yourself up. Your body needs a certain amount of fuel to keep everything functioning normally, without this you run the risk of messing up hormones etc.
Be smart.
If you have experienced any health issues following a low calorie diet or a prolonged period of dieting then ensure that you visit your doctor!
Now I’m going to write the rest of this post based purely on why low calorie diets are NOT the way to go for weight loss.
Low calorie diets DO work.
I’m not going to sit and say that they don’t because that would be a lie.
In the short term, low calorie diets work. (it’s in the long term where they don’t)
They work in the way that the dieter loses weight in a short amount of time.
It’s what happens after that short period of weight loss that I’m going to tell you about.
We’ve all seen it right? Someone loses a shit load of weight on a low calorie diet, only to stop the diet and have their weight rebound back to the original starting point. (A lot of the time they even gain weight on this starting point!)
This is the point where low calorie diets DON’T work. In the long term.
Due to the restriction of calories and rapid weight loss the human body seeks to conserve energy, using less calories for simple tasks.
Rapid weight loss also ends up with the dieter burning through muscle mass as well as fat, there for reducing their basal metabolic rate.
Long story short here; The body burns less calories, weight loss slows down.
Even with the slower metabolic rate the dieter would continue to see weight loss (albeit at a slower rate) BUT a low calorie diet is simply unsustainable.
Have you ever eaten 1,000 calories or less in a day? Imagine doing that every day.
Hungry, grumpy, irritable, low energy, lethargic the list goes on and on.
It is unsustainable to continue a low calorie diet with those feelings. At some point you’ll snap and eat everything and more.
Usually this occurs when the rate of weight loss slows.
The dieter perseveres through the bad feelings originally as they’re seeing great, fast results however when the weight loss slows or stops these bad feelings are not worth the slow or completely lack of results.
This is when the ‘rebound’ occurs. After essentially starving themselves and depriving themselves of their favourite foods they binge. (Also note, the dieting stage will increase cravings!)
After all they’ve worked really hard to see the results, so a little ‘treat’ is deserved. The dieter will then find it difficult to return to a pattern of normal eating, they’ll likely jump between trying to diet again and binging, slowly increasing weight.
Unfortunately with the reversal of the calorie restriction you don’t necessarily see the same reversal of metabolic rate.
Hence the weight gain; an increased calorie intake but no increase in metabolic rate (the rate at which calories are burned) puts the dieter in a huge calorie surplus. Calorie surplus = weight gain.
This brings us to the end of the low calorie diet cycle, the dieter ends up in a worse position than they were in at the start of the diet.
Heavier than start of diet.
Less muscle mass than start of diet.
Lower metabolic rate than start of diet.
Numerous hormone issues brought on through yo-yo dieting.
After a period of time the dieter then decides that they’re not happy with their body the way it is and jumps on the newest low calorie diet trend. Thus the cycle continues.
How do you ‘fix’ this?
Stop fucking up your body with low calorie diets.
Stop looking for a short term ‘quick fix’ to your problem. This is a long term solution.
Take care of yourself. Train well and eat well.
If you’re not sure where to start? Then come and tune in to my FREE live webinar titled "Weight loss, the easy way!" on the 22nd October at 11am. More info right here – https://agfitness.lpages.co/webinar1/
*Again, if you have experienced any mental or physical health issues after a period of prolonged dieting then go and see your doctor!