It seems these days’ people will do just about anything in efforts to shed those extra lbs! If you’re one of the millions of Americans in pursuit of making the number on the scale go down, chances are you’ve tried at least one of the “diets” below that promise weight loss but provide no outcomes.
1. Following a low-fat diet: Is your fridge packed with low-fat or fat-free products? Any dietitian will advise on sticking to their full fat counterparts. Fat is an important nutrients that help control our appetite by releasing chemicals to our brain upon consumption. It is also needed for the absorption of vitamins like vitamin D and E, important for your immune system! Not to mention diet products commonly replace the fat with unwanted ingredients like added sugar and additives.
2. Rapid weight loss guarantees: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! These results are only achieve by an extremely restrictive low calorie diet- often impossible to stick with. You are basically forcing your body into starvation mode! Not only is the initial weight loss just water weight but the minute you resume a normal diet your body will hold on to all the calories and increase fat storage, resulting in gaining even more weight than when you started.
3. Metabolism boosting drinks: An attractive, and well marketed, ploy to get us to buy weight loss products. However, there are no special juices, pills, or concoctions that will boost your metabolism! However you can become a calorie burning machine by incorporating more protein into your diet (protein requires 2x as much energy to breakdown), increasing your weights at the gym and engaging in cardio intervals (these two will burn a ton of calories during the workout and keep you burning calories well after you’ve left the gym). Also, did you know slacking on sleep can actually decrease your metabolism?
4. Avoiding carbs at all costs! Not sure when carbs got such a bad rap, (Atkins diet anyone?) but carbs are the body’s main source of energy, and the brains sole source of energy. 60% of your daily calories should be coming from carbs, whether it be vegetables, fruits, or whole grains. The carbs we do recommend limiting is any product made from refined white and processed flour like many breads, crackers, cookies, and cakes!
5. The magic “cure-all” diet pill! Most of us have enough common sense to understand that taking a simple pill or supplement, while changing nothing else, will not result in weight loss. We want to believe it and try it “just in case” but save your money and save yourself from being let down. Again, nothing but a well marketed ploy to get us to spend our money!
When choosing a weight loss program avoid the fad diets and save money by not giving into over-marketed quick-fixes! Our recommendation is to look for a comprehensive plan that addresses nutrition, activity, and lifestyle behavior changes.
*This is a sponsored and written blog post by Selvera.