Yoyo Dieting – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

When we talk about ‘yoyo dieting’, we mean the constant cycle of trying different diets on and off, in the pursuit to lose weight. You’ll lose weight initially, stop the diet for a while, put the weight back on, and then try a different one to get the weight off again. Hence the ‘yoyo’ effect.

The Good

The good news is putting it short and sweet. If you’re after a quick fix, a restrictive diet will do the trick.

The Bad

The bad news is that most diets are never a long-term solution to your weight loss problem. When you start the diet, the intention is never for the weight to come back on, but unfortunately this is what will happen.

As soon as you stop the diet and return to your normal eating patterns, the weight will return. Any diet that is too restrictive will leave you feeling hungry, craving your favourite high calorie foods, and your energy levels wiped out. Your only way out of feeling like this is to give up.

The Ugly

Repeated yoyo dieting has a long-term detrimental effect on your body and can ruin your metabolism, which can take months or even years to fix. Every time you lose a lot of weight very quickly, much of that weight is muscle rather than fat. The problem here is that muscle is what keeps your metabolism healthy. The less muscle you have, the harder it becomes to lose weight. And so each time you repeat the dieting process, your body will lose more muscle, and regain more fat as soon as you stop. Your body is literally fighting back against you and it becomes a losing battle. And this is only part of the problem, but that’s too long for this email!

So, what’s the solution?

The solution is to change your mindset around weight loss to a long-term strategy: adapting your lifestyle and finding a way of eating that can work for you forever, in addition to incorporating exercise to maintain your metabolism and boost muscle tissue. Slow and steady wins the race. Once you’ve found a lifestyle change, you’ve found the last diet you will ever need.

If you want to find your LAST EVER DIET, the professionals here at Empowered Fitness can help you make that lifestyle change. Just get in touch to find out more.

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