Oh, the inevitable weight loss journey. A journey many of us have been on seemingly forever, whereas some may have just begun. Whether or not you are new to the fitness scene, it is easy to get sucked into thinking you can lose weight quickly.
Losing weight is supposed to be a slow process, so when I hear women in college say, "I'm trying this new fad diet that will have me drop five pound in a week," I immediately know what that weight loss plan will entail: mass amounts of calorie counting and barely eating anything.
The problem with this is that not only is it terrible for you health, but it is not going to keep your weight off. Sure, you may lose a couple pounds in a week, but I 100 percent guarantee you it will be back faster than you lost it.
Here's why counting and restricting calories is not the way to go about loosing weight:
1. Starvation mode
If you significantly cut your calories, your body is going to begin to think it is starving. When our bodies don't get enough food it sends signals to our brain that we need to hold on to what we have in order to stay alive. This makes it extremely difficult to lose weight in the long run because your body cannot function on 1,000 calories a day, so it stores everything you eat.
2. You will rapidly gain fat
This leads to my next point. Now that your body is in starvation mode, everything you eat will be stored as fat on your body. Your body does this because it can live off fats much longer than it can lean muscle. You may not notice fat storage at first, but once you start working out you will notice that it's much harder to get rid of your problem areas because your body needs the fat in order to survive.
3. You are totally screwing up your metabolism
Your metabolism is what allows your body to burn off food once you finish eating. When you eat under the recommended calories for your weight, your metabolism goes way out of wack. You will slow your metabolism so much that once you start eating normally again it is going to be very hard for your body to keep up. If you eat, say, only 1,000 to 1,300 calories in a day, your metabolism is hardly working and slows down over time. So when you begin to eat again it's not used to working and will take a long time to pick back up. Thus leading you to gain weight.
4. You will gain weight fast
When your fad diet is over, and trust me it will be, you are going to go into binge mood. Since your body has been hungry for so long and you allow yourself to eat again, it is going to be hard to stop eating when it's time for meals. Your body will think every time you eat it's not going to get food for a long time, so you will feel like a bottomless pit every time you eat. So sure, you may have lost five or 10 pounds counting and restricting calories, but your body will overcompensate for the pounds lost and many times you end up gaining back more than what you lost.
5. You will obsess over food
Counting calories is dangerous and it really messes with your head. Every time it's time to eat you will think about the calories going into your body and start stressing out if it's too much. Eating is supposed to be enjoyable, not a battle inside your head.
Trying to loose weight is hard but also simple at the same time. There's no fancy diet or pill or workout plan that is perfect for everyone. When it comes down to it counting and restricting calories is only harming you in the long run. So stick to clean eating, eating enough, and stop obsessing! This is a slow process and is worth being patient.
