We all dream of shifting weight fast. Of being able to achieve easy weight loss for a weekend break, wedding or party in a few weeks. However, such an outlook can often make your diet fail before it has even had a chance to work…
So why do dieting regimes not work?
There are lots of reasons why your diet may fail, but the main causes consist of:
Unhealthy Meal Plans
Fad weight loss plans (otherwise acknowledged as celebrity dietary plans) are notorious for removing whole food groups in a bid to help you get rid of excess pounds. However, such meal plans are hard to maintain for months on end. Not only are they bad for your health, but they are impossible to get used to. After all, could you experience satisfaction eating only lentil soup or proteins, day after day for months at a time? No.
Temptation
We have all got certain foods which we can’t abstain from. Chocolate… crisps… biscuits…burgers… Now whilst treating yourself to the occasional chocolate bar is not a failure, by turning this weekly treat into a daily treat you will soon notice that you have given in to other treats as well, which will lead to weight gain, not fat loss.
Skipping Meals
It may appear to make sense when you are shifting excess pounds to skip a meal as you are essentially eating fewer calories; however without a regular consumption of calories into your body, your metabolic rate will slowly start to slow down as it believes you are starving. And this can make getting in shape incredibly hard as your metabolic rate will be too slow to handle fat burn.
What else can you do?
If any of the above sounds like you, don’t let this weaken your wish to lose excess pounds. To experience natural, lasting fat loss all you need to do is change your previous views about fat loss and recognise that your dieting ambitions will not be fast.
A steady fat loss of 1-2lbs a week is recommended by many leading nutritionists as these are easier to keep off.
But what else can you do?
You can
Ingest a balanced diet – you don’t have to eliminate your favourite meals completely to experience lasting fat loss. The trick is to ingest a healthy balanced meal plan of all the main food groups and decrease the number of unhealthy foods you eat. Now I am not suggesting you exclude chocolate or chips – all this will lead to is cravings. However, by steadily reducing how regularly you have them, on a week by week basis, you can naturally eliminate them from your eating habits and stop cravings.
Workout often – eating well and working out often go together when it comes to dieting. By trying an exercise regime of cardio and strength training 3 times a week for 30 minutes, you can boost your metabolic rate and more importantly your fat burn.
Aim for achievable goals – instead of focusing on a complete fat loss of 10-20lbs, give yourself small weekly goals of 2lbs and try to get just those. This helps to reduce the pressure to lose excess pounds and quickly you will find that you are near your long term goal.