Certainly, there are countless diet fads that come out every year, and dieting is one of the most made new years resolutions each year. So why are Americans still at risk of an 'obesity epidemic'? Certainly, there are countless people who are at healthy weight, people that are obese because of heath problems, and a million other explanations for this trend. However, the media of diets themselves cause people to have unreal expectations about it and soon lose hope.
Allow me to explain. Certainly a number of you have seen the commercials that claim you can lose 10 pounds in one week, or 30 pounds in thirty days, if you only buy our product. They put on people who claim to have enormous weight loss because of the product, and it is likely that these are true. However, these are not promoting good dieting techniques, and Americans as a whole expect instant results.
Well, I hate to break it to you, but weight loss cannot be fast. When you lose a large amount of weight in a short amount of time (say 10 pounds in a week or two), you're not losing true weight. This weight it mostly water weight that fluxuates from day to day, depending on how hyrdrated you are. Not only that, but your body is used to carrying around a certain amount of weight. Due to the activities of our ancestors, we are programmed to use extra calories to burn fat, and when all this fat disappears quickly, our bodies recognize it as a fast, and strive to not only gain the weight back, but add additional weight to combat the fast later on. Furthermore, once people have lost the weight that they want, they tend to go back to bad eating habits that cause this weight gain to occur even faster.
Of course, the healthy way to lose weight is to change your eating habits for life, and to eat a balanced diet all the time. To give your body time to adjust to the change in weight, you should only lose about 2 pounds per week, and seek the advice of a physician before putting yourself on a diet. Since many people want results faster, they go on fad diets and can't keep to the changes because they are so drastically different from normal eating habits. Herbal supplements claiming that they help with weight loss are not proven to do so, because the FDA does not monitor these supplements. They can also interact with other medications you may be taking, and cause serious side effects (that's why you should talk to your physician before starting on these plans). Other factors that you can change (other than eating habits) are just doing more of the things you love. Depressed individuals tend to carry more weight with them. Of course, exercising is a must, but keep in mind that not all exercising is running on a treadmill for 30 minutes a day. I walk back and forth across my campus (which is extremely hilly) every day, and that helps keep me active.
My dad has had problems with his weight and continually goes on no carb diets, but he has gained the weight back every year that he tries because he deprives himself and tries too hard, only to fall back into old habits. Carbs are not a bad thing. Our bodies use carbs as an energy source, and without them, we're forced to use fat and protein. However, if intake of these isn't enough, our bodies will start consuming themselves. Yes, this is the goal of high protein diets... to get the body to consume it's fat. However, the body will also consume protein, and this puts a strain on the body because protein contains Nitrogen, which must be disposed of through the urine as urea. Your body will also use its muscles as an energy source, leading to a loss in muscle mass. Basically, not a good thing. http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/fat-not-protein.html
Forgive me for my bit of a rant. I've seen too many people try to lose weight and fail because they have unreal expectations. I was facing weight problems myself a few years ago, and my mom was as well. In order to deal with her weight, she changed our eating habits at home, and it has carried over to me living by myself now. I also went from being depressed to being happy. Over the course of about a year, I lost approximately 20 pounds, and I'm out of the risk range for being overweight now. I'm very proud of my accomplishment, even though I did not set out to lose the weight. I appauld everyone who can diet healthily, and I only hope that we can change the minds of the masses to encourage them to have healthy livestyles, and lose weight as a result.
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good job on losing the weight. This is all very true. In order to be happy, it is about making lifelong changes to your diet, not going on a diet then returning to the ways prior.