Losing weight is a great move for your health but, unfortunately, many people go about it in all the wrong ways. If you’ve been thinking about losing weight, you have probably come across plenty of “fad diets” that promise quick results. The issue is that these diets require extreme calorie restriction and oftentimes have you eating an unbalanced and plain unhealthy diet in order to create a big deficit.
These diets also play tricks on you sometimes. Cutting out carbs, for instance, is sure to bring a quick 5-pound weight loss (or even more) because cutting out carbs means your body will instantly drop the few pounds of water weight that most of us carry around. The same goes for a diet that messes with your sodium intake and some other factors.
However, the one thing all these diets have in common is that none of them are sustainable in the long run. You cannot possible survive on a “mono diet” where you only eat one thing. In a matter of time, you’ll be lacking minerals and be deficient in many essential vitamins and it will begin to have a huge negative impact on your health overall.
Since you’re supposed to be losing weight with your health in mind, it makes absolutely no sense to try and lose the weight quickly if it involves unhealthy methods that are ultimately compromising your well-being. Plus, losing any amount of weight too fast can result in a number of unwanted side effects, ranging from re-graining the weight just as quickly to having lose skin because of the quick drop.
Instead of trying a fad diet or any unhealthy method of losing weight, it’s best to stick to the tried and true basics. In other words, think about cutting out processed foods and cooking more at home. No matter what you’re eating, weight loss depends on a calorie deficit, so you’re going to have to run some numbers to see how much you need to eat in order to maintain your current weight. To lose weight, you need to eat less than that amount each day.
You should begin logging your food and really trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables. Get your fill from healthy protein sources and eat a varied, naturally colorful diet to keep up with your necessary vitamins and minerals.