If you are guilty of on and off yo-yo ‘fad’ diets it is possible you have done some damage to the engine of your body – your metabolism. When food intake is reduced (even just a tad too much) your body goes into ‘survival mode’. It does not know the difference between a famine and the latest diet and it responds as if you were really starving.
It does not understand that you just wish to fit into your skinny jeans, there is a fridge full of food in the next room and there is no real danger of starvation. The first thing it does is reduce energy output by lowering the desire to be active so it slows the rate of body fat loss. Your entire metabolism slows down and as it triggers protective hormones which increase appetite.
Dieting causes damage to your metabolism
This is the last thing you need on a diet – low energy levels…hungry all the time…can’t stop thinking about food…and weight loss has slowed or come to a complete stop. It does not take a genius to work out that these types of diets cause bad stuff to happen to the inner workings of your body.
Studies have proved that the damaging consequences to the metabolism of low calorie dieting persist long after the diet is over. The degree of damage done can vary from almost nothing to serious but the drop or ‘metabolic damage’ is real. Things like the metabolic rate, fat burning hormones and the appetite regulation system become ‘out of whack’ and need time to heal before they function properly again.
When you return to normal eating your metabolism is less efficient and you can experience a rebound affect, putting all the weight lost back on. And what’s worse you can gain it back faster and easier than you ever did before. This is not what you want after going through the misery of a reduced calorie diet.
Boost your metabolism and burn more fuel
A much better way is to speed up your metabolism with proper strength training exercise. The condition of your muscles is paramount if fat weight is to be lost and more importantly – kept off. Weak flabby muscles have low energy requirements and low calorie food intake is what further damages this fat burning mechanism. Get them toned back up and watch the fat fall off.
Support your strength training program with a healthy eating plan based around natural whole foods cooked from scratch. Small meals each with a source of protein every 2-3 hours will heal your metabolism and put you back on the fat burning track.
Losing body fat by body composition (muscle/fat ratio) improvements is the smart way to lose excess body fat. It minimizes the bad stuff and prevents damage to your metabolism. You need to focus on increasing the amount of fuel (calories) your body burns each day rather than eating less than you burn.
The combination of your strength training program and healthy eating plan will do that for you and you will be well on the way to winning the weight loss battle without doing yourself any damage on the way.
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